You may remember Mario Lopez from his role as A.C. Slater in Saved by the Bell. The actor was known back them for his awesome abs and today he’s still sporting an incredibly impressive mid-section. And it’s this incredible stomach that has helped him to continue a very successful career that’s seem him host Entertainment News and write his own health and fitness book. Of course with a history like that he was always going to get the nickname ‘Super Mario’.
So how do you become ‘Super You’? Let’s take a look at Mario’s circuit training abs workout.
Why Circuits?
First of all though, why use a circuit training program for abs? Actually the two work perfectly together and are a match made in heaven. By using a circuit approach to your abs training you can keep up the intensity with no need to rest between sets. This is essentially like a huge superset and it means you can just keep on going and going without pausing in between. As a result, you’ll be burning loads of calories and we all know that visible abs are as much about stripping away the fat as they are about bringing out the muscle. A circuit approach also means that you can train the slow twitch muscles as all the different repetitions essentially end up fading into one big workout. This is great because the abs are so well suited to this kind of endurance training being made of lots of slow-twitch endurance fibers instead of explosive, fast twitch muscle fiber. The abs have to work all day to keep you upright and that’s why they are ideal for high volume training.
The Workout
4 exercises of 3 rounds
- Hanging Leg Raises to Failure
- Decline Weighted Crunch – 15-20 Reps
- Double Crunch to Failure
- Cable Wood Chops – 15-20 Reps
Hanging Leg Raises
The hanging leg raises involve hanging from a bar and lifting your legs directly upwards then lowering them back down again. This is a bodyweight exercises that requires you to control tension in your entire body. Keep going to failure – for some people this might just be a few repetitions but you’ll be able to do more in time.
Decline Weighted Crunch
The decline weighted crunch involves sitting on a decline weight bench and crunching your body up and down. At the same time you hold a barbell or a weight plate which provides lots of resistance to make the move much more difficult – use whatever weight you need to make 15-20 failure. It requires a lot of coordination and while the last exercise was great for lower abs, this one is perfect for upper abs.
Double Crunch to Failure
Now you are going to lie flat on the ground and raise your legs and upper body at the same time into a slight ‘V’ shape. This will train your upper and lower abs at the same time.
Cable Wood Chops
Finally, you’re going to end with cable wood chops which involve pulling a cable against a weight load in order to make a motion as though chopping wood. This is torque then along with a slight crunch, which is ideal for working your abs and your obliques which are found down either side of the rectus abdominis.
