Core and Ab Building Workout

Workout:

Leg lifts x 20

Toe Touches x 20

Hollow Body Rock x 20

Mason Twist x 20

Reverse Crunches x 20

Side Crunches x 20 each side

Flutter Kicks x 20

Heel Touches x 20 each side

Sit-ups x 20

Heels to the heavens x 20

This workout will ask a lot of your stabilizing muscles and your abs. Do your best to complete each exercise to completion before taking any rest. This workout is designed to be done in 15 minutes or less so you have a little over a minute for each exercise. This minimizes downtime, challenges your muscles, and gets a little bit of cardiovascular work in as well. Every exercise is done for 20 repetitions.

Leg lifts:

Start by laying on your back. Put your hands by your butt and clench your abs. Lift your legs up so that you create a 90 degree angle with your body. Fight to keep your legs as straight as possible. Slowly lower them back to the ground and gently tap the floor with your heels before engaging your abs to start the next rep.

Toe Touches:

Still on your back, straighten your legs as much as possible and bring them to a 90 degree angle -- perpendicular to the floor. Keep your legs in this position. Engage your upper abs to pull your back off the ground and reach to make contact with your fingers to your toes. Don’t pull your legs back towards your face so that it is easier.

Hollow Body Rock:

This exercise will completely engage your core and can be challenging. Try to maintain form as best as you can and rest between reps if necessary. Balancing on your butt, hinge your body to make a wide angle, about 120 degrees. You want to stay in this position the entire time. Your hands will be above your head. Slowly rock so that your upper back touches the floor and engage your abs to that your rock back up and your heels touch the ground. Your heels should never lift more than about 6 inches off the ground. The key to this is to be slow and controlled. Every time your feet tap the ground is a rep.

Mason Twist:

Balancing on your butt, clench both your hands to make a singular fist. With your feet held out straight, rotate your body so that you can make contact with the ground with your fists. Then rotate the other way and make contact on the other side of your body. Each time you touch the right side counts as one rep.

Reverse Crunches:

These are a lot like leg extensions except there is no extension portion. Laying on your back you will have your knees bent with your lower legs parallel to the ground. Engage your abs to pull your legs back up towards your face while maintaining this 90 degree angle from your knees.

Side Crunches:

Lay on your side at about a 120 degree angle. Have your bottom arm flat on the ground out in front of you. Your off hand is behind your head. Lift your legs and your upper back off the ground and try to make contact with your elbow to your thigh. Fight to keep your legs as straight as possible. 20 reps on each side.

Flutter Kicks:

Balancing on your butt with your upper back off the ground you want to extend your legs as straight as possible and point your toes. Then just flutter kick as if you were swimming. Small fast kicks. Every time your right foot goes up is a rep.

Heel Touches:

Lay on your back and bring your feet close to your butt while keeping them on the ground. The further away your feet are for this, the harder the exercise will be. Engage your abs and get your upper back off the ground. Pull your body first to the left with your arms straight on the floor and try to touch your left heel. Then pull yourself the other way and touch your right. Every time you touch your right heel is a rep.

Sit-ups:

Keep your legs bent and on the floor and now engage your abs to pull yourself all the way up into a sit-up. Try to get your chest all the way to your thighs.

Heels to the heavens:

Last exercise! Bring your legs up into the air as straight as possible – much like toe touches. Then you want to extend your legs further into the air by pushing your butt off of the ground. Try to stay as straight up and down as possible and not push your legs towards your face.

That’s it! That was a lot of abs and they may be tight afterwards. Do some upward dog to stretch them out. Lay with your stomach on the ground and push your hands into the ground while lifting your upper body up and keeping your hips on the ground. You should feel a stretch in your abs. Great job!

Adjust rest times as needed but this is a great all-encompassing ab workout that will challenge your body and get you the core you’ve always dreamed of. Want some more tailored help? We have some awesome personal trainers that can help you out. We also have free fitness classes at our offices that include a core workout, meditation, or dance fitness. Be sure to check them out as well as some of our paid services that give you more personal and in depth guidelines for improve your body, mind, and soul!