I love starting the week with a workout post because Mondays always feel like a fresh beginning. I had an awesome weekend celebrating my friend’s wedding, but after three days of eating, drinking and staying up late dancing, it feels damn good to work up a sweat.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw a sneak peek of the aftermath of this workout (= me dead on the floor haha). I got a couple comments on the rug and couch, so I think it’s a perfect time to talk about Breather. Breather recently launched in Boston and is a service that allows you to rent rooms by the hour (or half hour) throughout the city for meetings, getting work done, relaxing or, as I used my breather, photoshoots!

The rooms have Wi-Fi, yoga mats, table space as well as couches, and are decorated in a sort of clean hipster fashion that I love. In addition to Boston, Breather is located in New York, San Francisco, Ottawa & Montreal. If you’re located in one of those cities, you can use the code PUMPIRON to get an hour free!

Power Wheel (or Slider) Ab Workout

Equipment I Used:

• Power wheel
• Gymboss Interval Timer
• Exercise mat

Set a timer for 16 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. There are four exercises in this workout and you’ll go through them four times. You can make this workout as hard as you want by holding a forearm plank during the 10 seconds of “rest” instead of truly resting. When I did the workout, I made it through the first round of four exercises without resting and then took the 10-second break here and there as needed throughout the next three rounds. 

• Twisting Bear Oblique Crunches | Start in a plank position with your feet strapped into the power wheel. From here, bend your knees and roll them towards the right elbow, twisting from the waist. Roll back to plank and then crunch the knees in towards you left elbow, again twisting through the waist. As you crunch side to side, try to keep your hips at shoulder height (don’t sit your bum down towards your heels; you want the target oblique engaged and holding your hips up).
• Plank to Pike | You can do this from your hands or forearms. Start in a plank position with your feet strapped into the power wheel. Keeping your legs straight, pike your hips up into the air, bringing your body into an upside down “v” shape. Once you hit your peak (if you have tight hamstrings, you may not be able to get your hips up very high—that’s ok!), slowly lower back down into plank position.
• Army Crawl | With feet strapped into power wheel, start in a plank with your forearms at the end of an exercise mat. Army crawl your way up the length of the mat, one forearm in front of the other, maintaining the plank position as you roll forward. When you can no longer go any farther forward, reverse the motion, crawling your forearms backward towards the starting edge of the mat. As you move, try to keep your hips level in a plank. They’ll want to dip side to side with each step of the forearms; use your core strength to stabilize them.
• Cobra Walking Planks | Start in a plank position with your feet strapped into a power wheel. From this starting position, you’re going to roll backward, maintaining your plank position and bending your elbows (think of a triceps dip: arms stay in close to your sides) so that you slowly lower down to a forearm plank. From here, do a walking plank, pressing up one hand at a time to straight arms so that you’re back in high plank and read to start your next rep. With the walking plank, try to alternate your lead hand every time so that you’re not always pressing up with your dominant arm.

WEARING | leggings & tank c/o lucy // sneakers: Nike

SHOP THE LOOK:

The power wheel is one of my favorite abdominal torture devices pieces of equipment, but up until now, I’ve only used it for roll-outs and knee tucks on the blog (check out previous power wheel workouts HERE). When the folks over at Ulysses Press offered me a copy of Ab Wheel Workouts by Dr. Karl Knopf, I jumped at the chance—some creative ideas for wheel exercises were much needed!

The book includes 50 different ab wheel exercise that target different parts of the body—lots of basic moves can be made more difficult by balancing on the wheel while doing them. And I mean a lot more difficult. Plank knee tucks are a move I’ve used in tons of workouts here, but when I tried to do them on my power wheel, I nearly face-planted into the floor. Woof.

For this power wheel workout, I’ve taken some of my favorite moves from Ab Wheel Workouts and incorporated them into a two-part interval routine.

Power Wheel Ab Interval Workout

Equipment I Used:

• Power wheel
• Exercise mat
• Gymboss Interval Timer

This workout is divided into two parts: one with the power wheel strapped to your feet and one holding the power wheel with your hands. For each part, set an interval timer to 9 rounds of 30 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. You’ll go through the three power wheel exercises three times. Grab a quick drink of water during a 60-second break, and then move onto Part II and do the same thing.

PART I (9 rounds of 30 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest)

• Plank to Pike: Start in a plank position: hands directly under shoulders, body in straight line. Lift your hips into a pike position, rolling the wheel in towards your hands. How far you can roll forward will depend on your flexibility and strength level. As you can tell from the pictures, I still have lots of room for improvement!
• Alternating Curl Up: Lie on your back with knees bent and hands behind your head; lift shoulders off the ground. Curl up, fully sitting up and twisting your torso to bring your left elbow towards your right knee. Slowly return to starting position, and then curl up bringing your right elbow to your left knee. The challenge to this versus a regular sit-up is keeping the wheel still throughout the move—resist the urge to roll the wheel or lift it up as you curl up.
• Knee Tucks: Start in a plank position. Roll wheel forward, tucking knees in toward chest. Roll back out slowly to starting plank position.

PART II (9 rounds of 30 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest)

• V Roll-Outs: Start on your hands and knees, holding the wheel. Slowly roll the wheel forward and out to the left as far as you can go keeping proper form (don’t let your back sag or butt pop upward). Return to starting position and then roll the wheel forward. Return to starting position and then roll the wheel out to the right. Keep repeating.
• Plank: Plank position, only holding the wheel (it’s harder than it looks!). To get into the position, start on your knees and then lift them off the ground. Keep your hands directly under your shoulders.
• Hands to Feet: Start in a plank position (described above). Slowly roll the wheel towards your feet, lifting your hips. Slowly roll the wheel back out into starting plank position.

This workout isn’t even 15 minutes long, but mannnnn does it burn. Especially Part I. It’s a good thing the dog I was petsitting weighs half a pound, because the last thing I needed was someone jumping on my midsection after completing this…

WEARING | tank: Victoria’s Secret Sport // leggings: c/o Champion // sneakers: New Balance