Before we even get into today’s post, I’m going to throw out one huge caveat here; if you’ve got a lot of fat to burn off, it’s likely going to take you longer than 30 days before you start seeing definition in your abdominals. As I always preach, you’ve got to burn through that fat before anything lying beneath becomes visible….and you’re not burning through that fat by doing tons of core work – it’s all about the CARDIO. If this describes you, I want you to either start one of our HIIT cardio plans, or our INTENSE at home fat blasting workout plan.
Now, if you’re not carrying an overwhelming amount of body fat around your midsection but are tired of simply feeling “soft” in that area, today’s plan is perfect for you. What we’re going to do is give you 30 days worth of 5-15 minute workouts designed to tighten up your stomach, trim off any remaining ab covering fat, and help you build the definition in your core that you’ve been seeking.
These workouts can easily be tacked on to the end of any other workout(s) you’re currently doing. While we often preach on the importance of doing heavy, weighted core work, there are times that doing body weight only work can provide a good supplement to your core. As such, this 30 day plan should be a good supplement to everything else you’re doing. Use it to kick-start your abs into growing by bringing some diversity and intensity that your body probably hasn’t experienced in quite a while.
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We’ve included 10 different exercises designed to shred up your core, bump your heart rate, trim that fat, and get you looking and feeling solid. You’ll notice there are no sets outlined below – that’s part of what makes this workout so effective. Your goal is to complete the listed repetitions in as few sets as possible. This means you’re going to have to really push yourself to fatigue. I don’t want you stopping until you absolutely cannot do a single more rep. Push yourself to go longer, harder, and faster, and good things will happen for you.
- Day 1: 50 crunches/100 mountain climbers
- Day 2: 60 crunches/120 mountain climbers
- Day 3: 70 crunches/130 mountain climbers
- Day 4: 80 crunches/140 mountain climbers
- Day 5: 90 crunches/150 mountain climbers
- Day 6: 100 crunches/160 mountain climbers
- Day 7: 100 bicycle crunches/80 triple plank hops
- Day 8: 120 bicycle crunches/100 triple plank hops
- Day 9: 130 bicycle crunches/110 triple plank hops
- Day 10 150 bicycle crunches/75 triple plank hops/75 mountain climbers
- Day 11: 250 flutter kicks/80 triple plank hops/80 mountain climbers
- Day 12: 275 flutter kicks/90 triple plank hops/90 mountain climbers
- Day 13 300 flutter kicks/100 triple plank hops/100 mountain climbers
- Day 14: 100 eagle sit ups/100 horizontal jacks
- Day 15 110 eagle sit ups/110 horizontal jacks
- Day 16: 115 eagle sit ups/120 horizontal jacks
- Day 17: 120 eagle sit ups/130 horizontal jacks
- Day 18: 125 eagle sit ups/140 horizontal jacks
- Day 19: 130 eagle sit ups/75 plank ups
- Day 20: 140 eagle sit ups/80 plank ups
- Day 21: 150 eagle sit ups/90 plank ups
- Day 22: 100 windshield wipers/110 triple plank hops/110 mountain climbers
- Day 23: 110 windshield wipers/115 triple plank hops/115 mountain climbers
- Day 24: 115 windshield wipers/125 triple plank hops/125 mountain climbers
- Day 25: 125 windshield wipers/130 triple plank hops/130 mountain climbers
- Day 26: 125 vertical crunches/175 mountain climbers
- Day 27: 130 vertical crunches/180 mountain climbers
- Day 28: 140 vertical crunches/190 mountain climbers
- Day 29: 150 vertical crunches/200 mountain climbers
- Day 30: 160 vertical crunches/225 mountain climbers
This will take you through one month. If you’re interested in continuing on with these mini-workouts (and you probably will be once you see how effective they are), I’d recommend our 4 week FLATTEST STOMACH EVER FitPlan. You can do most of the workouts with our video trainer, and I GUARANTEE we’ll hit your abs and core in a way you’ve never experienced before!
Again, you should view these workouts as an awesome supplement to everything else you’re doing. Keep up with your regular cardio, strength workouts, and healthy diet, and you’ll be the owner of a beautiful set of abs that could easily be found on the cover of a fitness mag, in no time.
If you’re looking for more of a well-rounded, full body workout plan that incorporates workouts like above every day into our #FITPLAN premium training application. If you haven’t tried it yet, do yourself a favor and give it a whirl with a FREE TWO WEEK TRIAL. After a short fitness questionnaire, you’ll get a completely customized workout plan that will give you daily workouts (90% with video trainer to follow-along with). Thousands of loyal subscribers can’t be wrong…you gotta at least try us out!!
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Mountain climbers – 100 left/rights? 100 each leg or 50 each leg? I’m not sure how to count them. I did 100 left/rights for day one……??
Hey Stephanie – when I do mountain climbers, I count one, two, ONE. one, two, TWO. etc.
So to answer, yes, you should do 100 per leg. Let me know if you’ve got any more questions!
Matt
Damn! That’s what I thought! Urgh! Day two on the way! Thanks for the challenge! ~Steph
triple plank hops……how do you count them?
Hi Linda – you should count every three jumps as ONE. So if you’re starting from center position, a jump left, a jump back to center, and a jump right would be ONE rep.
Thanks Matt! This is an awesome workout!
Glad you’re enjoying it! Looking forward to hearing about your progress – let me know if you need any help down the road!
I’m on day 4. I’m documenting progress. 🙂 I will let you know how it goes!
Sounds awesome Nicole! Looking forward to hearing how you’re doing!
I started this but grew bored – a common problem with me! I’m wondering which is actually a better workout for building good visible abs – this one or the weighted workout which you posted just before this post?
Ruth –
Have you looked into our FitPlan training system yet? I think it would be something you’d really like, especially if getting bored with your workouts is a common problem. It essentially assigns you a different dvd-style workout video to use each day. Keeps things pretty fresh, plus it’s customized specifically for you.
Check out the intro video here: http://blog.shareitfitness.com/2013/fitness-plan-invites/
Let me know what you think and we can figure out whether or not it’s right for you.
Matt
Yes I have and I’ve actually done one of the videos (it was great!) but I don’t have a problem finding new things to do, I just like to do what is going to achieve the best results, hence my question as to a weighted abs session a couple of times a week vs every day ab exercises as per the program in this post. It can also be difficult finding the time to add in an abs session every day, hence my preference (I think) for a more instense and longer ab session 2-3 times a week.
How do you count Windshield Wipers?
All the way down to the left, all the way down to the right, then back to middle is ONE rep. Hope that helps!
Matt
I thought that abs are like any other muscle group, and you aren’t supposed to work them everyday? So then wouldn’t working abs every other day for twice as long (or something like that) bring the muscle to fatigue, causing faster growth? I feel like these exercises wouldn’t be hard enough each day done by themselves. Thanks!! Colette
It’s true that abs are similar to other muscle groups, in that they need rest. That said, since we’re not taking them to hypertrophy each day, it’s fine to hit them for short periods (30 days) daily.
Matt
abdominal muscles are actually different from other muscle groups, they can be trained on a daily basis.
Our entire roller derby team is doing this 30 day challenge. Thanks for sharing!
Kris! That’s AWESOME! Are you all doing it together? PLEASE take a picture so we can post it! And let us know how it goes for everyone!
Where should we send it to!?
Hey Kris – if you could send it to info@shareitfitness.com that’d be great. Thanks!!
Hi, I got a question.
Don’t we need rest days?
That’s what bodybuilders say.
I’m sorry if I wrote something wrong,I’m from Romania 😛 😀
So I just came across this and I think i’m going to give it a go. As much as summer is almost done it looks good 🙂 hopefully I won’t give up and will keep on 🙂
Me too 🙂 but the numbers scare me!!
Hey Im on day 3 and I just realized that Im not sure if 130 mountain climbers means 130 total or 130 per leg.. meaning every time you get back to the right knee does that count as 1 or 2?
130 per leg!
Hi Matt,
I am starting today with this challenge. I am kinda nervous since i have been always a person who didn’t finish anything. This time I won’t let myself stop un till i’ve finished the whole challenge. Thankyou so much and i’ll keep u updated in a few days. xx
good luck and can’t wait to hear all about your progress!
How are bicycle crunches counted? One for each time a knee comes up, or one for each time both knees come up?
Same question for eagle sit ups and flutter kicks – how are they counted? Thanks!
for flutter kicks..same deal. two kicks equals one rep. eagle sit ups are counted as one time up equals one rep.
Matt
Both knees up is one rep!
matt