Strong Core Challenge!

It’s Tuesday! Only 2.5 more days ’til the Memorial Day weekend festivities begin. (Half day on Friday for me!) Fabulous.

In un-related news…I don’t know about you guys, but I seriously need to work on a stronger core. We all know that having a strong core is vital to running; it improves your form and keeps your body stabilized. Want to be more efficient? Weak abs won’t do you any favors. I absolutely have weak abs right now.

With that being said, who wants to join me in a weekly challenge? I have core workouts planned for three days a week over the next couple months. OR, you can do six days a week. Up to you and how intense you are. (For six-day people; you will just repeat the three plans. For example, instead of M/W/F, you’ll do M/T/W and then start over from day 1 for Th/Fri/Sat. Hopefully that makes sense. It’s late and I’ve had a long day!

So, who’s with me? Maybe you hate running (how do you stand listening to me talk about it 24/7?!) and just want to feel great on the beach this summer…that’s cool. Whatever your motivation is works for me. (Although I’m a firm believer that abs only “look” great if you eat right. You can’t out-train a bad diet.) I just know that I need specific plans to follow – I don’t like to come up with workouts on my own every single day; especially when I’m short on time. Way too must effort. So, having one already planned out helps a ton.

I picked some core exercises to supplement running and cross training (along with a regular strength routine). I plan to do these every morning right when I wake up; each daily workout is 16 minutes total. I’m so horrible about getting in ab work after running or lifting so I think morning will work best for me.

I need you guys to hold me accountable! My plan is kind of like an HIIT workout…the exercises are timed. Use that Bit Timer! You’ll move directly through each exercise with little rest. Two sets will be 16 minutes…tack a third set if you have extra time!

It’s nothing crazy but it works for me. Most of the exercises you can do at home with little or no equipment.

I created a Google doc; not sure if it’s worth it…but if you guys want to sign up here,  I’ll send you the link where you all can track your # of reps and see how you improve with each week. And of course, if you follow my blog, you’ll get the emails with each new week’s plan. Or if this all sounds dumb and you just want to follow the plan posted here and have me leave you alone, awesome. Let me know!

I’m starting tomorrow, but I’ll start the “tracking” beginning Monday for all you sweat-loving friends! Hopefully in the meantime I can convince Brendan to videotape me doing these moves as a demonstration. If I’m brave enough. We shall see!

Who wants to join me? Does this whole thing even make sense?! Maybe I’ll find some kind of prize for the participants. Or maybe you’ll just get strong abs and a good sense of a solid core routine. Win-win!