The 30-day abs challenge

The bike means I get plenty of CV exercise, but it’s time to do some toning training, too

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The challenge in full. I'm not looking forward
to day 30.

With all the cycling I do at the moment – an hour commuting at least four days a week plus longer rides at the weekend – getting enough cardio/fat-burning exercise really isn’t a problem. What I am missing out on is toning and load-bearing training.

So when a friend signed up to the 30-day abs challenge on Facebook, I thought I’d give it a go too. It’s a simple enough idea: take four ab exercises (sit ups, crunches, leg lifts and planks) and slowly build up the number you do over a period of 30 days, with every fourth day being a rest.

At the time of writing (16 June), I’m 16 days in, just over halfway. And it’s certainly getting challenging. Today is actually a rest day, but yesterday (15 June) comprised 75 sit-ups, 95 crunches, 42 leg lifts and a 60-second plank. That was hard. Tomorrow will be even harder.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to complete the challenge. Day 30 requires 125 sit-ups, 200 crunches, 65 leg lifts and a 120-second plank. That sounds like an awful lot to me, although I will be building up to it daily, of course. I also figure that I can do it in two sets if need be – half in the morning and half when I get home from work. Although I think this isn’t really in the spirit of the challenge, the site doesn’t actually prohibit it, and I’m of the opinion it’s better to do it that way than not do it all.

Yesterday comprised 75 sit-ups, 95 crunches, 42 leg lifts and 60-second plank; that was hard

The site, 30 Day Fitness Challenges, has plenty of other challenges, too, lots of which are toning/strengthening training. So after I’ve done the abs challenge, I’m going to try some of the others. It might be a good idea to alternate between arm and core challenges.