Wednesday’s Workout| The Best Ab Workout| Ab Ripper X

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Today is the start of a new feature that I am going to run on my blog. I decided that since you all seem to love my Fitness Friday posts I will offer you even more help with your health and fitness by sharing some of my favourite workouts with you. I am going to create a playlist on my YouTube channel so that they will all be in one place for you and will be easy to find when you want to try them.

This weeks workout is one of the hardest ones I do but also one of the most effective ones. I have previously reviewed the P90X workout program and this is one of the workouts from that program. It is a 16 minute ab routine that is to be followed no more than 3 times a week! For legal reason I cannot post the actually video on here, but thanks to Youtube there are plenty of kind people who demo the moves for you so it’s exactly the same!

Ab Ripper X is a very short but very intense workout, that encompasses 11 different ab moves repeated for 25 reps. I warn you, you will not be able to complete all the reps the first time you do it, you may not even be able to do some of the moves, but give it a try and work your way up. You will be surprised at how quickly you can improve your performance. I still don’t attempt the Cross Leg/Wide Leg Sit Ups or the V-Up Roll-Up as I don't have enough core strength to do these without putting strain on my back or neck. Instead I do one of the other moves from the routine or good old bicycle crunches.

Here is a complete list of the moves;

In & Outs- 25 reps

Seated Bicycle- 25 reps

Crunchy Frog- 25 reps

Cross Leg/Wide Leg Sit Ups- 25 reps

Fifer Scissors- 25 reps

Hip Rock & Raise- 25 reps

Pulse Up (Heels To Heaven)- 25 reps

V-Up Roll-Up- 25 reps

Oblique V-Up- 25 right, 25 left

Leg Climb- 12 per side

Mason Twist- 40 reps, 10 bonus. 

It really is one of the best ab workouts there is out there because it works all areas of your core. Don't be put off at the difficultly give it a go and you will soon master it.

What do you think of my new Feature Wednesday's Workout? Have you ever tried this workout before? What is your favourite ab workout? 

Motivation Monday| Zumba Fitness Core Review| Personal Results

As you probably know, seems I keep banging on about it, I have been on a big fitness kick over the past 2 months. I’ve been working hard so I can fit perfectly into my party dresses this Christmas and New Year. I have been taking part in my self devised Fitness Challenge, however the other week I was kindly gifted the new Zumba Fitness Core Game to trial and to incorporate into my Festive Flat Tum Challenge.

As a huge fan of the Zumba workouts I obviously jumped at the chance to try this new game. Having exhausted all the routines and moves in the old one this was a nice change. The reasons why I love the Zumba games is that they don’t feel like a workout, you don’t have someone shouting at you demanding you to do push ups and jumping jacks, instead you get to dance along to some great moves and have a laugh. There have been many a times when my mum and I have been in stiches try to master some of the moves, one time my mum almost knocked me clean out while getting too overenthusiastic with the Zumba hand weights and hitting me in the head!

Anyways on to the new game! You can buy the Zumba Core Game for the Nintendo Wii and Kinect for the Xbox 360 and it is priced at £19.99, an absolute steal and only the cost of  a few exercises classes (or cocktails!) You can buy the game from the usual places, including Game. The game was designed and developed as research shows that the core is the one area that women are most unhappy about their own bodies and the area they most want to work on. It comes with a dance belt so you don’t have to mess around trying to carry a remote control, you can just dance you little bum off!

The review

What they say-

“Dance your way to flat, sexy abs! Skip the crunches and strengthen your core with the only game to sculpt you abs through an exhilarating total-body workout. Zumba Fitness Core focuses specifically on strengthening and sculpting your core, within an effective body workout to deliver the tight and toned abs for a sexy six pack. This energising dance-fitness experience features 40 tracks from Enrique Iglesias, LMFAO, Shakira, Bob Marley and more, and over 33 dance styles so you can party your abs off- without ever getting down on the floor!”

What I say-

“I have one other Zumba game, which I love and thankfully I can say the same about this one! I enjoyed the music a lot more than previous one, as there was more recent/recognisable songs. I think the dances are more diverse, you can find all sort from ballet to jive to African dance alongside the more traditionally Zumba dance; salsa and samba. If you are a newbie to Zumba, there is no need to fear as the tutorials are very clear and helpful so learning the steps is easy to do.

As with the older game, the workout options vary so you can match them to your mood. You can choose to dance one or two dances, picking from any of the routines, or you can do a full dance class, which are either 20, 40 or 60 minutes long.  I normally do the 40 minute routine, which is definitely long enough to feel the burn!

The feature I love the most is the ability to monitor your progress, just like my beloved NikeRun Ap, I love to see how I am performing and if I am improving! With the ability to monitor your progress and set goals it keeps me hooked in… I’m a bit of a nut for stats! So finding out how many calories I’ve burnt, achievements earned and technique scores is a great addition!”

Results

I have incorporated this game into my Festive Flat Tum Challenge and have been using it for about 3 weeks. So with my running, additional abs exercises and this game I have to say I am seeing results! I actually managed to fit into my target dress this past weekend, which didn’t fit 6 weeks ago… it barely went over my bum 6 weeks ago! You can also see how many inches I have lost on my waist! I put this belt on and was shocked to find it doesn’t fit anymore.. it literally hangs off me!

Overall I am more than impressed with this game! It has given me results and most importantly it is fun! I can’t wait to crack it out after Christmas and challenge my friends and family to it.. burn off that Christmas turkey!

Have you tried this game, or any of the other Zumba workouts? Do you enjoy dance workouts?

Fitness Friday| How to get a flat stomach

 

As many of you will know I have been taking part in my Festive Flat Tum Challenge for the past month with an aim to tone up and get a flat tum for Christmas. You may be asking… why work out in the run up to Christmas, with all the parties and food… am I mad?! Well yes, it is proving to be difficult especially with the boxes of chocolates being brought into the office weekly, but I want to look fab for Christmas so the challenge is worth it!

So with an aim to get that flat tum I have been doing my favourite, most effective ab workouts daily, and I wanted to share with you my tips on how to gain a flat tum. I am in no ways a nutritionist or qualified personal trainer, these are purely tips I have learnt through my passion for fitness and health. So here goes!

Firstly to gain a perfect flat tum you firstly need to get rid of the fat hanging around your midriff. You can do as many crunches as you want but if you have fat around your middle this will always hide the muscles you are building underneath. So you need to combine both cardio and strength exercises. Ab exercise alone won’t get rid of belly fat!  Think of it this way; you use strength exercise to tone from the inside, and you use cardio to loose the inches on the outside that will allow you to show your sexy toned stomach! So make sure you are working up a sweat for 30 minutes 5 times a week, at least!

Next step is strength, I want to share with you the go to strength exercises that I recommend to tone that tum as quick as possible. Basically you should be doing exercises that use as many muscles as possible in one go and for this I recommend The Plank and Bicycle Crunches!

The Plank is the best move I can recommend as it works a tonne of muscles all at the same time! You don’t need any equipment, you can do it anywhere and it works you hard in relatively little time! The Plank works your muscles more effectively than traditional crunches! It has been scientifically proven to build endurance in your abs, back and arms, as well as stabilise the muscles. It is also the perfect move building up strength for those dreaded pushups! Here is some tips on how to perform The Plank;

1. Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.
2. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.
3. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.
4. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle.
5. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

Bicycle Crunches are my next tip! These little painful beauties have been proven to be the most effective abs exercise! This move, like The Plank works a series of muscles all at the same time. They work the  rectus abdominals (the six pack area) and the obliques (the waist). The Bicycle Crunch works those side abdominal muscles like no other core exercise, so if you want that sexy waist get going girls! Here is some tips on how to perform Bicycle Crunches;

1. Lie face up on your mat and place your hands behind your head, lightly supporting it with your fingers.
2. Bring the knees in to the chest and lift the shoulder blades off the floor without pulling on the neck.
3. Rotate to the left, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee as you straighten the other leg.
4. Switch sides, bringing the left elbow towards the right knee.
5. Continue alternating sides in a 'pedalling' motion for 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps.

So there we go! To gain your flat tum you need to burn off the fat with cardio and perform effective core exercises such as these often. I do them daily, but try to at least do them 3 times a week.

What are your favourite ab moves? Do you have any other exercise your recommend to tone up that stomach in time for Christmas and New Year?