Sculpt Sexy GLUTES & ABS 10 Bodyweight Strength & Conditioning Moves for Your Stomach and Glutes by Bree Argetsinger aka The Betty Rocker www.thebettyrocker.com Page 1
Welcome Try this fun little glutes and abs circuit anytime - it's great to do at home or outside. I do one minute of each move (or 30 seconds per side where applicable) when I'm doing a full circuit, and will also add some of these moves into my gym circuits when I'm weight training for an added boost (try warming up with sumo jacks, for example, or adding a set of the elevated plank side shuffle to a core series to really up the ante). The only move that it makes sense to add weights to is move 6, floor wipers - and you can easily hold some soup cans over your head if you're at home and don't have weights. I do them with no weights all the time and it works my lower core just great. You have options I like to mix up my workouts for best results, so I'd do this circuit no more than twice a week and include other workouts or exercise as well. As always, be safe, be mindful of your form, go at a pace that's right for you and post on my Facebook Wall, tag me on Instagram #thebettyrocker or Tweet at me and share your progress and how you're doing Enjoy the workout -Betty Rocker www.thebettyrocker.com Page 2
FORMAT: Perform each move for 1 minute. Rest in between as needed. Use these moves as a complete 10-minute workout circuit or mix and match into your existing workouts. 1.Sumo Jacks Begin in a wide leg/sumo stance, toes slightly turned out, your chest up. Squat down bringing your hands out by your sides. Explode up to jump, bringing your feet together and hands together overhead. Land softly, and press through the toes as you jump out again to a sumo squat, hands back in the starting position. Keep your knees tracking in line with your toes throughout this move. When you come into your sumo, keep your chest lifted - don t bend forward. Go only as deep into your squat as you can while keeping your chest up. To modify this, do regular jumping jacks. A sumo jack is a regular jumping jack with an added squat when your feet are out. You can try doing a few squats, and go back to regular jacks when you get tired. Each time, try to do a few more. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 3
2.Elevated Plank Lateral Shuffle Come into a tall plank, with your feet up on a step, bench, chair, ottoman, etc. Be sure your shoulders are stacked over your wrists and your core is engaged - slightly tilt your pelvis by imagining you were pressing your lower back into an invisible glass ceiling so your back isn t arched. Keep your legs straight and begin to alternately touch your toes to the ground. Bring your right foot out to the side and down to touch, then quickly back up to the box and the left foot out to the side and down to touch. At all times, maintain that solid core and keep your body in a straight line. If your wrists are bothering you at all, you can do this move on soft fists to straighten them out. You can also do this move on the floor and take out the elevated surface. If you re down on the floor and want to give your wrists a break come down into a forearm plank and continue. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 4
3.Alternating Curtsy Lunge to Knee Lift Begin standing, feet hip distance apart. Step your right foot behind you, bringing it in line with your left heel. Your left leg will be parallel with the ground. This is different from a regular reverse lunge where you would simply step directly back with your right foot - instead you re stepping your foot in closer to the center of your body - directly behind your front foot. This accomplishes the curtsy and targets the abductor fibers of your glutes (the ones that move your hip away from your body, on the outside of the hip). Push off your right foot and as you come back up, crunch your right knee up and to the side, bringing your elbow down to meet it. This will add an additional stability challenge to the left leg, and a nice bonus contraction to the obliques and core. Step back down to the start position, and repeat on the other leg. Continue to alternate right and left. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 5
4.Jump Squat Begin standing, feet hip distance apart. It s okay if your toes turn out slightly, but you want to keep them fairly straight. Lower yourself to a squat. If it helps, put a box or low chair behind you to aim for. You want your chest to stay up, and for the movement to happen at your hips - not your back. Your knees should track over the toes, and not go beyond them. Get your weight back in your heels and explode up to jump, using your arms to propel you. Power through your hips to jump, squeezing your glutes. Land lightly, and come right back down to your squat, watching your knee alignment again each time. To modify the jump squat, simply perform body squats with no jump, using good alignment and pressing through the heels as you come up. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 6
5.Bridge + Hamstring Pull-ins For this move, you ll want a couple of towels or paper plates or cardboard squares (the paper plates and cardboard squares work on carpets and on hard floors). Place them beneath your feet. Begin by coming into a bridge. Lie on your back, and bend your knees to lift your hips, bringing your feet in so that you can reach them with your hands. Squeeze your glutes to elevate and lift your hips as much as you can, and stay relaxed through your upper body and neck. Press through your heels and alternately slide one foot straight, then the other - keeping your hips lifting as high as you can while the feet are in motion. Once you complete one cycle, drop your hips down and raise them up again to add an extra bridge lift. Make sure to keep your hips square to the ceiling. Don t let one side roll up higher than the other - maintain your stability. If the slides are a little challenging, modify this by sticking to bridge lifts. Simply lift and lower your hips with control. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 7
6.Floor Wipers Floor wipers target your lower abdominals and are an excellent strength building move for the core. Begin on your back, hands at your sides. Press your lower back down into the mat or floor. It s very important to maintain this engagement throughout the movement to both protect your lower back, and fully engage and target the muscles being worked. Raise your hands up above you and engage your mid back by drawing your shoulders back and down into their sockets. If you were holding two weights, this would help protect your shoulders and stabilize you (feel free to add weights). Keep your legs as straight as you can, and raise them up together and to the right. Bring them back down - you can tap the floor, but do not rest them - and bring them back up and to the left. Imagine windshield wipers - but instead of just going from side to side, you re touching the floor - hence floor wipers. If your back starts to lift up, bend your knees and keep going as long as you can. You will get stronger, and this is a great way to get there. You can modify floor wipers by doing them with bent knees. Be sure to maintain that lower back engagement throughout. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 8
7.Toe Reaches This is a great complimentary move to the floor wipers that targets your upper abdominal muscles. Begin on your back, with your lower back pressed down to touch the mat - not arched. Straighten your legs and bring them into an L straight up. Maintain that straight leg position and lift your torso off the ground as you reach your hands for your feet. Don t move the hips or the feet - maintain as much stability as you can with them. Focus on your core and think about where the movement is originating from (upper abdominals). The more you focus on the area you re training, the more you ll get out of it. If your neck starts to hurt, place one hand behind it to stabilize you, and continue to reach with the other hand. You can modify toe reaches by placing your feet on the floor and bending your knees. Hold your hands behind your head with a gentle contacting pressure (don t pull on your head) and raise and lower your upper body. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 9
8.Slider Single Knee Pull-ins Begin in a plank position, with your hands stacked below your shoulders, nice straight body lines - engaged core, back not arched. Your feet will be resting on your cardboard squares, paper plates or towels from the earlier move. Alternate sliding the right knee and the left knee up to your chest and back out. Keep your hips down throughout this move, and maintaining good form with your arms and shoulders. You can come onto soft fists if your wrists are bothering you. A good modification for this is to do mountain climbers - remove the sliders to take the resistance out of it. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 10
9.Slider Double Knee Pull-ins Begin the same as the last move, in a plank position, with your hands stacked below your shoulders, nice straight body lines - engaged core, back not arched. Your feet will once again be resting on your cardboard squares, paper plates or towels from the earlier move. This time, slide both feet in, bringing your knees up to your chest and then back out. Keep your hips down throughout this move, though the tendency will be for them to lift. You can come onto soft fists if your wrists are bothering you. To take out the resistance, hold a plank and jump your feet to your hands and then back out again - like a Burpee without the jump and the squat. Just a jump in and out. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 11
10.Supermans To really train the core, you cannot neglect the lower back muscles. To lift and sculpt your glutes, the lower back muscles are an important part of the posterior chain that will really help define and lift that area. Begin on your stomach, arms stretched out straight in front of you, legs straight behind you and feet together. Engage your lower back muscles as you lift your legs and arms off the ground and come into Supermans. Lift and lower slowly, with control. You can modify Supermans by alternating the lift of your upper and lower body. It s not as intense and will still engage your lower back muscles and help you get stronger. www.thebettyrocker.com Page 12
Get more of my Metabolic Bodyweight Circuits Right Here: >>Bodyweight Circuits www.thebettyrocker.com Page 13