I'm in a monthly workout challenge group. Last month the challenge was push-ups. I started with 21 on March 1st and ended up doing 51 on March 31st. I didn't skip any days, and I didn't cheat. It felt great, and the best feeling was the day that I did 40 push-ups in a row without stopping. ME! I did that....
This month's challenge, if you couldn't tell from the title, is all about building our abdominal muscles. We've been tasked with adding some sort of abdominal exercise to our usual routine. One of the favorite routines of the people in my group is this one, known as "Abs on Fire". Now I've tried it, but I've never done the recommended 3 sets of 20. In fact, I've just gotten to the point where I might actually be able to do the "Cycling Russian Twists" - but I'm not at the point where I can do 60 of them.
I'm going to incorporate these into my month, but I'm also trying to add ab work into my current morning routine for my glutes. Instead of just doing sumo squats, now I'm doing sumo squats into steam engines (or a standing Russian twist). I've also added an ab pulse to one of my other favorite exercises, the mule kick and fire hydrant. In that way I can get in 100 ab exercises without much extra time or effort.
This month's challenge, if you couldn't tell from the title, is all about building our abdominal muscles. We've been tasked with adding some sort of abdominal exercise to our usual routine. One of the favorite routines of the people in my group is this one, known as "Abs on Fire". Now I've tried it, but I've never done the recommended 3 sets of 20. In fact, I've just gotten to the point where I might actually be able to do the "Cycling Russian Twists" - but I'm not at the point where I can do 60 of them.
I'm going to incorporate these into my month, but I'm also trying to add ab work into my current morning routine for my glutes. Instead of just doing sumo squats, now I'm doing sumo squats into steam engines (or a standing Russian twist). I've also added an ab pulse to one of my other favorite exercises, the mule kick and fire hydrant. In that way I can get in 100 ab exercises without much extra time or effort.
I'm not really focusing on getting a six-pack (Rectus Abdominis), or my obliques (internal or external) because we do a lot of ab work at the boxing gym, and it is generally focused on those parts of the abdominals. Call it vanity, but I am much more interested in making my waist look as slim as possible. The Transverse Abdominis, the muscles that act as a corset around our mid-sections, are the key to looking like a slimmy trimmy.
To that end I'm going to make the plank, and it's many variations, the focus of my routine at least four (4) days a week. I've been doing timed planks and Spider-Man planks, where you lift your leg and bend it at the knee (like a dog to a fire hydrant) and try to touch the bent knee to the elbow. I'm trying to build up to doing 25 on each side. Planks with leg lifts, planks with step outs to each side, and planks with knees to the opposite elbow are also making their way into the rotation.
For a well rounded ab workout check out the following Instagram video by @_getfitbysmith_ - follow him for amazing videos and photos:
And don't forget that food intake impacts the ability to see abs as much as, if not more than, targeted ab exercises.
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