How To Use Peloton Crush Your Core Program


I have to tell you that core training is the weakest area in my workout routine because I always tend to “skip it”. So I decided to try Peloton’s Crush You Core in the hope to peel off some of this belly fat.

In general, the peloton Crush Your Core is a 4-week bodyweight core conditioning program taught by Emma Lovewell. It includes 22 workouts that are all designed to train abdominal muscles, glutes, and arms within a 5 to 15-minute class.

I think that the peloton core program Crush Your Core by Emma Lovewell is one of the best core workouts for beginners. I know this is a bold statement, so let me prove it.

Peloton Crush Your Core Program

Overall, crush your core is one of the two peloton abdominal programs that focus mainly on core stabilization, strength, and muscular endurance. It helps not only to work on your abs but also improve your cycling performance, prevent injury, and improve posture.

What I like about this program is it implements gradual progression (progressive overload) by doing short core-centered bodyweight workouts 5 days per week. This is not a hardcore six-pack abs routine that only a few can do.

This is a multifaceted training that can be used in more than one way (more on that in a second).

What is progressive overload? In short, progressive overload means doing more overtime. This is a way to add more training volume to further stimulate training adaptations like muscular hypertrophy and/or strength, without injury risk. It can be done by adding intensity, duration, or decreasing rest intervals.

Can a peloton crush your core give you abs? Overall, the peloton crush your core can give you abs, as long as you combine your workouts with adequate strength training, as well as a calorie deficit. Reducing your calorie intake is much more effective in displaying abs, compared to exercise alone.

You can learn more about how to integrate “diet and peloton” in my article here.

Are Core Workouts Necessary?

As a whole, the core workouts are necessary because training your abdominal, glutes, obliques, and the whole lumbopelvic-hip complex allows for better muscle recruitment and makes it easy for the trunk and spine to stay stable.

Dr. Paul W Hodges from The University of Queensland in Australia has documented 15 people with lower back pain and compared them with 15 matched controls (without back pain).

They used an electromyogram (EMG) to assess how does the core muscles respond to the upper and lower body movements.

The study has shown that “contraction of transversus abdominis was significantly delayed in patients with low back pain with all movements” (Hodges 1996).

In other words, training your core is essential for maintaining the stability of the lumbar spine and preventing lower back pain.

After doing peloton crush your core, I’ve noticed that not only the classes are getting easier, but also my daily activities like moving, standing, squatting, or bending are more controlled.

Peloton Crush Your Core Review

What I like about peloton crush your core is that it’s a transformative program and you don’t have to be superfit to get started. It does get progressive as week 1 is not that hard and if you can do a basic Pilates class, you can do this with no problem.

On the other hand, week 4 is really hard and requires more energy and intensity. But the good news is that you build up that strength and you gonna be prepared for it.

Below you can see peloton crush your core week 1 schedule.

DaysClass
Day 15 min Core Strength
Day 25 min Core Strength
Day 3
Day 410 min Core Strength
Day 510 min Core Strength
Day 6
Day 75 min Full Body Stretch
Peloton crush your core week 1

As you can see, the first week starts pretty accessible with 4 core training days and a total volume of 30 minutes. On the 7th day, you do a 5-minute full-body stretching.

In the first week of peloton crush your core you familiarize yourself with abs exercises and learn how to feel the muscle tension. The goal is to maintain as much tension on the abdominal muscles as possible.

Many people do abs without actually feeling the muscle. They move the body from position A to position B and focus on the number of reps. They keep the tension on the spine, rather than on the muscle.

What I love about crush your core is that Emma goes into detail on how your abs should feel and teaches you the proper technique to engage the muscles.

Here’s how the training schedule looks like in the second week.

DaysClass
Day 110 min Core Strength
Day 25 min Core Strength
Day 3
Day 410 min Core Strength
Day 55 min Core Strength
Day 65 min Full Body Stretch
Day 7
Peloton crush your core week 2

The second week is similar to your first week. However, you do have new exercises and a bit of shuffle in the timetable.

Again, the main idea here is to develop the habit of muscle activation before doing more advanced exercises.

Below you can see the peloton crush your core week 3 plan.

DaysClass
Day 110 min Core Strength
Day 210 min Core Strength
Day 310 min Core Strength
Day 4
Day 510 min Core Strength
Day 615 min Core Strength
Day 75 min Full Body Stretch
Peloton crush your core week 3

As you can see, here you see the biggest jump in the training intensity. Also, please pay attention to the class selection and their duration.

Not only you have 5 days of core workouts, but also you have a total of 55 minutes of training volume. Here you will see a lot of combinations between seated and sending core exercises.

Also, there are more movements done back to back that will increase the time under tension and elevate your heart rate.

Here is the last week of crush your core plan.

DaysClass
Day 110 min Core Strength
Day 210 min Core Strength
Day 3
Day 410 min Core Strength
Day 55 min Core Strength
Day 610 min Core Strength
Day 715 min Core Strength
Peloton crush your core week 4

As you can notice, on the last week you have full 6 days of core workouts (there is no stretch class). Some classes include a lot of movements like scissors and a high boat to work on core endurance, as well as core isolation exercises.

This is the perfect example of implementing progressive overload to core conditioning effectively where you don’t have to start with high intensity on day one.

Peloton Crush Your Core vs Insanity Ab Attack

The difference between peloton crush your core and Beachbody Insanity Ab Attack is that insanity workout is designed for advanced and intermediate people who are already fit and can handle the high volume on day one.

Peloton crush your core vs insanity

This is a 10-minute abdominal class where you focus mainly on the core. Insanity Ab Attack is part of the Insanity Max 30 Beachbody program.

I did this class multiple times and ended up with a slight back pain straight after. You have almost no rest in between. You start immediately with the BANG and crazy amount of volume.

The is no talk about correct form, muscle activation, or muscle tension. It’s just reps with fast-paced techno music. I’m not saying this is not an effective plan. I’m just saying that I would not recommend this program to my mother.

On the other hand, peloton crush your core is more realistic. It does have preparation week, where Emma is showing everything there is to know about ab workout.

What is better peloton crush your core or at attack? As a whole, the peloton crush your core is better than insanity at attack, especially for beginners. It’s a balance and well-thought-out plan that puts technique and safety as a priority and uses progressive overload to gradually improve.

How To Use Peloton Crush Your Core

You can use peloton crush your core program in a variety of ways from specific abdominal training, part of your holistic workout routine, or functional pre-ride warm-up.

You have to understand that the abdominal region is the foundation of the kinetic chain responsible for facilitating the transfer of torque and momentum between the lower and upper body.

In other words, improving your core allows you to move around and perform daily tasks at ease.

Here are the three main ways I recommend implementing crush your core to your workout plan.

#1 Part of your overall training

Peloton crush your core can be part of your overall training where you simply designate 5 to 15 minutes after each workout. This will help you not only enhance core muscle activity but also develop a habit of doing abs in the first place.

This is how I used crush your core. I would decide to add this program at the end of my typical rides or strength training.

My biggest problem what that I was either too busy, or I would find “some” excuse not to do the abs. After a while, I was satisfied with my overall physique, but when I took my shirt off, it was nothing to show. My belly was soft.

So instead of doing random abs routine after each workout, I just added the whole program to my already existing routine.

#2 Your main workout

If you’re a beginner you can definitively benefit from doing crush your core as your main workout. Especially if you’re spending most of the time behind the desk or driving a car. This will help engage and fire up all the stability muscles (e.g. glutes).

Is crush your core good for beginners? In short, peloton crush your core is great for beginners because it’s all body weight, so you don’t need any equipment and you also use other muscle groups like chest, shoulders, and legs. In weeks 3 and 4, you start doing more of your whole body movements.

This is also great for people who are coming back after pregnancy, or injury. Core stability through exercise is an important part of injury prevention programs.

#3 Dynaimc warm-up

You can use peloton crush your core as a part of your warm-up before getting on the bike because it helps to engage and active all muscles around the pelvis and lumbar region.

Riding on the peloton bike requires maintaining flexed position for a long period of time. This position makes it very difficult to engage your glutes.

And because the glutes are the primary engine for hip and lumbar stability, we lose that stability and the body starts to compensate.

Studies have shown that “spinal and core muscle activation imbalances in a prolonged flexed posture associated with cycling may lead to maladaptive spinal kinematics and increased spinal stresses contributing to overuse low back pain” (Streisfeld et al. 2017).

Just doing 5 to 10-minute core class before your peloton ride, not only makes your position more stable but also helps to engage postural muscles for longer.

Crush Your Core Peloton Results

What I loved about crush your core is that instructor was very upbeat and uplifting, which makes it easy to continue. You can get great results from any core workouts, as long as you stay on track and do the work.

So, is the peloton crush your core effective? Absolutely.

Is it hard? No question.

Does it give you washboard abs? Not really.

But the truth is that if you want to get your abs to pop, you need to spend more focus on your calorie intake and make sure you have enough high-quality protein in your diet.

Crush Your Core 2

On the 7th of January 2022, Peloton and Emma Lovewell have launched Crush Your Core 2, which is the second edition of her popular core strength program.

Similar to the first edition, the peloton Crush Your Core 2 includes 18 classes, however, this workout is slightly more challenging as some of the classes do requires weights.

Conclusion

Core workouts have been popularized over the past decade, however not all the programs are created equal.

What I like about Emma’s crush your core program is it allows everyone at the beginner level to get started. I also like that this is not a high-calories burn high-impact workout that calls for as many reps as possible.

Michal Sieroslawski

Michal is an exercise physiologist (MSc) and a veteran endurance athlete. He loves to experiment and share his successes and failures to help busy men and women who want to lose weight.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts