Once a week I workout with a personal trainer. He’s actually my coworker and he offered to train the entire staff. Only 4 of us took advantage of his offer and I don’t mind at all. We work out on Tuesdays and each week he targets a different area. This week the main focus besides my triceps was my abs.
I will post an update next week on my results so far but my core was one of the main areas I wanted to focus on. The workout was on Tuesday and two days later I am still feeling the soreness! I guess my pervious ab workouts weren’t intense enough. He told me that one problem that many people have is that when they feel a little pain or burn in their muscles they rest and that is the worst thing to do. You must be consistent with the workout so your muscles can become stronger. If you take too long of a break it’s like you are starting from scratch again. It is ok to pause in between sets but it should not be too long to where your muscles return to their original state. Ok that was this weeks lesson now below you will find a list of the ab activities I did for my workout. I didn’t do all circuits straight through. I would work on my arms, shoulders, and hips in between. He says, “always let one muscle rest while you focus on the other.” So in between my ab circuits I would do other activities to rest my core.
Circuit 1 (3 reps)
1. 20 full sit ups
2. 20 half sit ups
3. 15 knee lifts in the captains chair
4. 20 side ab crunches (10 on each side)
Circuit 2 (2 reps)
1. Squat/Core rotation with 5 lb. weight (go in squat position hold 5 lb weight with both hands center for 2 counts, then to the right for 2 counts, then to the left for 2 counts, then back to the center for 2 counts) Do this 5x
2. 30 second superman
3. 30 second plank
Circuit 3 (2 reps)
1. 30 second plank touching knees simultaneously
2. 30 second superman with shoulder rotations
3. 30 second plank touching knees with alternating hands
Circuit 4 (3 reps)
1. 20 full sit ups
2. 20 half sit ups
3. 15 knee raises in captains chair
4. 20 side ab crunches (10 on each side)
Imagine this in addition to everything else I did. I dread Tuesdays! When it comes to targeting your abs you have to do more than sit-ups to see actual results. If you decide to try this workout let me know how it works out for you.
I’m going to try this.
Let me know how it goes!