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His abs and core 5: beyond the ab blast

This is an excerpt from JC's Total Body Transformation by Juan Carlos Santana.

This 6-week abdominal program is a heavy-duty version of the ab blast from Functional Training. I use this workout with many of my fighters to improve their guard game (i.e., fighting from their backs with an opponent between their legs). Our fighters have strong and great-looking abs because they follow a strict diet and because they do this kind of abdominal work. This advanced routine uses three exercises with a medicine ball. (Instead, you can use a stability ball.) We start by doing this workout resting between exercises. However, the goal is to go through all three exercises back-to-back without rest between each exercise in the circuit. This workout is also a great ab-shredding workout and will help you bring out the abdominals during a fat-burning phase.

Depending on your natural capacity and training history, weeks 1 and 2 can be repeated twice each to reduce the volume and provide more time to adapt. The higher ranges of weeks 4 to 6 are for elite trainees only.

Equipment

Medicine ball: Beginners, use a 2 to 3 lb (1 kg) medicine ball; intermediate athletes, use a 4-6 lb (2-3 kg) medicine ball; and advanced athletes, use a 7-10 lb (3-5 kg) medicine ball.

Notes

Weeks 1 and 2: Perform 2 sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise, resting 1 to 2 min between exercises.

Weeks 3 and 4: Perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions of each exercise, resting 1 min between exercises.

Week 5: Superset the 3 exercises, performing each exercise for 5 to 7 repetitions, with no rest between exercises. Perform 2 supersets, resting 1 min between supersets.

Week 6: Superset the 3 exercises, performing each exercise for 10 to 12 repetitions, with no rest between exercises. Perform 3 supersets, resting 1 to 2 min between supersets.

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