alright bikini babe
very simple very effective.
Lay flat on your back. legs straight out. one foot on top of the other. heel to toe. reach your hands for the ceiling. commence a small reaching crunch. this is a very small movement, say 3 inches, aim straight for the ceiling. Contracting your abs. holding a pelvic tilt. reach. contract x12 the next 12 you sit all the way and reach for your toes. Slowly roll back down. inhale. Exhale reach all the way up for your toes. SEE: Pilate's roll up
Switch feet, left over right repeat.
so it goes:
fully extended. right heel on left toe. (working some obliques now)
12 micro crunches aiming for ceiling
12 rollups
switch feet repeat.
that was a complete set. Try 3

to add challenge hold that basketball of yours at arms length throughout

you can also take that ball and add resistance to your V

I can hardly wait to try those! I may find some space in my office to try them.

Melistic, where do you teach and live?

Here's a tough medicine ball routine.

1. Russian twists. Sit up on the mat, holding a medicine ball in both hands in front of you. Legs extended, knees bent. Lean back until you feel your abs engage (if they don't engage, you'll just fall backward). Now lift your feet off the floor. Ah yeah. Now twist side to side, bringing the medicine ball to the floor at your hips. Make sure you twist from the top of your ribcage, shoulders going side to side (not just your arms). Keep those shoulders down away from your ears. If you need to, you can put your feet down. Do 50 twists -- 25 each side, alternating.

2. IMMEDIATELY lie down and put your legs straight up in the air, arms extended behind you over your head, still holding the medicine ball. (So your arms are down toward the floor.) Bring your arms straight up in the air and crunch up as you take the arms and ball toward your feet, then lower down. Do 25.

3. IMMEDIATELY go up one more time with the ball toward the feet and PULSE straight up into the air 25 times.

4. IMMEDIATELY put the medicine ball between your knees, take your hands behind your head like you're going to do a crunch, and just do a reverse curl. On an exhale, pull the belly button in and lift the hips very slightly off the floor. You should not rock your legs; they go straight up and straight down. It's a small movement. Do 25.

5. IMMEDIATELY do 25 more but add a crunch at the same time. Do 25.

Rest for about a minute.

6. Start with #5 and work your way back down to the Russian twists. So full body crunch, then just reverse curl, then pulses, then overhead reaches, then twists. No breaks until you're done.

T.O.R.T.U.R.E. I love it.

We had to do this in the bootcamp class i took. We used the towels and went across the basketball court - long ways. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch.

I have done this with weights instead of medicine ball

THAT's what I'm talking about!!!

I need to find a trainer like you two. I can't wait to try these after I get home from work tonight.

Let us know how it goes!!!

You guys forgot one of my favorite torture devices for the core... the wheel of ****... it's a wheel that attaches to your feet and then you do various exercises with the wheel attached... such as pikes and knee-ins, plus lizard crawl, inchworm... it's a killer.

A few weeks ago my trainer had me plank with my arms on the swiss ball and do some twists... it felt like my abs were twisting off!

wheel of ****? Can't say as I know. But you can, as Theia pointed out, use a glider or a frisbee to short slide your workout.

How's everyone feeling today?

I did the push-up's with my feet on the swiss ball holding the flatside of the bosu. Haven't done that in forever. Shoulders singing. fa la la la la
They have smaller balls at the gym for next time I only have large here at the house, which made for a serious decline!

Melis I did your simple but effective routine last night. While I was doing the exercise, it didn't seem that bad. When I tried to get out of bed this morning my abs were screaming. They still are....so thank you?

Agreed. I didn't feel too bad getting straight out of bed, but by the time I got to work and started moving around I was feeling it.

Is there a good way to make sure that I'm maintaining the proper form while doing these alone at home? I kept trying to glance back to make sure I was straight and that didn't really work well...

this is the Wheel of ****

IB Have your belly button pulled through your back (do you know what I mean?) and aim your chin at the ceiling, not your neck.

Turtle: it's like an ab roller you strap your feet in? interesting

Yes, but with a larger diameter wheel. It is fun, but can be hard work. There are a lot of different things to do with it..I find it to be one of those love hate things... Hate it, but ove the workout it gives me!

I'm tightening my abs, like sucking in a gut sort of feeling, is that what you mean with the belly button?

Beet, in Pilates I tell my students to pull their belly buttons in toward their spine and up toward their ribs whenever they exhale. I assume that's what Melistic wants you to do as well.

That's a horrible thing to do to a harmless Frisbee!

Melistic- We ( or I should say, others- I tried but can't!) do the side plank, with arm straight, and lift the leg. My arms are still weak (left one had surgery) so I do the one you posted. They are done in my yoga classes. There is a core class on Wednesdays but haven't worked up the nerve yet. My abs would be sore a week after that class!
Anyway- here is one I like to do.
On back - knees bent, 90 degree angle, legs off floor. and hands on either side of neck.
Do a regular crunch, and do left oblique crunch, regular crunch, right oblique crunch, regular, then head almost to floor ( One count) then do repeats, head not touching floor until end. I can do 25 at a time and my abs burn after 18.

Btw- I can now say I can do the side plank!! I was so happy that I did it today while trying to explain it to my daughter. This means my arms are stronger then last week! YAY ME!!! ( Don't know how long I can hold it, but at least I can now do it)

Excellent Kimbro!!! That's how it works. Bit at a time. Right on!

Thanks, diabolical people! I finally gave in and tried out Theia's original plank exercises. My entire body was shaking while I was doing #1 - then my cat jumped on my back and I am proud to say I held the plank position while laughing my ass off!

So it's okay that I couldn't quite last through all three exercises my first time out? I get to come back and try again? I'm a little nervous to get into some of the others just yet, but my body says, good workout!

Great job!!!! Next time you'll be able to get through all three of them... and you'll be so proud of your progress!

Ugh, I did the "lower the knee thing" this morning. I have only been doing planks for a short while, like ever since the article came out in one of hte running magazines.... probably RW.. its the sort of article they might do.

Anyway, each marahton training plan includes the intent to do more core work but it never happens. This time, I started on day 1 and I have been pretty consistent with it.

But those planks are no fun.

Henry, stick with it. As you gain core strength, the exercises become easier. Then Melistic and I will have to find new ways to torture, I mean challenge, you.

Here's one for beginners, using a BOSU balance trainer. You can find one at your gym, most likely. If you don't have access to one, a pillow might work as well (because it will create a little bit of instability). Or balance disks, if your gym has those (use one disk for part 1 and two for the planks, one for each elbow/forearm).

Sit on the BOSU and scootch (is that a word?) forward a bit so your butt is slightly forward of the center/top. Put your hands lightly behind your ears, lower your shoulders so they're not up around your earlobes, lean back, and do 20 slow crunches. You want to use a big range of motion here. No quick pulses. Doooowwwwn slow and uuuppppp slow. Immediately flip over and do a low plank on the BOSU with your elbows and forearms on top of the BOSU, elbows lined up under your shoulders. Keep breathing. That's it. Hold for a minute.

Flip back over and do 20 more crunches. Then another plank.

Can you do it one more time? Good. Go for it.