If you want to get an amazing ripped six pack, then it’s not enough to just go through the motions with your abs training. Too many guys workout their abs simply by doing sets of 50 sit-ups – which isn’t enough to get them out of breath let alone give them any ab burn…
The point is though, your abs need a challenge if they’re going to grow – just like every other muscle group. That in turn means you should be hitting them hard with exercises that are actually difficult and with very little rest in between.
This abs routine does just that. It comes from Jeff Cavaliere of Athlean-X who actually in turn learned the workout from a boxing trainer in NYC. He was given this workout to go through when he was training a client and describes how it ‘still gives him nightmares’.
Get ready to lose some sleep…
What You Will Need
This ab workout involves a ton of different hanging movements such as leg raises and variations. As such, unless you have a grip of steel and isometric bicep strength like no one else, it will be useful to get yourself a captain’s chair or to use one in the gym. This way you can perform hanging raises without tiring out before your abs have gotten the full workout.
The Routine
10 x Straight Leg Raises
10 x Weighted Knee Raises (with a medicine ball between the knees/a dumbbell between the feet)
20 x Hanging Ab Scissors
20 x Side Bar Bangers (bring your knees up, move them to the side, lower them and then repeat in the opposite direction)
10 x Straight Leg Raises (yup, again!)
5 x Weighted Knee Raises (you’ll be feeling it at this point)
Static Knee Raise (isometric hold lasting 20 seconds)
And here’s the thing…
After a one minute rest… you’re going to do it again!
Why it Works
It’s not enough to just torture yourself, you also need to think about why specific workouts are so effective. Here of course, we have a routine that is incredibly intense and that really pushes you to your maximum. This right away is enough to get your abs to really burn – abs that have likely become a little complacent from your normal routines.
Because these are all hanging exercises, you will be targeting the lower abs in particular. This is important because the lower abs are often missed out. At the same time, the use of weighted knee raises will add some resistance to your ab workout. This is something that you can benefit from greatly and that is missing from a vast majority of ab workouts.
Finally, the side bar bangers (thus called because your knees will hit the handles of the captain’s chair) will make sure your obliques are getting trained too for a well-rounded mid section.
Give it a go and feel the difference and the burn. But don’t rely on using this workout all the time, these sorts of routines are great for ‘shocking’ the muscles into action. Save this for when you really want those abs to burn…
