Dr. Andy Galpin

So that's my personal five-step progression.

It's isometric control with failure being induced by fatigue.

Then it is either anti-movement or direct eccentric movement

where failure comes from fatigue.

Step three is the anti or eccentric where failure comes from load or heavy.

Step four, concentric, failure fatigue.

And then finally, step five is can you move actively concentrically with a really, really heavy load?

A really quick example of that could look something like this.

So step number one, that isometric control and fatigue resistance is your plank.

I gave examples of a lateral plank, but for this one through five example, we'll just say a normal plank.

Phase two, the anti-extension eccentric fatigue.

Resistance one could look like a reverse crunch.

Still the same movement pattern, still the same muscle group.

It's a reverse crunch.

It's a dead bug.

And we're going to do 30 or 40 or 50 or 100 repetitions of it, right?

So now you're actively letting the rectus abdominis move eccentrically under control, and you're going to get tired by doing it.

Step three, we would progress to say a decline or a weighted crunch.

So again, we're doing the eccentric portion.

So you're going to start up maybe with your elbows towards your knees, and we're going to work on holding a plate or a kettlebell or a dumbbell and lowering it back down to the ground.