Abs Work: Jack Knife

Abs are tough as we know, but the way to really build those muscles (the fat is another story) is through strength training. Here is a great strength idea for those abs: the Jack Knife. There are two modification options to the regular jack knife you can try.

Option 1: Single-legged jack knife

Straightening your legs forces your upper body to reach higher in this exercise and works your abs more. If you cannot lift your torso as high off the mat, bend your knee and just reach as far as you can. Squeeze as you lift and as you lower. And remember to control the movement as you lower so you are not just falling to the mat!

Option 2: Jack knife with an exercise ball

This can be tougher because both legs are coming up at the same time and you are squeezing with your legs. Try not to drop your legs all the way to the mat.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Abs Workout: Variations of V-Sits

To work on your abs, constantly do exercises that force you to balance. The v-sit is one of such exercises. There are many ways you can do it depending on your body, your limbs, and how strong your core is. Start by sitting on the mat and using your hands to lift the knees towards the chest. Try to balance in the pose.

To go a level up, try to either stretch your arms in front of you or above your head. 

If level 2 feels stable, then try to straighten your legs and lower your upper body just a bit back until you are really in a "V". Hold this for as long as you can. You should really feel it in your core.

Remember that it is okay to stop at level 1. Our limbs are different lengths and our bodies balance differently. It is better to be able to balance in level 1 than try to force a higher level that just isn't happening. 

Here is collage showing the different levels.

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Core Workout: Captain's Chair Leg Raise

Looking to work on your core? Try the Captain's Chair leg raises at your gym. Repeat this for 4 sets of 15 each. Try to keep your upper body straight and grip the handle bars as you do this so that all the power to lift your legs is coming from your core. 

The video shows this exercise with straight legs lifted, but you can also try this with knees lifted towards the chest.

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Weighted Sit-ups

Want to try another abs workout? This one helps increase the tension of a regular sit-up by adding in a dumbbell. How do you do it? Lie back with your butt and feet on the floor, and holding a dumbbell over your head. I used an 8lb dumbbell. Open your feet wide. Slowly use your core to lift your upper body all the way up until the dumbbell is on the floor between your feet. Then slowly lower back down using your core strength to help you. Repeat for 3 sets of 20 reps.

Here is a video demo:

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No Crunch December: Compound Plank

To do a motion exercise that works the entire core, we can combine the standard elbow plank with the side plank.The motion forces you to work more, and get your entire abdominal region. If you are anything like me, sometimes you prefer to move than to do exercises that require you stay in place.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

No Crunch December: Six Inch Leg Raise

So remember how I said exercises that force you to balance are the key to building core strength? Here is another another. People know this by different names, but I like to call it the "Six inch leg raise" because it reminds me that the lower I go, the more effect this has.

No Crunch December: The High Plank and the Pushup

We're still on getting those abs this December without doing those darned crunches. Let's talk about two exercises that we presume only focus on the arms, but really target the core as well.

High Plank

This is very similar to the regular elbow plank we regularly do. However, the difference is that you are on your palms rather than your elbows, like you are when you are trying to begin a regular push-up. 

No Crunch December: Russian Twists

In case you haven't got the message yet, the obliques are a really important part of overall core strength, and of course your abs. The Russian Twist is another one of those exercises that works the obliques a lot, but also works all of the abs muscles. 

How do you do it? Sit on your butt, and lift your upper body off of the floor. You may also choose to lift your legs of the floor or keep your heels on the floor. Keeping your chest up, lower your upper back until you feel tension in your abs. Slowly rotate from left to right, touching the fingers to the floor and turning your head to look to that side as you go. Watch the video for a demo.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

No Crunch December: Kick-Outs

The Kick-out is one of the favorite core exercises because it pushes me hard. I struggle a lot with it, but I see the improvements in my core strength as well. See the video below for details. Note that you can do it with your palms on the floor on either side of your bum, or you can lift your palms off the floor if you are strong enough.

Sit on the floor, lift your legs in the air, and put your palms beside you. Pull your knees close to your chest and pull your chest towards your knees using your core strength. The release your knees forward without your feet touching the floor. Repeat.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

No Crunch December: Bridges

Focusing on core strength is really the focus of this month because I like people to understand that you need a strong core for great abs. But you should not focus on just crunches because they mostly only work one group of abs muscles (the front). 

The bridge is one of those exercises that is amazing for not only the abs, but the bum, and the obliques as well. It forces you to balance and that's what develops that core strength. You can either choose to hold the position for as long as you can (target a minute or more), or turn it into a motion exercise.

Challenging Your Core

I always talk about challenging your body, and how it helps you maximize your physical potential. With any strength training exercise, that could be pushing yourself to do more reps, using more weights in the same exercises, or adding the challenge of balance to your workout.

Ready for Some Upper Body and Core Work?

Your bum is still hurting from the booty challenge, right? Unfortunately, that does not mean you stop working out. You still have to make sure your overall body gets some attention with cardio, and that individual areas stay toned. 

Today, we'll be focusing on the upper body and the core. Try the workout above and let me know how you feel. It seems simple enough - 10 reps of each, then 15, then 20, then back to 15, and back to 10. And make sure you use dumbbells that challenge you! Nothing should be under 5lbs please.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Standing Oblique Twist

Last week, we talked about the standing oblique twist and described how to do it. Check out that post here: Crunch-Free Ab Exercises. This week, I thought I'd show you. The twist is great for your core because you're twisting side to side. But make sure you keep your core tight as you move. The punch also help work out your shoulders and the back of your arms so make sure you hit hard!

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Train Like an Olympian: Beach Volleyball

No one needs to convince you that those beach volleyball players are fit. When your sport requires that little clothes... well, need I say more? 

Kerri Walsh plays beach volleyball for the US in the Olympics. She is about 33 years old, unlike some of the other teenage and under 25 Olympians we have seen, but she is obviously terribly fit. What does she do to stay in shape to perform?

According to Kerri, she spends a lot of time doing interval, plyometric and isokinetic training. Interval training involves going hard for a few minutes, and then resting for a seconds over and over. Plyometric training really just involves powerful movements at high speeds to improve performance and build muscle strength. Isokinetc training involves doing movements at the same speed with variable resistance, so for example, spinning where you try to go at the same speed but move the resistance up and down. As you can tell, these are pretty intense types of workouts.

Beach volleyball players need strong core, leg, and shoulder muscles. The leg muscles help them run around a lot on the beach, the strong core muscles help them stay upright and move vertically, and the strong shoulders? Well, then have to hit that ball. 

Legs: To keep the legs strong, my go to exercise is the squat (If you've been reading this blog, you'd know I love the squat). But including variations of the squat is really important too for interval or plyometric training. Check out one intense variation here: The Squat Jump Tuck. Other leg exercises include: Lunges, Wall sits, Kicks, etc.

Core: Yoga is a great core workout, even though it doesn't always seem so. And anything that requires balance helps build your core strength as well. To build the muscles though, I always say you can get a core workout from almost any kind of workout; just keep your abs tight as you do them. But of course, if you want to focus on the core, you can do the pushup, the plank, bicycles, and other floor crunches.

Shoulders: Again, the pushup is great for your shoulders. But other exercises like arm circles, lateral raises, and tricep rows work on your shoulders as well as your arms.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Glamour.com

Fitness Gadget Review: The Body by Jake 'The Solution'

Are you totally into whatever the new fitness gadget fad is? Do you watch infomercials on the weekends and swear you would be able to get your body into the shape of the guy in the ad if only you had that tool he was advertising? Well, you'd like the new Eights & Weights segment: Fitness Gadget Review.

How did this come about? Well, I was sitting in the gym and looking at this 'The Solution' gadget, and I thought "The Eights and Weights readers would love to know if this is worth it." So here we are.

Okay, so maybe you don't even know what The Solution is. Like many of its counterparts out there, its makers claim it shreds fat and builds ab muscles because you are doing more than just the regular crunch. They even put Mario Lopez (in all his ab glory) in the infomercial. Watch it below if you haven't seen it:

The basis is that if you are moving your upper and lower body towards your abs you must be doing something terrific to give you rock hard abs and lose the flab.

So I'm guessing you already know where I stand on this. No one ab machine is going to give you abs; the same way that no number of crunches will give you abs unless it is part of a whole workout and nutrition program. Cardio burns fat, and strength training tones muscles, and while there are exercises that can incorporate both (like plyometrics), The Solution isn't it. It will help build those ab muscles, and you will feel it in your belly area when you are done, but the repetitive motion of squeezing your knees and torso inward does not seem to be more than doing a jack knife or v-sit on the floor. It will not get rid of the flab covering the muscle.

Hopefully, that didn't burst your bubble. But I feel that we get caught up in targeting losing fat in one area, which the body does not allow, rather than work on the whole body. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this gadget, but it does not seem to be more functional or work better than doing different kinds of ab exercises. And of course, it is definitely not the 'be all and end all' of you getting great abs.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Desk Abs Workout

Yes, it is the middle of the day. On a weekday. And you are probably sitting at your desk listening to your manager explain why the numbers were down last quarter (I know you’re probably a Mechanical Engineer right now, but just go with it). And you start to wonder “What could I possibly do right now that would seem like I’m listening intently, and would burn calories at the same time?” Yes, this is how we all think in the middle of the day…

What could you do? Work on your abs! In fact, all you have to do is hold your stomach muscles tight as you breathe in and out.  Breathe in and hold your muscles, and then breathe out and contract them. Try to do this without rounding your lower back.

You can add a twist as well (Well, only if you’re in your office alone) by breathing in and then turning to the side. This mimics a mason twist without requiring too much movement.

Another twist is to move your hips from side to side as you do this. So breathe in, and move your upper body left while your hips go right. Do the same on the other side. You should be contracting your abs the whole time.

Finally to extend the simply breathe in-breathe out, simply lift your chest high as you breathe in, and contract your abs as far in as you can go as you breathe out.

People say you should do all the crazy abs exercises, but I say continuously work on your abs as you do your everyday tasks. You can do these while driving, sitting in meetings, sitting at your desk, etc. Combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise, you’ll have those abs in no time!

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: absmachineinfo.wordpress.com

How to do a Mountain Climber

Mountain climbers are great for your arms, your legs, and your core, and serve as a great cardio workout as well. If you are thinking of incorporating new strength training exercises into your program, definitely try these. You may not be able to do that many initially, but it'll get better as you do more of them. We've created a video on how to do great mountain climbers, both slow and fast. Try it, and let me know how you feel!

Also, subscribe to our Youtube channel to watch videos as we add them and provide comments.

Cheers Eights & Weights!