11 Minute Abs Part 4
I’m a fan of my 11 minute protocol. With each round you can fatigue then the bell gets you going again. I try to shift up the variety on which parts of the abs we’re hitting with each exercise that way we’re not overworking one area and totally neglecting another.
As usual, we’re doing 2 rounds of 30 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest. I realize some of these exercises demonstrated may be / look intense, and will be working on showing the proper stages of these exercises in the future in other posts (beginner, intermediate, advanced.) OK, here we go.
1 Arm 1 Leg Plank
Get in a full plank (or the starting point of a push up.) Round one lift your left arm and right leg off the ground. Round 2 do right arm left leg. Now hold for the full 30 seconds. There are a ton of varieties to this, where you touch down, alternate, pull elbows and knees towards eachother, etc. We’re just doing the static hold variety.
Bent Knee Side Plank (exercises 2 & 3)
Do your weaker side first, then your stronger side. Get into your regular side plank position with your body parallel and you pushed up on your elbow (or arm.) The key is to make sure your arm / elbow and shoulder create a straight line. Don’t go too far forward or too far back as that puts additional strain on the shoulder joint we’re not looking for. We want to work the obliques. Now bend at the knee placing your feet behind you. Hold in the up position for 30 seconds.
Superman
Remember the lat superman? We’re doing something similar, just without the arm pullback. Lay flat on your stomach with your arms in front of you and your feet behind you (like you’re in a torture rack.) Lift your legs and arms off the ground while maintaining contact with the ground from your hips to chest.
Cross Crunches
This is in place of the typical Russian Twist I love to throw in and is part of the cardio portion of our program. Lay flat on your back with your arms behind your head. Lift yourself up twisting your elbow across your body towards your knee. Start with your weaker side and alternate with each rep (left then right then left then right or vice versa depending on which side is weaker.)
Flutter Kicks
We’re staying on our back for this one. This is part 2 for the cardio portion of our workout. Make sure your lower back is flat against the ground. Lift your feet to 90 degrees, then tilt them forward to a position where you can maintain your spine on the ground while keeping your abs engaged. Kick the legs up and down. Watch the video below for a simple correction to make sure you’re getting the most out of this exercise (if you’re on the email list, check this on on the website, there should be links at the top of the email to view.)
L Sit
This one is mean. I found a video with a series of progressions, so that should be helpful. For the sake of this tutorial we’ll go with the first version mentioned. Sit on your butt with your legs out in front of you. Lift yourself off the ground with your arms and hold.
Knees Up Crunch
Here’s part 3 of our cardio. This one is exactly how it sounds. Lay on your back and bring your legs up to 90 degrees. Bend your knees. Place your hands behind your head and crunch up. Try not to lead with your neck as that’s bad for you.
