Want to really work your abs? Do THIS!

Bret Contreras is a pretty smart guy. He's one of those strength coaches that practices what he preaches. He's got the real world experience to go along with the Master's degree from Arizona State. 

Although Bret is mostly known for being the go-to guy for women looking to add some size to their glutes, he's done a TON of EMG research. 

A while ago, Bret did some work and found which exercises utilize the lower abs, obliques and lower back to the greatest extent. Here's what he found:

Just another reason to do chin-ups ladies.

For lower abs he found that chin-ups beat out every other exercise in muscle activity! Can you believe that?! But you have to do them with correct technique. Basically keep a straight line from your shoulders to your knees, keeping your lower back from hyper-extending.

He found that Turkish Get-Ups (TGU) also had the overall highest levels of combined activation for lower abs, obliques and low back extensors. 

In summary here is the best Ab-blasting circuit to really give your abs a good workout. You'll see it works other muscle groups as well, showing that isolation may not be the best formula for abs.

1. TGU x 5 each side
2. Chinup x max -2 reps
3. Body saw (think slideboard ab slides, or stability ball roll-out) x 12
4. Kneeling cable lift x 8 each side

In the Hi-5 FitCamp we've done all of these exercises. But we've never done them back to back to back in a circuit. I smell a challenge!

2011 Hi-5: Round 1 - Status:Complete!

How our Hi-5ers felt after one of our workouts!

So here we are at the end of January! We've wrapped up our first round of our Hi-5 FitCamp and I must say I'm quite proud of both myself and of this group.

I'm so proud of the people that finished up this month. Every week got tougher and tougher (by design) and they just kept coming back for more! Even had a handful of newbies that made it through! So congratulations to them!!

Now that we are approaching our off-week, I want to make sure I get an off-week workout for everybody. But here is the thing to remember: This is an ACTIVE RECOVERY week, with an emphasis on recovery. This is why the workout I provide for you isn't a 1000 calorie eating, mini-Volkslauf. I want you to stay active but allow you to recover and prevent exhaustion. The recovery workout I provide is more just a little metabolic kick-start with corrective goals. This is why I usually try to cap them at 15-20 minutes for each workout.

More than doing the workout, I want the people in the Hi-5 Fitcamp to take this week and use it to dial in their eating habits. Take some time to get acquainted with www.caloriecount.com and start to use it. Once you see how easy it is to use, you'll start to reap the benefits of KNOWING how much food you actually consumed, how much of each macronutrient you consumed and it helps you plan your meals as well.

Speaking of meal planning, since we are not having class this week, its a perfect week for you and I to talk about your nutrition and eating habits! I have recently begun offering nutritional assessments. These assessments include body composition and measurements, your personal caloric needs and setting up steps for you to develop healthy habits.

These take about 30 minutes and this week I am offering them for free to Hi-5 members current and past, for free! But there are only a limited number of appointment times. So if you'd like to take advantage of this, please let me know (aaron@pairmarotta.com) and we can set something up.

On to the workout! This week's challenge is geared toward improving core strength and glute function!! Perform the exercises as a circuit doing each exercise for 1:00. Minimal rest between sets.

1. Single Leg Hip Bridges (30 sec each leg)
2. Mt. Climbers
3. Side Plank 
4. Hip Circles from hands/knees (:30 each leg)
5. Split Squats - Right leg
6. Split Squats - Left Leg
7. Stick Ups
8. Single Leg Squat - Right Leg 
9. Single Leg Squat - Left Leg



Hip Circle 2



Hip Circle 1

10. Squat Jumps

That workout should take about 10-15 minutes depending on how much rest you take between exercises. If you can complete the entire thing without any rest, try to make it twice around with no rest.


Have a great RECOVERY week and I'll have nutrition information for you through out the week.