Of course, doing a million situps is about as much fun as having your teeth bleached. And it's not much more effective, either because it really only works out your hip flexors. Instead, according to Ed Eyestone (two-time Olympic marathoner and men's cross-country coach at Brigham Young University, has a master's degree in exercise physiology), runners need an ab workout that targets the upper and lower abdominal muscles, along with the internal and external oblique muscles on either side of the abdomen.
Lucky for us, some of the best collegiate track teams have come up with such a workout. I like to call it "circuit abs" because it's a combination of abdominal exercises that rotate every 30 seconds says Ed. By rotating the exercises you ensure all ab muscles get strong. And the variation in the exercises allows one group of abdominal muscles to recover while another group is worked. Circuit-ab workouts can be done every day after you run. Here's how:
- Set your watch to beep every 30 seconds, and begin the first ab exercise.
- Do as many repetitions of the selected exercise as you can until the watch beeps.
- At the beep, switch to the next exercise, which should work a different part of your stomach.
- If you become fatigued before 30 seconds is up, simply rest until the next exercise begins.
- Start with just 6 minutes total. Longer than that and you might have trouble getting out of bed the next day. Gradually work up to 12 minutes total.
So you heard what Ed had to say. I am so taking his advice. Better Abs = Better Runner. Cant say how long i have ran without really working on my abs. Ever since I heard this, I have been working my abs aleast 3 times a week. So far my run time has drop to 16:40 for 2 miles. For me that is a big step. So rember what Ed Says and just do it!!!!!
