45-Minute Ab-Burning Workout
A lot of people are obsessed with working their abdominals. Many of them believe that doing so will give them a six-pack. The truth is that the key to a six-pack is your diet. You need to remove body fat and get your percentage down to less than 13% to have any chance of getting visible abs.
That doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t work your abdominals. They are a muscle and need to be working like any other. In this article, I will present a five-exercise workout which is done as a circuit to provide an intensive 45-minute abdominal workout.
The Exercises
Roll Up
Lie face up with your legs extended and your arms by your sides.
Flexing your shoulders, bring your arms above your head.
With one explosive motion, bring your arms overhead to shoulder height and draw your knees and toward your stomach as you dynamically perform a sit up. Place your feet on the floor as close to your butt as possible.
Transfer your weight to your feet and move into a low squat. Now press your heels into the floor to rise into a standing position with your legs completely straight.
Return to the starting position and repeat.
Dumbbell Sit Ups
Lie face up with your knees slightly bent, holding a dumbbell in each hand with an overhand grip.
Contract your abdominals as you raise your torso into a sit-up position, keeping the dumbbells at shoulder level.
Low yourself slowly back to the starting position. Repeat for 60 seconds
Single Arm Kettlebell Press Up
Holding a kettlebell in your right hand, lie face up with your legs extended.
Contracting your core, perform a sit-up while pressing the kettlebell toward the ceiling.
With a controlled descent, lower both your torso and your arm to return to the starting position.
Repeat for 60 seconds. On the next round, switch hands.
Farmer’s Walk
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart holding a pair of kettlebells at your sides.
Advance rapidly forward 10 paces. Then turn and return to the start position.
Continue for 60 seconds.
Scissors Over Dumbbells
Place two dumbbells upright on the floor about one foot apart from each other.
Sit with your legs outstretched and your feet between the dumbbells.
Bring your legs up and away from the floor, and roll backwards to counterbalance your lower extremities. Keep your core engaged and your spine in a neutral position.
To scissor your legs, drop your left leg towards the floor, but not touching it, between the dumbbells.
Drop your right leg between the dumbbells while you draw the left one up, and elevate it in the air.
Repeat the scissoring motion, alternating which leg elevates and drops, until both legs are positioned on the left side of the dumbbells.
Return to the starting position by reversing the steps above, performing the scissor motion toward the right and leading with the right leg.
The Workout
Rather than counting reps on this workout, it should be done for time. Perform every exercise for 60 seconds, working to keep a regular cadence and not allowing your form to drop off. Go through all five exercises with no rest between them. You then get exactly 60 seconds to rest. Keep repeating the circuit until 45 minutes is up on the clock.
Wrap Up
This is an extremely intense abdominal workout. By the midway point, your abs will be screaming out for relief. Your challenge is to keep going right to the end. Then you can rest. Do this workout once or twice a week and you will develop amazingly strong and delineated abs. Once you get rid of the fat that covers them, they’ll be ready for their world debut.
