Body-Weight Ab Blast

This is an intense ab workout that uses your body weight. Try to do these as quickly as possible, without breaking form. You will be feeling these for sure! Modify the moves if you need to – just keep those abs engaged!

Complete 4 rounds of these 4 exercises, completing the number of reps given.

Seated Bike Abs (10 reps/side) – Sit balanced on your tailbone, legs out in front of you (slightly bent). Scissor your legs and lift the left leg up and reach and touch your foot with your right hand. There should be a slight twist in your torso. Lower your leg as your raise the right leg and twist to meet the right foot with your left hand.  Continue at a steady pace while keeping balance. If you need to, rest your free hand on the ground. You can also modify this by bending the knee and meeting it with your elbow (see pic). Remember to keep your back straight and your feet off the ground.

Frog Reverse Curls (20 reps) – Lay on your back with your arms at your sides and your knees bent out to the sides slightly so that the insides of your feet are together (like frog legs….). Keeping your feet together, lift your legs over your hips, and then lift your hips up so your feet go up toward the ceiling. Reverse the motion, trying to keep your feet from touching the ground before repeating.

Rolling Oblique V-Abs (10 reps/side) – Start in a laying position with your feet together and elevated off the ground, knees slightly bent. Roll onto your right hip, left hand behind your head and right arm on the ground as you crunch up bringing your knees and left elbow together. Straighten legs as you roll over to the left hip and repeat crunching your knees toward your right elbow. Continue alternating sides.

Bicycles (20 reps/side) – These are just good old fashion bicycle crunches. If you can do more, then do more 🙂

 

Cardio + Body Weight HIIT Circuit

This workout requires zero equipment…just your rockin’ body! It’s a body weight workout that incorporates a little bit of cardio to keep that heart rate elevated…which is already the point of high intensity interval training, but this workout is meant to push you even more 😉 This should also work your core pretty good, too!

Complete this circuit 3-5 times (depending on how hard-core you are!) Set an interval timer for 30 seconds work, 10 seconds rest. Take a 1 minute break between rounds if needed.

 

High Knees – Be sure to pump your arms and get those knees as high as you can!

Dive Bombers – Start in a position with feet and hands wider than shoulder-width apart, hips lifted in the air. Bending elbows out to sides, lower head toward the ground and smoothly transition your body so that your stomach is hovered above the ground, arms and legs straight. Reverse motion back to start (fluid motion)

 

 

Low Jacks – Start in a prisoner squat with your hands behind your head. Remaining in a squat throughout, hop feet out wide then back together and repeat. This should be a quick motion, and be sure to land softly.

 

 

Plank Hops + Tuck Jump – Start in full plank, feet hip-width apart. Hop feet toward hands twice. On the second, stand up and do a tuck jump with arms straight out in front of your chest, hitting knees the hands. Lower down to and jump feet back to plank and repeat.

 

High Knees – Again, pump your arms and raise your knees as high as you can.

 

Drunk Chickens – Start in elbow plank. Raise up to full plank one arms at a time. Hop feet forward and jump up bringing arms and legs out to the sides. (woo hoo!) Lower down and hop feet back to plank and lower to elbow plank and repeat.

 

 

Low Jacks – Same as before!

 

V-ups – Lay on your back with legs straight, arms extended over head. Crunch up as you lift your legs straight up, reaching hands to feet. Lower and repeat but separate your legs and reach your arms between legs. Continue alternating legs in and out.

Full Body Burnout Workout

This is a full-body HIIT workout. It incorporates multiple muscle groups and is meant to be a high intensity workout…so do as many reps in the given time as you can (with proper form, of course).  You can use a variety of equipment for this workout. I used a sandbag, ugi ball, equalizer/dip station, barbell and dumbells. Use whatever you have available, modifying moves as needed.

Complete 2 rounds of the 17 exercises. Set a timer for 50 seconds work, 10 seconds rest.

Overhead Abs – You can do this laying the edge of a step or on the floor with your knees bent. Holding a barbell or sandbag straight above your chest, sit up until your back is straight, reaching the bar overhead. Lower back to start slowly, keeping your weight extended up. You can also use a lighter weight (medicine ball, dumbell) or with no weight at all.

Bicep Curl and Press – Stand holding a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other. Curl the weights up to your shoulders (hammer curl) then extend your arms over head from your shoulders. Reverse the motion back to start. Your palms remaining facing each other throughout. Be sure to pick a weight that you can use for both movements.

Hanging Oblique Crunch– For this exercise I use my equalizer bars. You can do the same movement using a dip station, roman bench or hanging from pull up bars. Position yourself so that your legs are hanging down, with your knees bent. Tuck your knees to your chest, then lower both legs together down and to the left. Tuck knees back up to chest and then lower down to the right. You should be feeling this down the sides of your abs. If you don’t have some sort of equipment to hang from, you can do the same movement sitting on the ground, balanced on your tailbone with your hands back behind your hips – and straighten your legs and tuck them toward alternating shoulders. Either way, keep your knees together.

Triceps – For this one, sit on an ugi ball or stability ball, holding a weight/dumbbell with both hands straight above your head. Keeping arms close to your head, lower the weight behind your head, keeping your elbows pointing forward. Keep your back straight as you balance on the ball. You can also do this standing or sitting on a bench.

Bike Abs – Sit on the edge of a bench or step with your legs slightly bent and off the floor. Balancing on your butt, scissor your legs (one lowering toward the ground) reaching for the upper leg with the opposite arm. Switch legs, reaching with the other arm. This is an advanced version of tradition bicycle crunches. If this is too challenging, stick with bicycle crunches.

Chest Press – I do these laying with my shoulders on a stability ball or ugi ball with my lower body lifted (work those glutes too!). You can use a barbell or dumbells for the chest press.

     

Dive Bombers – Position yourself with your legs and arms wide, hips raised toward the sky. Lower your head toward the ground then arch your back straightening your arms. Reverse the motion back to start.

Upright Row – You can use a sandbag, barbell or dumbbells for these – anything you can hold in front of you and lift to your chin (it’s not rocket science…)

Squats – Here’s another no-brainer! Again, use whatever you prefer. Just be sure to keep a straight back and to not bend your knees past your toes. You can do squats without any weight too.

Elevated Push-ups – Position yourself in a push-up position with your feet elevated onto a stability ball or ugi ball. Slowly lower your upper body to the ground and push up as you balance yourself on the ball. You can also do this with your feet elevated on a bench.

  

Reverse Pull-ups – Position yourself under equalizer bars, or anything your can lay under and grab with straight arms (TRX straps, bench, squat bars…a table). Keeping your back straight, use your arms to pull your body up. Lower slowly and repeat.

Reverse Curls – Lay on the ground with an ugi ball or medicine ball between your feet, arms down at your sides. Squeezing the ball between your ankles, raise your legs above your hips, then lift your hips off the ground, reaching the ball toward the ceiling. Reverse the motion back to start. Make sure to keep your lower back on the ground. If this is too difficult, do it without weight.

Clean and Press – You can do these with a barbell, sandbag or dumbbells. Start with the weight on the ground in front of you. Squat down and clean the weight, curling it to your shoulders (in a slight squat) with your palms facing out – then press the weight straight up over your head as you stand up straight. Reverse back to start.

  

Bent Over Row – Pretty straight forward. Do a row, hinged forward at your waist. Be sure to row your elbows straight back and squeeze your shoulder blades, then lower the weight straight down and repeat.

 

Flys + Chest Press Abs – Lay on a bench with your legs straight out and off the bench. Use a weight that you can do both a fly and a chest press with. (The fly works a smaller muscle group and usually can’t handle the same amount of weight as the chest). Hold the weights straight above your chest, palms facing each other and then lower your arms out to the sides (arms slightly bent), then back above chest and then down into a chest press, with your palms facing each other. Repeat the sequence, keeping your legs lifted and abs engaged.

Sandbag Swings – I use a sandbag, but you can use a kettle bell or dumbbell. Use a challenging weight and do as many swings as you can in the 50 seconds. Keep your back and arms straight, and really use your legs and core to swing the bag/weight forward.

     

Lunge and Twist – Let’s round out this work out by firing those leg muscles! Stand with your legs staggered holding an ugi ball, medicine ball or a weight above your head. Lunge down and hold while lowering the weight down and twisting across to the hip of your front knee. Raise weight back up and do a jump lunge bringing the back leg forward and into a lunge. Lower the weight again across the front leg and continue alternating legs.