Sometimes I wake up on Mondays and think, “WHY IS IT MORNING TIME NOW?!?!”
Oh—and by sometimes, I mean always. You with me?
In light of this devastating weekly occurrence, I decided to create some quick but effective workouts to post on the blog every Monday to boost motivation. Granted, those of you who work out early in the morning won’t be able to use them, but just bear with me—”Manic Tuesday” doesn’t have the same ring to it. Save the moves for next week’s Monday morning blues.
So without further adieu, the inaugural Manic Monday: a quick ‘n’ not-so-easy ab circuit. I love ab circuits because you can fit a lot of exhausting work into a short amount of time. Following is a workout that includes one strength move followed by a minute of cardio. Why add cardio to an abs workout? Doing cardio between both isolated and compound strength moves keeps your heart rate elevated and maintains that tight tummy feeling, which equals better, faster results. It’s tough, but as Jillian Michaels would say, “Unless you puke, faint or die, keep going!”
(OK, that’s a little extreme, but I do have to remember it whenever I see the word “burpee” on my workout.)
To download the workout, simply right-click on the image and save.
A few notes on the exercises:
The jump rope can be done with out an actual rope (confession: I haven’t owned one since age eight). It’s better to use a rope if you have one for coordination purposes (confession #2: I have no coordination, so there’s probably a reason I hesitate to buy my own jump rope), but you can just mime it without.
Don’t know what some of the above exercises are? Here’s a quick breakdown of each move, several courtesy of Bodybuilding.com:
When I’m finished with an ab workout, I do a couple bridges. It’s the one and only leftover talent I have left from gymnastics class in grade school, so don’t feel bad if you can’t contort your body into the move. Instead, you can lay on a bed/couch and hang off the edge backwards. Really. It’s a good stretch. Just warn those around you that you’re not as crazy as you look. 🙂
Dine & Dash Diaries 