The dog days of summer are here, and it’s time to sharpen the weapons of your physical arsenal! It’s time to reclaim the ground that you’ve lost in the summer party battlefield! Of course it means getting back on the right path with proper nutrition first, but as you’re strategizing your victory plan, here is a decisive plan of attack for the abdominal muscles and core muscles. It’s an excellent challenge to flank the body fat enemy as your nutrition infiltrates the enemy on a cellular level. You’ll finish the summer with a strengthened core and a strengthened mindset. You’ll be primarily engaging your erector spinae, obliques, rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, and multifidus muscles. I recommend at least one day of rest in between days of this 3-day split.

DAY ONE

30 repetitions per exercise; rest for 30 seconds between each exercise.

1. Flutter Kicks

2. Straight-leg Raise

3. Reverse Crunch

4. Russian Twist

5. Superman

6. Plank Runs

7. 90-Degree L Crunch

8. Oblique Crunch

9. Crunches

10. Planks (hold in position for 1 minute)

 

Descriptions for DAY ONE (1-10)

1. Start: Lying flat on back. Finish: Raise legs, doing an up-and-down scissor motion.

2. Start: Hang at arms length from a pull-up bar. Finish: Raise legs straight and together until parallel with the floor.

3. Start: Lying flat on back. Finish: Raise legs, bend knees, and roll your knees toward your forehead.

4. Start: Only your glutes will touch the floor, legs are bent, but slightly off the ground, hands together. Finish: Touch your hands to the floor to your left, and then do the same to your right.

5. Start: Lie flat on your stomach, facedown. Finish: Extend your arms and legs off the ground and hold for 1 minute.

6. Start: Facedown with elbows in a plank position. Finish: Bring right knee toward right elbow, and then left knee toward left elbow.

7. Start: Lying flat on your back, legs straight up forming a 90-degree angle (L shape). Finish: Aim your hands toward your feet, reaching, pulling just your shoulders off the ground, and return to the start position.

8. Start: Lying flat on back, bend knees with feet flat on the floor. Finish: Hands to the temples, aim your right elbow toward your left knee, and then your left elbow toward your right knee, alternating side to side.

9. Start: Flat on back, knees up, feet flat on floor. Finish: Raise shoulders off the floor, and place back down.

10. Start: Facedown with elbows in a plank position. Hold for 1 minute.

 

DAY TWO

Rest for 30 seconds between each exercise.

1. Weighted Abdominal Crunch with 10 pounds (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

2. Standing Knee-ups (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

3. The Wheel (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

4. Straight-leg Raise (slowly-isometric) (2 sets x 15 repetitions)

5. Knee Raise (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

6. 90-degree L Crunch (1 set x 30 repetitions)

7. Matsuis (1 set x 30 repetitions) – Each time your shoulders touch the ground is considered 1 repetition

8. Cassius Clays (1-2-3-4, Crunch) (1 set x 30 repetitions) – Each crunch is considered 1 repetition

9. Accordion (1 set x 30 repetitions)

10. Tens 5-Movement Sequence: Accordions, Bicycles, Side-to-Side Scissors, Up & Down Scissors, Angled Hold (10 repetitions for each sequence)

 

Descriptions for DAY TWO (1-10)

1. Start: Flat on back, knees up, feet flat on floor, holding a 10-pound plate or dumbbell in your hands with arms at full extension. Finish: Elevate your shoulders off the ground and return to start position.

2. Start: Standing with one foot back, one foot forward, with hands together at face level. Finish: Lift the back knee up and lower your hands to meet the knee in the center. 30 repetitions on each leg.

3. You will need an abdominal wheel for this exercise. Start: Kneeling position with both hands holding the handles on the side of the wheel. Finish: Slowly extend your arms, rolling the wheel out in front of you as far as you are able to, and return to start position.

4. Start: With both hands under your sacrum, straight leg position slightly off the floor. Finish: Elevate the legs slowly until they reach a 45-degree angle and return to start position.

5. Start: You will need something to hang from with your arms at full extension. Finish: Pull both knees up slightly past 90 degrees.

6. Start: Lying flat on your back, legs straight up forming a 90-degree angle (L shape). Finish: Aim your hands toward your feet, reaching, pulling just your shoulders off the ground, and return to the start position.

7. Start: Flat on back, knees up, feet flat on floor, torso angled to the left, with both shoulders flat on the ground. Finish: Raise both shoulders, crossing the center of your body, and place both shoulders flat on the floor, this time with your torso angled to the right. Continue the motion, placing both shoulders down to the left side and right side each time.

8. Start: On your back, the legs will act in a bicycle motion, pedaling. As the knee comes toward your torso, the opposite elbow aims toward that opposite knee in a pattern of 1-2-3-4, followed by a crunch with the knees and feet up, then repeating the sequence.

9. Start: Only your glutes will touch the floor, with your upper body extended on an angle, and your legs extended. Finish: Pull both your legs and upper body toward each other, folding like an accordion.

10. Start: Back is flat on the floor with both hands under your sacrum. Finish: 10 reps pushing and retracting both legs together, 10 reps pushing and retracting legs in an alternating motion, 10 reps moving legs in a side-to side scissor motion, 10 reps moving legs in an up-and-down scissor motion, and then holding the legs in an elevated position for 10 seconds.

 

 

DAY THREE

Rest for 30 seconds between each exercise.

1. Crunches (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

2. Slant Board Reverse Crunch (slowly-isometric) (2 sets x 15 repetitions)

3. Slant Board Tens, 5-Movement Sequence (Accordions, Bicycles, Side-to-Side Scissors, Up & Down Scissors, Angled Hold) (10 repetitions for each sequence)

4. The Arrow (hold for as long as you can)

5. L Crunch (1 set x 30 repetitions)

6. Oblique Crunch on Exercise Ball (side to side) (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

7. Accordion (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

8. Side-Middle-Side Knee Raise (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

9. Bridge (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

10. Mountain Climber (2 sets x 30 repetitions)

 

Descriptions for DAY THREE (1-10)

1. Start: Flat on back, knees up, feet flat on floor. Finish: Raise shoulders off the floor, and place back down.

2. Start: On a slant board, place your head toward the top and lie flat on your back, interlocking your feet to hold your legs together as one unit. Finish: Raise legs, bend knees, and roll your knees toward your forehead. Descend slowly on each repetition.

3. Start: On a slant board, place your head toward the top and lie flat on your back. Finish: 10 reps pushing and retracting both legs together, 10 reps pushing and retracting legs in an alternating motion, 10 reps moving legs in a side-to-side scissor motion, 10 reps moving legs in an up-and-down scissor motion, and then holding the legs in an elevated position for 10 seconds.

4. Start: On a slant board, place your head toward the top and lie flat on your back. Finish: Raise your body above the slant board, keeping only above your scapulas (shoulder blades) flat on the board. Hold your body light an arrow for as long as possible.

5. Start: Lying flat on your back, legs straight up forming a 90-degree angle (L shape). Finish: Aim your hands toward your feet, reaching, pulling just your shoulders off the ground, and return to the start position.

6. Start: On an exercise ball, lie on your back from your sacrum to your middle torso, just below your scapulas (shoulder blades). Finish: Hands to the temples, aim your right elbow toward your left knee, and then your left elbow toward your right knee, alternating side to side.

7. Start: Only your glutes will touch the floor, with your upper body extended on an angle, and your legs extended. Finish: Pull both your legs and upper body toward each other, folding like an accordion.

8. Start: Hang at arms length from a pull-up bar. Finish: Pull both knees up slightly past 90 degrees, twisting first to the left, then back down, then to the middle, then back down, then to the right, then back down. Repeat the sequence.

9. Start: Flat on your back with knees bent and feet on the floor, and hands at your sides with your palms down. Finish: Tighten your core as you raise your hips until your knees are in line with your deltoids (shoulders).

10. Start: In a push-up plank position, hands flat, and on your toes, with your core tightened. Finish: Lift your right knee toward your chest, and return. Repeat with left knee toward your chest and return. Continue alternating.

The post Get a Stronger Core: 3-Day Workout Split first appeared on FitnessRX for Women.