This is the third in a series of introductory ab workout routine articles that I’m posting with a focus on bodyweight strength training.
Make sure to check out the others to get a complete picture of how you can be training your abs as a beginner and building a strong powerful core.
For this one I’ve chosen some incredible exercises that really cover all of your abdominal muscles.
Again, the great thing about these movements is that they don’t take much time, so if you have a tight schedule they should work well for you. One of the many benefits of bodyweight strength training.
They’re also not complicated, so you should become a pro at them in a short amount of time.
And you can easily integrate them into your routine on a day when you are working out another muscle group if you so choose.
Otherwise, you can just do them on their own for a focused ab workout day.
So if you’re ready, let’s get to it!
Related Article: 5 Great Exercises For a Beginner’s At Home Workout
The Side Plank
This is a great strengthening and stabilizing workout for your core with a particular emphasis on your external obliques.
With everybody getting so excited about the plank exercise generally, it was only a matter of time before people started playing around with it to see what else might be there.
If you’re interested in learning about the basic movement for starters, you can read about the plank here.
One of the variations discovered is this movement, creatively referred to as the side plank. I like to refer to it as the plank on the side.
To each their own.
It’s easy enough to execute, looks almost exactly as it sounds and is a great example of bodyweight strength training.
Start by lying down on your side. Prop yourself up on your forearm and keep it perpendicular with your body. Make sure your elbow is directly under your shoulder.
Then straighten out your legs, one on top of the other, making a straight line with your body.
Your upper body should be propped up with your arm and the rest, from your hips down, should be resting on the ground.
Then simply lift your hips off the ground so that you are supporting your weight with the side of your foot that is on the ground, and your forearm.
You should be making a straight line as best you can with your body, don’t let your hips slouch.
Try and hold this position for 20 – 30 seconds.
You should really be feeling this movement down the side of your abdominal muscles.
After about 30 seconds, relax and do the same thing on the other side.
Here is a great demonstration of the side plank by Amanda Edell for the folks over at Howcast.
Some great recommendations in there for both beginners and more advanced variations.
As a beginner, I would stick with the standard side plank for now. Don’t worry about any kind of repetitions or leg lifts. Those moves will all be great once you’ve strengthened your core and are doing the movement with good form.
For now shoot for the isometric hold of 20 – 30 seconds with your legs fully extended.
If that’s a little too difficult, try the bent leg variation for 15 – 20 seconds and work your way up from there.
You’ll probably improve at this quickly, building great stability for your core.
Related Article: How To Lose Belly Fat and Feel Great
The Reverse Crunch
Moving from the side plank to the reverse crunch you’re going to start bringing more abdominal muscles into play.
This version of the reverse crunch is also referred to as the vertical leg crunch, using your legs and upper torso to maximize the bodyweight strength training movement.
This is definitely a movement you want to incorporate into your regular ab routine.
It provides great core strength and stability. It’s also the kind of exercise that you can make more advanced by adding weight for progressive overload.
Again, execution of this move is pretty straight forward.
Lie down on your back.
Place your hands behind your head or touching your temples. The key is to keep your elbows pointing out to your sides at all times. You don’t want your arms assisting the movement. You just want to focus on your core.
Next, lift your legs up together with a slight bend, forming an “L” shape with your body.
From this position, slowly lift your shoulder blades off the ground, with the focus on your abdominal muscles contracting and doing all the lifting.
Once your shoulder blades have cleared the ground, hold the position for a moment and then slowly return to the starting position.
Try and keep your abdominal muscles engaged throughout the entire range of motion. Relax only once your shoulders are back on the ground.
Consider crunching up and coming back down as one repetition.
Here is a great demonstration of the vertical leg crunch aka reverse crunch from the folks at efitness.com.
A great demo even if the guy doing the voice over sounds a little uptight.
This is a great exercise to engage your core and improve stability.
Try doing 10 -15 repetitions to begin.
Don’t worry if you need to bend your legs a little. The object is to engage your core to help keep your legs up while crunching.
You’ll probably really feel this one, I always do.
Related Article: The Plank Workout Challenge For Beginners
Hanging Knee Tucks
As I mentioned, this is the third in a series of postings related to introductory ab workout routines.
Out of all the exercises presented from all three routines, this is the only one I’m recommending that requires you to use a piece of equipment.
All the other exercises you can perform using just your bodyweight and nothing else.
This is also a bodyweight strength training exercise but I’m strongly advising you to include this movement at a gym where you can find a pull up bar or if you prefer to workout at home, grab yourself a pull up bar from the store, they’re cheap and pop right on to most door frames.
Trust me, this is the best investment I made for my fitness journey. There are so many great exercises you will do with this one piece of equipment.
Hanging knee tucks is one of the best.
Start by getting yourself under the pull up bar. Ideally, you should have to reach up on your toes to grab the bar.
You might have to use a step to reach up, in which case it might be a good idea when starting out to do this exercise with someone else spotting you as well.
Once you have a grip of the bar lift your feet up a little so they’re off the ground.
I realize this might require some upper body and grip strength, but you don’t have to pull up with your arms, you only need to hang. So hold on.
While in the hanging position, pull both knees up at the same time into your chest.
To get the most out of this movement, you want to pull your knees as high up into your chest as you can so that your butt is pointing straight out in front of you.
Make sure as you are tucking your knees up you are engaging mostly your core to complete the move.
Don’t swing your legs or use momentum in any way to complete the movement. You won’t be exercising your core that way.
This movement utilizes all the muscles in your core and when done correctly you’ll feel a real burn. It’s an incredible bodyweight strength training exercise.
Consider each time you bring your legs up and back down as one repetition.
Here’s a great demonstration of the hanging knee tucks with Michelle Trapp for Livestrong.com.
A great demonstration of the hanging knee tuck. The most important factor she emphasizes is really getting your knee up to your chest by contracting from the core and getting your hips up high. That makes all the difference.
The arm slings are a good idea if you want to get them. They’re probably great while you’re starting out.
Eventually you’ll develop the grip and arm strength so that you won’t need them. Just try not to use them too much for leverage. Remember you want to be doing the work from your core.
I realize this isn’t an absolute beginner exercise and it may take some time to build up to it but your stomach will thank you.
It really does work all your abdominal muscles.
Don’t worry too much about the side variation for now. Just focus on doing good front knee tucks and you’ll be on your way. Try and complete 10 repetitions for starters.
Related Article: Best Bodyweight Exercises To Build A Strong Lean Physique
Putting It All Together
So let’s put this awesome routine for abs together and see how it looks.
- Side Plank 20 -30 Seconds Per Side
- Vertical Leg Crunch 10 – 15 Reps
- Hanging Knee Tucks 10 Reps
This is definitely a challenging beginner bodyweight strength training routine. I think it would do the trick for somebody whose been exercising for a little while.
Stick with it and you’ll be on your way to building a lean powerful core. Try and do the full routine about 2 – 3 times through for starters, giving yourself a couple minutes break between each exercise.
Now I realize that at first glance this routine may seem a little more on the advanced side of the beginner’s scale.
That being said, there may still be people who give it a go and think it really is more of a warm up or them and could use something a little more challenging.
Despite the advanced variations suggested to the general movements, you may want a little something extra.
In that case may I suggest you…
Make It Metabolic!
Whoa! What exactly are you talking about?
I’ll tell you.
But first let me honestly say that I believe this routine will be more than a handful for any beginner looking for a solid abdominal workout to build strength and core stability.
In the rare instance that you are someone who hasn’t worked out before, tried this routine and honestly needed more of a challenge…
This routine can be turned into a great metabolic workout for beginners.
If you haven’t heard of a metabolic workout before and want to know what it is, here’s a general breakdown for you.
A metabolic workout tends to involve compound exercises. Compound exercises utilize multiple joints and multiple muscle groups at the same time.
So for example the hanging knee tuck in this routine is a great compound exercise incorporating the quadriceps, glutes, deltoid muscles and core. As you can imagine, it works multiple joints for these muscle groups to work together.
A good metabolic workout will have you boost your metabolism with a good calorie burn. Your metabolism is generally measured by how many calories you burn while at rest.
The faster your metabolism the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn the better your chances of burning fat and losing some weight.
Metabolic training tends to incorporate large muscle groups in the body. Though it can be done with smaller muscle groups as well. It utilizes high intensity and you’ll definitely feel the burn in the muscles you are working.
The high intensity also means you’re able to workout for a shorter period of time to achieve the same results.
The benefits of a solid metabolic workout routine for beginners include improved cardiovascular performance and strength training. There also tends to be a boost in fat loss as a result of increased calorie burns.
Some studies indicated that following a good metabolic workout routine, a percentage of the increased levels of calorie burns continue while at rest. This has been referred to as the “afterburn effect”.
Also known as the excess post exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. It’s really just a fancy way of describing the increased number of calories burned after exercise.
Related Article: Best At Home Workout For Beginners To Start Today
So…
How Do We Make This Workout Routine Metabolic?
No problem.
If you’re looking to turn this into a metabolic workout routine for beginners the best place to start is with your rest period in between exercises.
This is one way to boost the intensity. So instead of resting for a couple of minutes between each movement, cut your rest down to 30 seconds.
If that still doesn’t do it for you, take the rest out completely from in between exercises and go straight through from one movement to the next.
Save the rest for after completing all three exercises.
I really think this routine on its own should give you a crazy workout. If you’re looking to burn some additional calories, saving the rest until the end of all three will definitely do the trick but try it once and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
If you do need to go straight through for it to be a challenge, whatever you do, don’t slow down. By maintaining the pace throughout, you maximize the efficiency of the movements.
By boosting the intensity in this fashion you’ll reap the benefits of this bodyweight strength training routine in less time and effectively turned it into a great metabolic workout.
Related Article: A Full Body Workout In Minutes
The Wrap Up
So there you have it!
A great bodyweight strength training workout for beginners to build a lean and powerful core.
If you’re able to jump right to the metabolic workout, I’d imagine you’re not quite a beginner and may be ready soon to take this workout to the next level by implementing the advanced variations and additional sets.
If you are a beginner, this routine should get you on track to building your strength and toning your body. Try and do it at least a couple times a week until it gets considerably easier.
At that point you won’t be such a beginner anymore. You’ll be on your way to the next level. Way to go!
