“The Ultimate Ab Workout For Runners”

Now isn’t that a catchy title? That’s the title of one of the articles & accompanying ab program found at the Runner’s World website. Like many sporty kids out there I need to remember to change up my ab programme fairly frequently if I want to keep my muscles guessing (and thus, working harder). Ideally, you’re to change your programme every 4 to 6 weeks. I may not be disciplined enough to mark the weeks on my agenda, but I can usually tell when it’s time to make things more difficult – because things start feeling too easy!

I tried this ab routine, which is used by Team Running USA (according to the article, anyway). There was nothing radically new or mind-blowing for me, your usual planks, Turkish get-up, etc., but I think that it was the comprehensiveness of the spread of exercises and the number of sets that got me. I think that ab work sometimes gets a bit sandwiched in between other exercises for me, and I often treat it more like something I have to do, not that I need to do. Don’t get me wrong: I have a snazzy little belly here and I really like working my abs, but the idea of dedicating a longish workout to them has always seemed a bit strange to me because they are already getting a decent workout with the other sports I do. I believe I’ve had more of a philosophy of reinforcement than building up. That’s where this workout is different- it really seems to be doing both, but has a lot of exercises and sets, so it is not a quickie ab workout. I was unable to perform the last two exercises because I do my ab work in my tiny apartment, not in a gym, and even with the exclusion of those two exercises it took me 25 minutes. Now granted, it was the first time I did it so I was a bit fiddly with things and it may take less time next time, though, if I build up the sets and reps, etc., it may take longer.

In other news I got my blood results back today, though I don’t understand them much, really. According to the “norms” column next to my numbers, my lymphocytes are too low, my total cholesterol is too low, and my C-Reactive Protein is too high- whatever that is. I haven’t had a fainting spell since last Thursday, but I am still pretty tired, so just easing back into the training.