By Roger Lockridge
The workouts that are always among the most popular are those that allow you to get serious work done without making a serious commitment of your time. That’s exactly what this five minute session will do for the lower portion of your abs. By the time you finish, five minutes will feel like five hours.
That being said, let’s be clear. While this workout will burn in the moment and can make a positive difference, it won’t result in you having an awesome six pack. Consistency, hard training, and smart nutrition is the only way to make that happen. This will help those of you who want to get some form of training in when your schedule is tighter than usual.
All you need is open space, somewhere to lay down, and 300 seconds. You can do this at your home, the gym, or anywhere you feel comfortable sweating.
Every Minute on the Minute
Also known as EMOM, this means you’ll train for however long time it takes for you to finish the activity, rest for the remainder of the 60 seconds, and start again at the beginning of the next minute. So if it takes you 40 seconds to finish, you get 20 seconds rest. If it takes 30, you get 30 seconds to recover. Simple enough, right?
Lying Leg Raise
Lie flat on the floor with legs straight and arms to your sides. Slightly raise your legs an inch off the floor. This is your starting position. Lift the legs straight up until they are perpendicular to the floor. Once you’re in this position, lift your butt off the floor and contract your abs. Slowly lower your butt back down and return your legs to the starting position. Don’t let them touch the floor when they go down. Keep that tension on the abs. That’s one rep. Repeat for 10 reps.
High Knee Running in Place
Stand up and give yourself space to move. You’re going to start running in place. When you bring your leg up, focus on lifting your knee as high as you can without losing balance. Once your foot comes back down, immediately step up with the other foot. Continue running in place as fast as you can while feeling contractions in the lower abs. Repeat for 15-20 seconds, depending on your fitness level.
The Goal
For the first minute, perform the exercises at a speed that makes you feel more comfortable with what you’re doing. You should be able to complete this minute without putting in any major effort. For each minute after, try to increase the speed as well as the quality of the reps and steps. By the time you’ve finished the entire five minutes, you can go on about your day knowing you got a good workout in. You trained a muscle hard and burned some calories while working your cardiovascular and respiratory systems. You can also plug this in as a part of a larger abdominal/core workout if you feel it can serve you well.