Travel Day! Plus a Workout: Five Minute Abs

Hi all!

It's a travel day for me! I'm heading west to visit my family in Washington State. I'm hoping to get a ton of work done on the plane, since there will be no distractions. I also arrive early enough to get in a run!

I hate to be a jerk, but can I just take one minute to revel in the gorgeous weather that is forecast for the Northwest while I'm in Washington?

I know some people love hot weather, but to me, this looks like the most perfect weather EVER. If I'm up early enough on Wednesday for my 15 miler, I'll be running in high 50's to low 60's! HEAVEN.

Five Minute Abs Workout

Since it's been so hot, I've been running without a shirt quite often, baring (almost) all in a sports bra and shorts. I'm not that self-conscious after the first minute or so, but I've been more conscious about core work -- particularly my obliques -- since I'm running with just a sports bra. Hence... Five Minute Abs!

Ok, so no, doing this once will not give you abs in 5 minutes. But it's a hardcore (haha) workout that will get you sweating in 5 minutes. You can do multiple rounds for a short ab-intensive workout, or just add it on to the end of a run or other strength workout. I've been incorporating it to the end of some of my runs or adding multiple rounds into longer workouts.


Do you ever run in just a sports bra? What's your favorite core exercise? 

Ab-Tastic Core Workout

Two weekends ago, I put together this core workout for Abby and me. We both wanted to complete a short workout that concentrated on the core but also included a few glute and arm exercises.

I put this together for us and we did two sets. It was killer! We were both sore for three days afterwards and I almost never get sore abs.

This is a great core workout to add to a cardio workout or just to bust out while watching TV since you can replace the medicine ball with a weight or something heavy in your house!

As always, here are demo videos for each exercise:

Set 1
Isolated Bicycle (as demonstrated, but doing each side individually)
Glute Kick-Backs
Side Plank-Ups
Glute Lifts (starting at 1:03)

Set 2
Ball-Toe Sit-Ups
Push-Ups
Super Man (starting at 1:45)

To Finish:
Plank (see how long you can go!)


What's your favorite core exercise?