ABS Day 7

After today you will have finished 1 full week of abs HOORAY for you!! Be proud that you stuck with it for an entire week! It's an accomplishment! Now that you have been thoroughly congratulated on to today's workout and fun joke! First the joke
http://comedians.jokes.com/louis-katz/videos/exclusive---louis-katz---trying-to-be-healthy

Now the workout:
NOTE: if you have experienced any cramping or slight muscle pulls during your workout it could be (but not necessayily) a sign that your body is not properly warmed up and ready for exercise. Please be aware of what your body is telling you and do not continue any movements or exercises that are causing your pain or discomfort! If this has been the case, extend your warm up time by an additional 5-10 min. by adding some cardiovascular work (such as walking, jogging, running, cycling, jumping rope, skipping, jumping jacks, etc...)

Warm Up:
1) Some form of light cardio exercise (enough just to get you breathing hard and maybe a light sweat)
2) body weight squats x 10
3) Lunges x 5 ea. leg
4) push-ups x 5
5) 20 jumping jacks
6) trunk stretch x 20 seconds

Do this 2 times through

Work out:

1) bent knee hip raise x 20
2) alternate heel touches x 20 ea.
3) physio ball push-ups x 20 (or as many as you can do)
There is a modification for this if it is too hard, because this is the hardest part of the workout!

Do this 2 times through

Cool down, stretch, drink some water, and pat yourself on the back for completing 1 full week of abs training!! :)
Bent Knee Hip Raise: http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/bent-knee-hip-raise
Lay with your back flat on the floor with your arms at your sides. Bend your knees as if you are going to do a regular sit-up. Now exhale and bring your knees up to your chest, when they are at your chest, raise your hips off the ground slightly and contract your abs, then inhale and return to your starting positions.

This is an easy exercise to "cheat" on by using momentum as the source of movement, try to keep all movements nice and controlled and not use the rocking momentum to complete them. This can be achieved by keeping the exercise slow (but not too slow, cause that could be painful :) )

Alternate Heel Touches: http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/alternate-heel-touchers
Lay with your back flat on the floor, knees bent and arms extended at your side. Exhale and contract your left oblique and touch your left heel with your left hand, hold this position for 1 second, then inhale and return to the starting position. Then exhale and contract your right oblique and touch your right heel with your right hand, hold for 1 second, inhale and return.
These should also be done in a controlled and "slow" manner.

Physio Ball push-ups: (Warning, balance needed ;-) ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEinSgG3kfU
You will need a physio ball for this (as the name suggests!) Place your hands on either side of the top part of the physio ball with your legs extended out behind you in a push-up position. This is the starting position. While keeping your balance on the physio ball perform a regular push up on the physio ball, exhale on the way down, inhale on the way up (the tricky part is not falling off the ball!) If you find that you cannot perform this exercise because you are falling off the ball (don't worry when i learned this I couldn't do it to save my life, i did one and was on the floor :) ) I have a modification for ya!!

Modification: http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/push-ups-with-feet-elevated
Place your feet up on a small stool, stair, chair (you can also use your physio ball just be careful not to lose your balance!), something so that they are above your body in a normal up position of a push-up. (the higher your feet, the harder the exercise, just fyi) Now with your feet resting on whatever it is you found, perform your push-ups exhaling on the way down, inhaling on the way up.