PHOTO OP: More Murray fitness, focuses on core and upper body strengthening

Team Murray continues to give us a glimpse into Andy Murray's fitness sessions in Roehampton. Yesterday, the Brit baller worked the treadmill to exhaustion and today we get to see him strengthening his core.

According to his site,

In performance sport circles, core stability is seen as key to peak performance and injury avoidance. In a nutshell, it's about the strength and conditioning of the deep, underlying muscle groups that ordinary folk often neglect.

Andy's core programme sits neatly, and somewhat painfully alongside the running work. Unlike the traditional 'hard fitness', core exercises demand a high level of concentration and attention to detail: to get the most of it, you need to nail the poses.

During the session Andy starts with "the superman" (top image), a balancing practice that uses the abs to keep him steady on the ball. Next up is "plank" which may be familiar to those yoga and pilates practitioners and is held for a minute each repetition:


Andy then moves into the "roll and hold" on the ball where he rolls to one side, holds the pose, then repeats on the opposite side:


Now comes a very difficult looking practice, the "Swiss ball push up" (don't try this at home, people!):


Okay - I need to catch my breath after that one. Tthe fun doesn't stop there, however. The 21-year old ends with a workout for the arms, shoulders, and parts of the back using resistance bands:



I guess this is how someone becomes the number four baller in the world - I get it!

(images via andymurray.com)