Take Your Core Strength to the Next Level With This 15-Minute HIIT Workout
If your teammates or ride buddies have a wide variety of fitness interests, chances are good that you know someone who loves to incorporate high-intensity interval training—AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) style—into their workouts. If so, they’re on to something, as incorporating HIIT workouts into your training is a great way to strengthen the muscles necessary to grab KOMs and PRs.
While your legs do indeed power your rides, a strong core is the key player for all movement and provides stability on the bike. So Dane Miklaus, C.S.C.S., founder of WORK Training Studio, put together a 15-minute core workout that incorporates six high-intensity exercises to kick your regular routine up a notch. Each of these moves combines power and control, recruiting every abdominal muscle and elevating your heart rate, he says.
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How to do it: Perform 10 reps of each move (and 10 on each side for single-sided exercises)—that’s 1 round. Do as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 15 minutes.
Pro tip: Before performing any high-intensity workout, ensure you start with a thorough warmup, which will help ensure you can nail proper form throughout. Take at least 10 minutes to prepare your body and perfect your form first before performing these moves with speed or intensity. Chances are, you’ll be feeling the burn quickly, Miklaus says, so always remember to take breaks when you need to, and focus on form over speed. You may also modify any of the moves by limiting the range of motion, decreasing the weight, or eliminating the jumps.
Hanging Leg Raise
Grasping the bar firmly, swing your legs behind you slightly to pick up momentum. As legs return underneath hips, engage abs while flexing ankles and draw your knees up to hip level. Pull down and back on the bar as your legs continue upward toward the peak of the movement. On the descent, brace your core. Draw shoulders down away from ears as your body sways back to a vertical position, and make sure to not over-arch your back as legs swing backward for the next pass. Repeat.
Sit-Up to Ball Toss
Begin in a seated position facing a wall and holding a ball at your chest. Lower your torso to the floor with controlled abdominal and hip-flexor contractions while reaching the ball back overhead. Once extended, pull the ball down toward your chest and curl your shoulders up off the floor. As you sit up, continue engaging abdominals and hips, as well as digging your heels into the floor to sit fully upright. Just before reaching a 90-degree angle at your hips, throw the ball forward from your chest at the wall with enough force that it bounces back to you. Repeat the movement as the ball returns back to your hands, transitioning as smoothly as possible from toss to catch and back again.
Russian Twist Ball Slam
Sit with a ball held at your chest, engage core to lift feet off floor and balance on sit bones. Keeping your back straight and chest elevated, extend ball about six inches from your chest. Twist to the right side and bounce the ball next to your right hip. Use the momentum of the ball to catch and easily transition the force as you rotate your torso to the left. Slam the ball to the left side, and repeat the motion.
Plank Pull-Through
Begin in a high plank position with your left hand next to a dumbbell. (Your hands should be slightly in front of the weight but directly under shoulders.) Maintaining a stable core, keep your hips still but allow your shoulders to twist as you lift your right hand off the floor and reach under to grab the dumbbell. Keeping solid contact with the floor with your left hand, press down even harder while you drag the dumbbell underneath you from left to right with your right hand, ending with the weight outside your right shoulder. Plant your right hand on the ground, and begin the movement again in the opposite direction with your left hand. Repeat.
Log Roll to Jackknife
Lie faceup with arms and legs fully extended. Come into a hollow-man hold by elevating both feet off the floor about six inches and lifting head, neck, arms, and shoulders off the floor. Shift your weight to your right hip while also pushing your arms and legs to the right, and squeezing your left side obliques to elevate your left hip off the floor. As you roll toward facedown, begin contracting the muscles of your glutes, lower back, and shoulders to go into a superman pose with arms and legs off of the floor. To perform the move in the opposite direction, engage your right obliques and the back side of your left hip and shoulder to initiate the roll back onto your back, being sure to keep your limbs off the floor the entire time. Once faceup, swing your legs toward the ceiling as you crunch up off the floor as your reach your fingers to touch your toes. Return to starting position and repeat.
Burpee Tuck Jump
From standing, squat down with your hands outstretched to firmly plant your palms on the floor. Jump your feet back as you lower your entire body (chest, torso, and thighs) to the floor. Push the floor down with your palms as you elevate your chest off the floor, and kick off of your toes while flexing at your hips to pull your feet in toward your hands. Land in a low squat position with hips below your knees. Explode off of your heels to move beyond a standing position into a full jump. On your way up, engage your abs tightly and flex your hips to bring your knees up toward your waist—that’s the tuck jump. Land as softly as you can in order to protect your joints and move safely into the next rep.
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