Written by Lauren Rae, TRYM Fitness CPT and Wellness Coach
If you have a gym membership chances are you have seen some average mat ab exercises designed for strengthening the core. Meanwhile fellow gym-goers are working out their arms with the most mundane of exercises with the use of machines or free weights. This method gets the job done, but I couldn’t ever say “arm day” had me jumping out of bed in the morning—until now. With a little lesson in Primal Animal movement and a challenging but rewarding upper body circuit, you can skip the boring workouts and train the fun way. These three challenging, functional, and most definitely unconventional exercises are designed to strengthen and tone your shoulders, triceps, and core muscles.
All you need is about 20 yards of unimpeded floor space and a little time without interruptions. Make sure you travel the distance and come back without stopping! Fight through the burn for maximum benefit. Complete 3 sets of each exercise in a superset circuit fashion. Here’s how to get started:
Crab Walks & Dips
Sit on your butt with your feet facing the end of your runway and place your hands behind you with fingertips facing backwards.
Press through your heels and palms lifting your glutes in line with your knees and shoulders. Keep your abdominals and back core body engaged! Practice holding this position for 20–30 seconds before moving on to the next step.
Begin to move forward alternating left foot with right arm and vice versa until you reach the end of your runway. Keep your glutes lifted! Turn around and crab walk all the way back to your starting position.
Finish your crab walks with tricep dips for some extra time under tension. Shoot for 15 repetitions!
Bear Crawl & Pushups
Begin on all fours without allowing your knees to touch the ground, hips lifted towards the ceiling.
Turn your hands and feet inward (like a bear’s) and begin to move forward alternating moving the left hand and right foot together then switching to the right hand and left foot.
Travel all the way to the end of your runway and come back the same way!
Finish your Bear Crawl with 15 regular pushups.
Seesaw Plank & Walking Plank
Begin in a full forearm plank position, on your forearms with palms down and your belly scooped in.
Push forward with your toes and hinge down bringing your heart right between your hands and the tops of your feet flat on the floor without letting your body actually rest on the floor.
On an exhale, Press back up into your forearm plank and repeat for 30 seconds.
Pause at the top after 30 seconds and press up through your left hand and then your right hand to come into a full extended plank position.
Walk back down on each arm into your forearm plank and repeat walking up and down for an additional 30 seconds.
