Incinerate fat and pack on muscle you’ll be proud to show off with this workout
DIRECTIONS
For the next month, replace one workout a week with this routine. Perform each exercise in the order shown without resting between moves. Once you’ve finished all eight exercises, rest for one minute. That’s one circuit; do three to complete the workout.
1) Overhead Alternating Reverse Lunge with Side Bend
Hold a pair of dumbbells over your shoulders, your feet shoulder-width apart. Step back with your right leg into a lunge, lean left, and return to the starting position. Do all your reps on your right leg and then repeat with your left leg (leaning right). Reps: eight per leg.
2) Feet-Elevated Dumbbell Alternating Chest Press
Lie on a bench holding a pair of dumbbells at the sides of your chest, palms forward. Raise your legs so your hips and your knees are both bent 90°. Press the weight in your right hand straight up above your chest, then lower it. Repeat with the weight in your left hand. Continue alternating. Reps: eight per arm
3) Medicine-Ball Transfer
Lie face-up on the floor with your legs straight and hips bent 90°. Hold a medicine ball above the top of your head. Keeping your arms straight, raise the ball and place it between your ankles. Use your feet to lower it to the floor, then raise it back up and grab it with your hands. Return to the starting position and repeat. Reps: 12
4) Offset Step-up Shoulder Press
Hold a dumbbell in your left hand in front of your left shoulder, palm in. Place your right foot on a tall box or bench. Simultaneously step up with your right leg, raise your left knee and press the dumbbell directly above your shoulder. Return to the starting position. Do all your reps, switch sides, repeat. Reps: eight per leg
5) Mixed-Grip Feet-Elevated Inverted Row
Set a bar to waist height and position yourself beneath it, hanging at arm’s length with one hand facing forward and the other facing back. Put your feet on a Swiss ball. Pull your chest to the bar. Lower and repeat. Switch hand positions after four reps. Reps: eight
6) Side-to-Side Glider Plank
Assume a plank position with your elbows bent 90° and feet shoulder-width apart on Valslides (or hand towels or paper plates – anything that slides). Move your left foot in an arc away from your body, then pass it beneath your body to your right Do all your reps, then repeat with your right leg. Reps: 10 per leg
7) Single-Leg Straight-Leg Deadlift and Row
Stand with a dumbbell in your left hand and your weight shifted onto your right leg (lift your left foot slightly off the floor behind you). This is the starting position. Push your hips back and hinge forward, raising your left leg. Row the weight to your side. Return to the start. Do all your reps, switch sides, and repeat. Reps: eight per side
8) Weighted Half Wiper
Lie on your back holding a medicine ball between your feet, keeping your legs perpendicular to the floor. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand directly above your chest. Lower your legs and right arm to the floor in opposite directions. Reverse the move to return to the starting position. Complete all your reps, switch arms, and repeat in the other directions. Reps: 10 per side
HARD-CORE POWER BOOST
Three easy ways to make every abs move more effective
EXHALE COMPLETELY
Doing so at the start of a move brings your ribs down and fully activates your abs, says elite trainer Doug Kechijian
BREATHE DEEPLY
Keeping your ribs down and breathing deeply as you do the move will boost your stability, spinal support and power, says Kechijian.
ROUND YOUR UPPER BACK
Slightly rounding just your upper back engages your abs and your diaphragm, your body’s strongest breathing muscle.
