Abs and Low Back

Hey all,
Just wanted to get a grasp on what has worked well for you guys in terms of strengthening your abs/low back for squats and deadlifts. Thanks!

Reverse hyper, hanging leg raises, front squats.

Good mornings, back raises, sit ups, Zercher squats

Front squats, SSB squats, back raises, Kroc rows, ab wheel

Front squats and deadlifts!!!

1 Like

Alpha has lots of good stuff here…

For me personally hanging leg raises, hard intervals on rower, pre-bracing the hell out abs and ass for overhead/military press work

Weighted crunches for abs and a strict Romanian deadlift for the low back

Zercher squats round back good mornings and zercher goodmornings for the thoracic extensors.

Don’t forget about heavy carries, These rock my mid-section like nothing else. Zercher and overhead carries are my favorite and I like one arm carries for the sides of the midsection.

Pallof presses are pretty good too for stability.

Standing crunches are useful for building mind-muscle connection.

To keep my lower back happy, I absolutely have have to some higher rep assistance work. I use back raises on a GHR or a standard 45° back raise bench. Right now, I do three sets of 15 to 20 reps without any added weight at the end of any session where I squat or deadlift, which will propably do nothing for my strength on the competition lifts, but if I don’t do this, I’m guaranteed to aggravate my lower back, if I do, everything’s fine.

Subject to change but as of currently and most recent:
Strengthening lower back 1st and abs 2nd - Bent over Rows (tightening core on the up phase of the lift) and Pallof Presses

Abs - Bracing Core on Excercises, planks, and Garhammer Raises

Hope that helps

Thanks for the replies everyone, really appreciate it

1 Like

Good mornings for my lower back and that hand held wheel thing for my abs. You hold it in your hands, get down on your knees, and roll out (!) your body and roll it back in.

Kettle bell and dumbbell swings.