New ABs Installed

22

Monday 23 June, 2014 by Uncle Spike

So there we have it… the 30-Day AB Challenge well and truly finished, licked, sorted, done and dusted.

Has it worked? Do I look and feel different? Well, in answer to these questions, I would have to say YES in all honesty. I feel tighter (and for a change, that’s not regarding my concern for the family budget either). Aunty Spike also remarked that whilst on the beach this past weekend, I was not sporting my usual daddy-tummy, so that’ll do for me.

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And so here’s a quick rundown of the past 23 days…

First of all, like all these things, it took a while to get my mind and body into gear, but I guess that is what all the low numbers of the first few days are all about. I ended up changing the order a bit too, more to appease issues with mental stamina rather than any physiological need. But it worked for me.

Leg Raises

Total achieved: 904 reps

These were the most challenging for me I have to admit. I was pleased that I did stick to the double leg-raise, rather than opting for the single or one at a time version, and had to keep my hands under the bum in order to do them, but done they have been. I never managed to do all the reps in one go, opting for a 60/40% split, with a ten second rest in the middle. It worked. I also always did these exercises first; more just to get them out of the way each day – me no like these.

Sit-Ups

Total achieved: 1,610 reps

Always, always a nightmare for me. I remember them from school days. Hated them back then, and time has not weakened that loathing one iota. Trying initially with the traditional ‘foot-free’ version was a dead loss. Without my feet pinned under something, either the radiator or the bed, the legs would not stay glued to the floor, and I would end up wallowing about like an upturned tortoise. Not a pretty sight. Once the feet were sufficiently anchored, as mentioned or with a 6 year old sat on them (as I did this weekend as we were away in a hotel), then whilst difficult, it was achievable 🙂 I also always preferred the arms outstretched behind me, then bring them over the top as the sit-up was achieved method.

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Crunches

Total achieved: 2,115 reps

Bizarrely, these were my favourite. During the first week, these made my abs really burn. Now I presume it was them. I could not see anything to observe, but by jingo, they didn’t half warm up after the first 4 reps, lol. By this last week, I was swapping 25%-30% of the normal crunches for ‘cross-crunches’, whereby the left elbow met the opposing right knee, and vice-versa. I never took a break during these, and once I got my breathing worked out, it helped from dropping into a state of semi-unconsciousness and as a result, made it bearable at least.

The Plank

Total achieved: 1,397 seconds (23:28 minutes)

Whose idea was this anyway? It’s quite a simple, but highly challenging beastie to master I found. The only ‘trick’ as such was distraction. I used to read a page of my book, “1001 Ridiculous Ways To Die”. It seemed an apt title. But it would seem that I did not qualify for the next issue through this challenge. 

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Rest Days

Didn’t bother with them at all, so ended up completing the 30-day challenge in 23 days. I never got to realise the delight of a ‘rest day’; but that was more to do with ‘fear’… that is my self-confessed ‘fear’ of being unable or insufficiently motivated to restart after a day off 🙂

What’s next?

Ramadan is what’s next, and there is no way I can or could continue to do these whilst fasting, especially in this heat. I cannot do them in the morning, as ‘morning’ means before suhoor (breakfast) which is at just after 03:00am. I also could not do them before iftar (din-dins), as that is time for preparing the meal after 2 hours watering in the gardens and for the veggies. I’m already a tad parched by then, so exercises are inadvisable right then. I’m gonna try a few (maybe 100-150 reps in total) around midnight, so after my food has gone down’ and before my 3 hour nap. Yes, I could just do nuffink, but it’s so easy to put on weight whilst fasting anyway (eat/sleep proximity), and it would be a shame to lose some or all the gains from these 6,026 exercises!

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