Sprinters sit up: Start lying on your back with legs straight and the hands resting by the side of your head. As you sit up bring one knee towards you and bring the opposite elbow across your body towards you. Repeat to the opposite side.

V-ups single leg: Start lying on your back with legs straight and hands outstretched. Crunch up and lift one leg while keeping it straight and reach your hands towards the foot. Repeat lifting the opposite leg.

V-ups double leg: Same as above but lift both legs off the ground as you crunch up.

Crunch with leg switch: Start on your back with legs in the air in an alternating scissor position. Crunch up while keeping your legs still. When you return back to the ground switch your legs over and repeat.

Scissors with crunch hold: Keep your shoulder blades off the ground so you’re in the top position of a crunch. From here scissor your legs taking them as low to the floor as your can.

V-sits with ankle taps: Start in a v-sit position, extend your legs out while lying back and reaching your hands up. As you sit back up reach over your knees and touch your ankles.

Pommel horse:  Begin on one side resting on your hip with both feet held off the ground. Use your hands for balance, move your feet completely around to the opposite side without your feet touching the floor. Return to the original position and repeat.

TIPS:

: Aim to train your abdominals 2-3 x per week with at least one days rest in between sessions.

: Pick 2-3 exercises per session and aim to complete 3 sets of 12-20 reps of each one.

: Use a mixture of exercises rather than always doing the same ones, this will stop your body from adapting quickly and hitting a plateau.

: To achieve a flat stomach and the much sought after six-pack requires very low body fat. Alongside your abdominal exercises make sure to include aerobic training and an effective resistance programme that uses large compound exercises to target the whole body. As well as this, make sure you follow a healthy well balanced diet. All members of this site can contact me for help and advice on both an eating plan and training programme to help you achieve your goals whatever they may be.

In this post I have outlined the whole body circuit that we did during week 2. Rob will alternate from week to week between this workout and the other whole body session that I recently posted.

Since this is week 2 we have progressed the programme so now Rob will be spending 40 seconds on each of the aerobic exercises and only resting for 1 minute 45 between circuits.

Whole body workout:

2 Handed kettlebell high pull: 15 reps

TRX single leg lunge: 10 reps per leg

Double leg squat thrusts: 40 seconds                         

Single arm dumbbell snatch: 15 reps per arm

Single leg Swiss Ball Bridge: 10 reps per leg (Lie on your back with one foot resting on the ball and the other leg straight and held in the air. Lift your hips and raise your bottom off the ground. Return to the floor and repeat).

Medicine ball straddle jumps: 40 seconds (Stand with your feet either side of a low step. Bend your knees and rest the ball on the step before jumping up and landing softly onto the step. As you jump up reach over your head with the ball keeping your arms straight. Jump back down to the start position and repeat).

Perfect press-up: 15 reps (Press-ups using the perfect press-up rotating pads).

Powerbag reverse lunge: 6 reps per leg (Hold the bag on your chest and step backwards into a lunge alternating legs).

Lateral step jumps on and over: 40 seconds (Stand next to a low step and perform a 2 footed side jump onto the step aiming to land softly by bending your knees on impact. Jump off the step landing on the opposite side before jumping back over the step to the start position).

Abdominal circuit:

At the end of the 3^rd circuit I took Rob through a 3 exercise abdominal circuit. We completed 3 circuits with a 90 second rest in between each one.

Swiss ball jack-knife: 15 reps

Swiss ball crunch: 15 reps

Swiss ball plank: 20 seconds hold

Again for these sessions reps were kept fairly high (around 15) and aerobic exercises were performed for 30 seconds each. Rest between circuits was still 2 minutes. As always we spent 5-10 minutes warming up before each workout.

Workout 1 (chest, shoulders, triceps).

Barbell bench press: 15 reps

TRX Front raise: Hold the TRX by both handles and start with your arms fully extended and leaning back (the further you lean back the harder the exercise). Keeping your arms straight, lift your hands above your shoulders and raise your body as you do so. Maintain a straight back throughout. 15 reps

TRX Squat thrust: Start in a press up position with your feet in the TRX stirrups. Alternating legs bring your knees into your body as fast as you can whilst maintaining a flat back. 30 seconds

TRX Chest press: 15 reps

Standing dumbbell Arnold press: From a standing position hold a pair of dumbbells at shoulder height with your palms facing towards you. Press the weights above your head while rotating your hands so your palms face forward at the end of the movement. 15 reps

TRX Jump squats: 30 seconds

Medicine ball walk over: Start with both hands on a med ball and take one hand off and place it on the floor. From here perform a press up and then return both hands back to the ball and repeat on the opposite side. 10 reps

Around the head rotation: Hold a weight plate in both hands at chest height. From here lift the weight over your shoulder and around your head. Return to the start position and then repeat going the opposite way. 15 reps

Lateral jumps over Powerbags: Place 3 bags on the floor spaced evenly apart. Jump sideways over each of the bags aiming to land soft each time. 30 seconds

Close hand press ups: 15 reps

Workout 2 (Back, legs, biceps, abdominals)

Renegade rows: 10 reps per arm

Wide leg squat: Hold a powerbag across your chest and perform a squat with your feet wider than your hips and toes pointing slightly out. 15 reps

Step jumps: Perform a 2 footed jump onto the step aiming to land soft by bending your knees on impact. Step down and repeat. 30 seconds

TRX Rows: 15 reps

Lunge with bicep curl: Hold a pair of dumbbells and perform a front lunge. As you bend your knees and lower your hips curl the weights up towards your shoulders. Step back and repeat leading with the opposite leg. 12 reps (6 per leg)

TRX Jump lunge: 30 seconds

2 Handed kettlebell swings: 15 reps

Stand to kneel: Hold a weight plate at chest height and from a standing position kneel down placing one knee at a time onto the floor. Stand back up and repeat. 15 reps

Hammer strikes onto tyre: For this exercise we used a 14lb hammer and swung it over head and striking down onto a large tractor tyre. For this exercise you could replace it with overhead medicine ball slams. 30 seconds

TRX Bicep curls: 15 reps

After 3 circuits were completed we did 3 abdominal exercises. Again these were performed in circuit fashion with a 90 second rest in between each circuit.

Roll outs: 12 reps

Medicine ball v-sits: Perform a v-sit whilst holding a med ball on your chest. 12 reps

Plank with up and down movement: Start in the plank position on your elbows. Hold for a second and then push yourself up onto your hands so your arms are fully extended. Return to the start position and then repeat. 10 reps

Next week’s session we will be increasing the aerobic exercises up to 40 seconds and reducing the rest periods down to 1.45 between circuits

In 6 weeks Rob will be going away for his summer holiday and so the focus has turned to getting rid of the last bit of body fat from around the stomach and getting into the best shape possible before hitting the beach. For this goal I have put together my “Inferno” fat burning programme, a circuit workout that mixes compound resistance exercises with high intensity aerobic work and core focused exercises. The programme is split into 3 workouts, workout 1 will be a whole body session while workout 2 and 3 will split the body into half due to the fact Rob trains on 2 consecutive days. The workouts will be progressive over the 6 weeks so for example reps, weights and time spent on aerobic exercises will be increased during the programme while rest between circuits will be reduced.

Below I have posted our first whole body session which we did the other night and have outlined how it will progress over the course of the programme. Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the other workouts used as well as an update on Rob’s progress.

Workout 1: Whole body.

We start off with a 5-10 minute warm up using a mixture of bodyweight and light medicine ball exercises. The exercises used for this session all involved a medicine ball and had Rob doing 12 reps of each.

Swings

Rotations

Squat to press

Wide leg squat with chest press

Front lunge with rotation

Side lunge

Main workout:

The main workout consisted of 9 exercises all done back to back with no rest in between. At the end of the circuit Rob rested for 2 minutes before repeating. We completed 3 full circuits.

TRX press up with leg swings: Place your feet in the foot stirrups and get into a press up position. Perform one press up and then swing your legs from side to side keeping them straight before repeating. If you have not got a TRX available then do a different variation such as press up with feet on Swiss ball, Spiderman press up etc.  15 Reps

Powerbag front squat: Hold a bag on your chest and perform a normal squat. 25kg bag 15 Reps

Burpee: A normal burpee with a vertical jump as you stand up. 30 seconds

Recline row: 15 Reps

Powerbag front lunge: Hold the bag across your chest. 12 Reps (6 per leg)

Lateral jumps: For this we used a kick shield stood on its end and performed side jumps over it aiming to land soft by bending the knees on impact. If there is no bag available then use a low step, Powerbag, hurdles etc. Reduce the height to cater for fitness levels. 30 seconds

Powerbag clean and press: 25kg bag 15 Reps

Good mornings: Hold a powerbag across your chest or use a barbell resting on your upper back. 25kg 15 Reps

Alternating leg squat thrust: 30 seconds

Rest for 2 minutes and then repeat.

Over the next few weeks we will be increasing the intensity. The cardio exercises will go up by 10 seconds per week up to a maximum of 60 seconds. The rest periods will be reduced down to 45 seconds by the end of the 6 weeks.

For today’s session we would be focusing on superset training, which involves performing 2 exercises back to back without any rest. Again we would concentrate mainly on the major muscle groups of the chest, back and legs but would pick exercises that would also target his shoulders, arms, core as well as his heart and lungs. Below are the supersets, which we used for this session as well as a short video showing Sam performing the last set of each.

Superset 1.

TRX Atomic press-up: Not only does this hit the chest but it is also a killer for the abdominals.

Kettle floor press with leg up: By lifting your legs this gets you using your core more to help stabilise the body as well as helping to place more emphasise on your chest.

Superset 2.

Double kettlebell swings

TRX Rows

Superset 3.

Powerbag squat with shoulder-to-shoulder press

Reverse lunge with powerbag upright row: By reaching forward with the bag as you lunge will force you to use your core muscles to help to stabilise your body and prevent the weight of the bag throwing you off balance.

Superset 4.

Press-ups with handclaps: (Not shown) Sam got into a press-up position and I knelt in front of him. He performed one press-up and then lifted his right hand of the floor and clapped my right hand aiming to keep his body still by engaging his core muscles. He then repeated with another press-up followed by left hand clap.

Medicine ball V-up.

We warmed up using a mixture of medicine ball exercises such as swings, rotations and lunges with rotations alongside bodyweight movements such as press-up with rotation. The main workout consisted of the following exercises.

Deadlift

Powerbag squat

Barbell push press

Superset: Alternating arm kettlebell floor press with Press-up to knee strikes on floor bag.

 Underhand grip recline rows

Core superset:

For today’s session we focused on 2 rotational movements that would not only work the core but also help to improve punching power.

Standing weight plate rotations

Medicine ball Russian twists with chest pass (For this exercise Marlon got into a position to do a Russian twist and I stood in front of him. I threw the ball to Marlon, alternating the height and direction each time. Each time Marlon would catch it and then perform a twist on each side before throwing the ball back to me. The aim was for Marlon to keep his lower body as still as possible, maintain a straight back and not lose his balance.)

For our next session we will start to bring in more power-based exercises such as jump squats, plyometric press-ups, sledgehammer strikes etc.

4 exercise circuit:

High pulls

Double kettlebell squat and press

Kneeling resistance band row

Walk over press-ups on a low step

Abdominal exercises:

Reverse curl and medicine ball combo:

For this exercise lie on your back with your legs in the air and hold a medicine ball above your head. Contract your abdominals and lift your hips and bottom slightly off the floor. Return to the start position and then crunch your shoulder blades off the floor and reach towards your feet with the ball. This counts as 1 rep and we performed 3 sets of 10.

Medicine ball oblique twists:

Lie on your back with your legs up and knees bent and hold a medicine ball just above your chest. Extend your legs forward and back one at a time as if you were cycling. As you do this rotate the ball across your body towards the knee that is coming towards you aiming to keep your shoulder blades off the floor for the entire set. We completed 3 sets of 20 reps.

1. : 

Look out for the next part to this training blog when I will be taking Sam through some superset training.

We did 3 sets of the exercises below keeping our reps around 8-10.

Main workout:

High pull

Kettlebell snatch

Squat  

Alternating leg front lunge

Superset: TRX atomic press up with TRX rows

Core superset:

Triangle crunch (Place your right foot across your left knee keeping your left leg extended to form the triangle position. As you crunch up pull your left leg towards you. Return to the start position and repeat completing 10-12 reps before switching sides).

Plank with up and down movement (Start in the basic plank position on your elbows and hold for 2 seconds before pushing yourself up onto your hands with arms fully extended. Hold this for another 2 seconds and repeat. Aim to maintain optimum posture throughout by maintaining a strong core).

At the end of the workout we cooled down before stretching the hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors and upper back.

We will be focusing on strength for another week before starting to introduce more power-based exercises.

Below is a video clip demonstrating 3 of the functional flexibility exercises we used as part of the warm up to help stretch the hamstrings, hip flexors and lower back.  

: 

Warm up:

We began by warming up with a light medicine ball using exercises such as swings, rotations, squats and lunges.

Lower-body workout:

We performed a 3-exercise circuit that focused on movements that not only hit the legs but also heavily involved the core.

TRX single leg lunge

Reverse balance lunge

Side lunge

Core workout:

After the lower-body we moved onto the core doing a superset of 2 exercises.

Resistance band woodchops

Medicine ball crunch with alternating leg lifts 

Once we had completed this we finished off the workout with 20 minutes of focus pad work to help burn plenty of calories. We performed 2-minute rounds with a minutes rest in between. Once this was done we cooled down and stretched.

Warm up: Spend 5-10 minutes warming up before the workout. For this session the warm up included some light jogging around the studio along with bodyweight exercises such as step-ups, squats, lunge with rotation and press-ups.

ROUND 1:

Bench press

Press-ups

ROUND 2:

Barbell squats

Box jumps (perform step-ups as a lower intensity option for this)

ROUND 3:

Bent over rows

Clean and press

ROUND 4:

Barbell bicep curls

Tricep dips

In between each round participants performed 1 minute of different abdominal exercises such as v-ups, oblique twists and leg raises.

 At the round of the session spend 5 minutes cooling down and stretching.

Alternatives to shuttle runs:

Burpees

Squat jumps

Squat thrusts

(If you are doing these instead of the shuttle runs then increase by 2 reps each time the same as with the resistance exercises. So again start from 2 and go up to 10).