30 Day Ab Challenge

About our 30 day Ab challenge workout

Those who have strong and visible abs are likely to look more sexually attractive. While some people are able to obtain abs fast, other people work out for years and make very little progress.

We are asked time and time again whether there is any way to strengthen your abs in a short time. The answer is that If you practice the right exercises and eat the right food and believe in yourself then absolutely. In fact, you can make your abs noticeably stronger, and more visible in just 30 days.

Yes, effort is required, but don’t worry you won’t have to slave away at the gym for multiple hours each day. If you want results don’t focus on how long you can work out for, focus on how quickly you can get your workout done without compromising on form.
Remember both form and speed are crucial if you want to build muscle fast. The same workout done quickly, but accurately will be far more effective than if you spend hours at the gym. When people go to the gym a lot but don’t make much progress, it is either because they don’t eat enough or because they aren’t using the proper techniques.

You don’t have to work out every day either. Five days a week is enough, as long as you train with intensity. Make sure that you do every workout with effort and seriousness, and you will get results.

Do a variety of different exercises

While there is nothing wrong with sit-ups, doing only sit-ups and not anything else won’t do much for most people. Many people do a lot of sit-ups every day but make little progress.  You need to get creative and try some unusual and difficult training routines. While many of the best ab exercises are bodyweight exercises, many others use weights.  

Try some medicine ball slams, barbell floor wipers, hanging leg raises, and cable crunches. Sit-ups, twists, and perhaps crunches are also good exercises, but they are not the best ones. Do less well-known exercises first and standard Ab exercises second.

Day 1

Medicine Ball Slam – 3 sets of 8 reps
30 crunches
30 second plank

This is more of an ab workout than a cardio workout, but it will get your heart rate up, and it will leave you gasping for breath by the end – If you follow the form properly that is.

Start off with a reasonably weighted medicine ball slam. A good weight for your medicine ball slam would be between 10-20 pounds beginners, and 20-40 pounds for a more advanced workout. The trick to choosing the right weight is selecting a ball that is heavy enough to slow down your workout, while ensuring that you have great control over the ball while you do the workout.

• Squat down to pick up the medicine ball and then lift it over your head.
• Hold it up as high as possible with both of your arms sticking up.
• Get the ball as high into the air as possible, not just a little over your head. Then, throw the ball down on the ground while bending forwards.

Make sure to use your ab muscles when you are raising the ball up and throwing it down. If you would like to make the exercise even more challenging you have the option of standing up on your tiptoes.

Do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps, with a short rest in-between sets. Keep picking the medicine ball up and throwing it back down until you are tired enough that your form weakens, even with effort. Remember that it is the difficult last few reps that make the biggest difference.

Crunches

• Next do 30 crunches. Simply lie down on your back, with your knees bent so that your feet are flat on the floor.
• Your legs should be approximately hip-width distance.
• You can either place your arms on your chest, or behind your head to give you a bit of support.
• Before starting the crunch take a deep breathe in.
• Then lift your upper body slightly up, and exhale.
• Count to 3 and then move your upper body back to the floor.

Planks

End your exercise with a 30 second plank. Planks will improve your willpower, and strengthen your core more than most exercises.

• Lie down on the floor with your hands flat on the floor, directly under your shoulders.
• Lift your body until it forms a straight line all the way from your feet to your shoulders.
• Stay in that position for 30 seconds.

Make a note of how long it took you to do a day one workout. When you do a similar workout again in the future, you should see some improvement. You will be repeating this exercise every 5 days, so start with 8 reps in a set, and then gradually increase it to 12.

You can also try our 30 day Plank Challenge.

Day 2

Jack Knives – 3 sets of 8 reps
15 Sandbag sit-ups
15 plated sit-ups

Jack Knives – 3 sets of 8 reps

Start with a side jackknife. This is a great exercise for people of all skill levels.

• Lie on your side in the right position with your legs together.
• Make sure your left arm is out on the floor and ready to support your body.
• Point your right elbow upward and away from your feet, with your right hand on your head.
• Slowly raise your leg as far up as possible and then move it down.
• As you do this, move your elbow and your whole body upward towards your leg. This strengthens plenty of different muscles, especially your core muscles.

30 Sandbag Sit-up

• Start in a normal sit-up position, with your knees up, but hold a sandbag over your head.
• Extend your arms as far as possible.
• Now, move your body towards your knees like in regular sit-ups.
• Count to 3 and then lower your back so that it is once again flat on the floor.
• Be careful not to drop the sandbag.

Since a small number of heavy reps is often (but not always) better than a high number of light reps, you may get much better results with sandbag sit-ups than with regular sit-ups.  It is not necessary to add weights to bodyweight exercises. Exercise like sandbag sit-ups make the exercise harder since you are using only your body weight.  

However, many people prefer to use weights to make bodyweight exercises harder. With weights, progress can be more satisfying as you move on to heavier weights over time.

15 plated sit-ups

• Lie down flat on your bag with a dumbbell or weighted plate held in your hands against your chest. Your knees should be bent with your feet flat on the floor.
• Inhale, and then slowly lift your upper body towards your knees, until you are almost sitting up.
• Count to 3 and then lower your back to your starting position on the floor.
• Remember your feet and your hips should remain planted on the floor throughout the exercise.

Day 3

Weighted planks  – 3 sets – 60 seconds each.
Hanging leg raises – 2 set of 8-12 raises
30 crunches

Start this day of with some weighted planking.

If you are not yet in good shape, you may not be able to do this for very long. That is fine – start with lighter weights and shorter times. If you’re a beginner start with 1kg, and if you’re looking for more of a challenge, try 2.5 kg.

• Lie down on the floor with your hands flat on the floor, and some large plates on your lower back
• Make sure your elbows are directly under your shoulder blades, and the rest of your hands flat on the floor, so that your shoulders form a 90 degree angle.
• Lift your body until it forms a straight line all the way from your feet to your shoulders.
• Stay in that position for 30 seconds.

Remember just because you can only plank for a short time does not mean the exercise is ineffective. It will build up your muscles until you can plank for longer and use heavier weights. You may find that you “hate” planking at first, especially with weights on your back, but it is as effective as it is difficult. 

Once you get used to planking, many other exercises will seem relatively easy. At the start of the month, you may be setting weights down even though you could have kept going. By the end of the month, you should be doing most of your sets to failure.

Hanging leg raises – 3 sets of 8-12 raises

After this, move on to hanging leg raises.

• Find a pull-up bar and hang from it, with your arms away from you and in a V shape.
• Keep your legs together – it won’t work if you separate them – and move them upward, as high as possible.
• Then slowly move them back together

Hanging leg raises are one of the best ab exercises, so you should do a few sets of them. Reduce the amount of time you rest between sets as your strength increases. Some people may not be able to do a full hanging leg raise with good form the first time they try it; others can do many. Try to improve by pulling your legs up higher each time you do this exercise. Don’t try to improve in terms of how many reps you can do until later.

30 crunches

Do 30 regular crunches to end the day.

Day 4

Every fourth day should be a rest day. Remember that your muscles grow while you are resting, not training. Having rest days doesn’t mean that you are taking it easier than you should. The best athletes in the world take rest days. In fact, if you don’t feel like you need a rest day, you probably need to increase the number of reps you are doing each day.

Day 5-30

This 30 day challenge is structured so that you can complete these exercises every four days for a whole month. In order to increase the intensity, and your strength our 30 day ab challenge calendar increases the intensity of the exercise by just enough that your stamina and strength slowly increase.. It doesn’t take steroids or great genes to get a six-pack. You can get impressive, visible abs with average genes if you build up your muscles and lower your body fat.

FAQS

What body fat percentage do you need to see abs?

You will start to see abs at 15% body fat and see well-defined abs at about 10%. Going below 10% or below 8% is unusual, and can be risky for your health, as well as for bodybuilders and some athletes. Somewhere between 10% and 15% will make you look great, is good for your health, and is realistically achievable with time and effort. To have visible abs, you need to have low body fat. Many strong people are somewhat fat. Building strength is not enough – you have to change your body composition to get visible abs.

Can you gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Yes, and many people train this way. You do not have to do a bulking phase followed by a cutting phase. While this does work, you can lose fat and build muscle at the same time. If you eat a calorie deficit but train hard, get enough sleep, and eat enough protein, your body will both burn fat and lose muscle. If you are underweight, this might not work. Try carb cycling – eat a lot of carbs for a while to gain a few pounds of fat, then avoid carbs and continue to train to turn the fat into muscle. It only takes a few days’ worth of serious low-carb dieting for the body to start burning fat for fuel.

What are the best supplements for core strength?

Supplements can help you a lot, even if diet and training are the most important. You don’t strictly need supplements to get strong, but you can get stronger faster with supplements. Many supplements can boost your overall health in ways other than helping you cut fat and build muscle.

Protein Powder

While it is good to get a lot of your protein from food, this is not always realistic if you are serious about building muscle. Use protein powder, but don’t overuse it. Eat high protein foods as well. Nothing is worse than losing muscle while you are trying to lose fat. This can ruin a physique you put a lot of time into improving. You have to train, and you have to get enough protein while you are losing fat, or muscle loss is inevitable.

Caffeine

Caffeine is great for workout motivation and energy. It also reduces your appetite, so you can use it to cut fat and make your abs more visible. Don’t use it later in the day, or it will reduce your sleep quality, which will hurt your muscle growth. However, as long as caffeine doesn’t hurt your sleep, it is mostly good for you. It is a cheap, common, safe drug that will boost your motivation.

Creatine

Creatine is a tried and true supplement that everyone agrees is safe and effective. If you want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, you should use creatine. Anyone interested in staying in shape or athletics should try it. Creatine converts into phosphocreatine, which is stored in your muscles. Phosphocreatine makes it much easier for your muscles to tap into phosphates to use for energy. Creatine also draws water into your muscles, which improves your workouts further.

Melatonin

Since sleep is so important for muscle building, anything that improves your sleep quality can help you build muscle. Most sleeping pills, whether of the over-the-counter kind or not, are associated with worse health and higher death rates. Natural sleep aids are a better idea. Melatonin is your body’s primary sleep hormone. When you have been awake for too long or see the sun going down, your body produces melatonin.  Melatonin is vital for sleep quality, which improves muscle growth. Supplementing with your body’s main sleep hormone is safe, won’t hurt your natural melatonin production, and helps you sleep better rather than longer or faster. It won’t keep you asleep for a long time – you might even sleep less hours if you take melatonin because your sleep quality will be so much higher. Better sleep can also improve your metabolism or make you less hungry, so melatonin is just as useful for building lean muscle as any other supplement.