Work Out Like This For Next Level Core Strength

Crunch time.

Work Out Like This For Next Level Core Strength

Want abs that ripple? Have a tolerance for risk? Got a good pre-existing base of core strength? Have a crack at this workout (alternatively, build up to it slowly, and with the help of a personal trainer).


A terrifying core workout is doing the rounds. Posted to That Thing You Scroll Everyday (Instagram) by police officer and personal trainer Matt Bassetta, it made such a splash it was reposted by Sports Center (to their 31.2 million followers).

The video shows Bassetta doing the most punishing core workout we’ve seen for some time. It involves hanging off a bar, while doing leg crunches (and extensions), either side of a pile of small weights, while balancing a 10 pound plate on your shins. For the piece de resistance, Bassetta flips the plate like a pancake, and catches it again, before continuing with the exercise.

WATCH: Matt Bassetta’s wild core workout in the video below. ⬇️

Commenters expressed both their appreciation and their concerns, with one writing: “People gonna a pull a muscle just watching this guy.” Others said things like “Beast” and “Shoulders strong AF too.”

“I was like ‘yea I could do that..’ then I saw the flip,” another added. A couple of other cheeky remarks included: “He forgot to struggle” and “how to bruise your shins 101.”

On his website, Bassetta explains: “While in the NYPD academy, I started to develop a unique style of training that incorporated weight training, functional fitness, strength training, and tactical training.”

The purpose? To become “as powerful and explosive as possible while still getting shredded.”

This isn’t the first time Bassetta has made headlines with his workouts. As we reported last year, he has an impressive repertoire, from alternating leg kicks and V-ups to L-sits with massive weight plates balanced on his legs, to reverse crunches while holding himself in the air (with a huge weight on his feet) and the most technical version of a plank we’ve ever seen (where he holds a pole and walks his hands up and down it).

Inspired? That core crunching workout awaits.

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