Posted on July 20, 2016 by Jenny Cromack
Summer is well under way so if you have got an escape to a sunny climate organised why not smash your abdominals with this 6-pack sculpting ab workout?
When it comes to working your abs, performing hundreds of sit ups is not the answer, test your abs like you would any other muscle. I also like to consider the primary function of the abs, which is to stabilise and control spinal flexion and extension. By including exercise that resist and stabilises the curving of the spine we can strengthen our core to make sure we protect our spine. This will not only give us a great torso but also minimise our risk of lower back pain and injury.
In this workout I have included exercises that do the above but will also test the strength of your abs using your bodyweight, cables, and medicine balls to add load to your abdominal movements. The exercises throughout the session work in both a linear and rotation pattern of movement to make sure we hit every vital part of that core, making us strong in all directions.
The ab workout is split into 3 supersets (pairs of exercises), working back to back with only 20 secs between exercises, and 45-60 seconds between pairs. These supersets are as follows:
Superset A
Hanging Leg Raises 4 x 8
Cable Wood Chops 4 x 8 Each Side
Superset B
Abdominal Roll Outs 4 x 10
Pallof Press 4 x 10 Each Side
Superset C
Medicine Ball Russian Twist 3 x 20
Plank 3 x 45 seconds
I would not advise adding this to an already busy session. Also, do not perform this session before a heavy, compound session such as squats, deadlift, push presses as this will fatigue the core leaving it vulnerable when it is needed most in these lifts.
This ab workout will test your stomach muscles and leave you feeling like you have been kicked in the stomach, but on the plus side you will be a few steps closer to that beach ready torso everyone desires!