Go To Ab Workout

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Sometime when I was in college, the P90X workout videos seemed to be everyone’s favorite fitness routine. While I admittedly never made my way through even all of the CDs, I did find a life long favorite ab workout. I’m all about efficiency. In every aspect of my life, I want things to be as quickly completed as possible, without compromising how well they are finished. This might be my Type A personality coming out. Regardless, I love this ab video because it takes about ten to fifteen minutes to complete, works every part of your abs, and is easy to add into your workout routine.

As of lately, I no longer follow this workout exactly as P90x shows or describes it. I have made modifications to this workout so I don’t use my hip flexors as much. The reason is, that I don’t want to overwork them so I can continue working to get my hip measurements down. This has been a slowww and steady process for me, but the smallest changes make the biggest difference over time and I’ve noticed progress with the mods over the past 8-9 months, so I plan to keep at it!

About a month ago, I found an old photo on my phone when I had much more defined abs than I had at that time. When I tried to think back to what exact workouts I was doing at the time, one of my friends asked me if that was the time I was doing this ab workout about five times a week. I remembered it was. So, I started adding this routine (now with modifications) back in at the end of my workouts and have quickly reminded myself why it is my go to ab workout. I’ve vowed to do it five times a week until our wedding to continue to get in shape. Because it’s so quick and effective, I wanted to share it with you all!

Remember, I myself am not a personal trainer and am just sharing what I do in hopes that you’ll enjoy it and see results from it as much as I do! With summer and bikini season basically here (really, I’m on my balcony typing this and the pool is packed) there is really no excuse not to be working those abs on the daily! Scroll down for my go to ab workout to tone up your stomach for summer.

Do 25 reps of each of the workouts below:

• Stretch and crunch

• Mini bike crunches

• Hug and crunch

• Cross Leg Sit Up and Twist

• Scissor Kicks

• Hip Rock and Raise

• Pulse Up

• Rollup Combo

• Oblique Pulses

• Heel Touches

• Mason Twist

I’ll do my best to describe each movement below until I can force myself into making a video, but if you have any questions just reach out!

Stretch and crunch

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor. Reach your arms out over the top of your head and then lift up, crunching your abs, and end with your arms up in the air reaching out towards the ceiling. Return to starting position and repeat.

Mini bike crunches

Lie on your back with your feet at a ninety-degree angle to the floor. Hold your hands behind your head and then pull your elbow to the opposite foot and repeat, making a bicycle-type motion. The key with the mini bike crunch is to avoid extending your legs out between reps. Keep them in close to avoid using your hip flexors. Continue this until you do 25 on each side, or 50 total.

Hug and crunch

Lie on your back with your arms stretched out on both sides and your feet flat on the floor. Crunch up, almost wrapping your arms around them as if you were giving yourself a hug. Return to the starting position and repeat, keeping your feet flat on the floor.

Cross Leg Sit Up and Twist

Sit with your feet in a criss cross, as you did when you were in elementary school. Lie on your back with one arm behind your head and the opposite arm extended. Pull yourself up using your arbs and when your extended arm is up straight in the air, pull it down to the opposite side on the outside of your thigh. Switch your arms and repeat.

Scissor Kicks

Lie on your back with your legs stretched out in front of you with both hands flat on the floor on either side of you. Hold both legs about an inch off the ground, then bring one up into the air, straightening it as much as possible. Hold for a few seconds, then alternate legs. Be sure to keep your hands flat on the floor or underneath your glutes, so you aren’t holding on to your mat and using your arms to pull you up instead of your abs.

Hip Rock and Raise

Lie on your back with the bottoms of your feet touching one another so your legs are in sort of a diamond shape. Lift your feet, keeping the bottoms of your feet together until you raise them into the air with your feet towards the sky. Return them to the starting position and repeat. Keep your hands in the same position as the exercise before.

Pulse Ups

Lie on your back with both legs extended straight up into the air. Raise your hips off the ground to pulse your feet into the air. The movement should be relatively small. Keep your hands flat on the ground or under your glutes.

Rollup Combo

Lie on your back with your arms extended out over your head and your legs extended out in front of you. Lift your arms up and touch your toes. When your upper back is back onto the ground, bring your legs up in the air and crunch up to touch your toes in the air. Return to the starting position. You’ll complete 26 of these if you count each movement as one rep.

Oblique Pulses

Lie on one side of your mat, using your forearm to hold you up. Put your other arm on your hip. Stack your feet so the bottom leg is under the top leg. You can also cross one over the other. Move your body in a small pulse towards the mat, then back up to the starting position to crunch or engage your oblique muscles. Complete 25 and then switch sides.

Heel touches

Lie on your back with one leg extended straight up in the air. Extended the opposite arm in the air, with the other lying flat down at your side. Reach up to touch your heels (or toes) and then return flat on the floor. Repeat, then switch sides.

Mason Twist

Lie on your back with your feet on the ground. Holding a weight in your hands, twist and touch the weight to the ground on one side, then twist and touch it on the other. Keep your feet on the ground so you don’t use your hip flexors. Repeat 50 times.

When you’re finished, try some child’s poses and chatarangas to stretch your abs.

If these don’t make sense, please reach out or, you can look at this video online which might help. I realllllly will work on getting out of my comfort zone and making one soon, too. I think. Haha. As I mentioned, I modified these exercises so I am not using my hip flexors as much. Basically, keep your feet on the ground when possible for a lot of the beginning exercises and at the end when you do the mason twist. They are small changes, but those make such a big difference over time!

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A little about my workout outfit. This t-shirt is the softest thing EVER and is so comfy. I want it in a few other colors because the wide arm holes really makes it breathable and doesn’t restrict my movements when I’m working out. It also isn’t so lose that it gets in the way. The little detail on the bottom of these black pants and on the sports bra make it a little something special. These are sold on one of my all time favorite sites for online shopping and I’ve linked it all below. As always, just click on one of the images under the ‘click below to shop’ scroll and you’ll be taken to the product page to shop! This workout set is actually a great price compared to so many out there and this top is also a good deal. Especially because you can wear it out and about without it looking like a workout top. If you’re following me on Instagram then you saw me wear it a few weeks ago with white jeans and heels to an event on a weeknight! Double duty shirts are my jam.

I hope this workout becomes a part of your weekly routine as you prep for Summer! XO