30 Day - 600 Reps Challenge! Build More Defined Obliques & Six Pack Abs!!!

Today I’m going to share with you a 600 repetition challenge to really help tighten up your core, and smash those obliques!

The way I came up with this challenge was it’s actually something that I’ve been doing getting ready for a BSN shoot. I wanted to really dial in my core and bring out my obliques a bit more while dieting down. Now obviously if you want your abs to show it’s all about diet, but when you lose the body fat, if you want the muscles to look great you have got to train them.

This is something that I’ve been doing two or maybe three times a week, depending on my schedule.

What Exercises Are Involved?

Exercise #1: Woodchopper (Low-To-High) – 10 Reps

You’re going to start this challenge with a low-to-high woodchopper, and the goal with this is not to overload with as much weight as possible. Remember, each round is going to be a total of 100 repetitions, so you want to use a weight that’s medium to hard. You’re going to be twisting from the bottom, then twisting up through the core, and reaching towards the ceiling for 10 reps.

Exercise #2: Woodchopper (Middle) – 10 Reps

As soon as you finish the low-to-high woodchoppers, you’re immediately going to go into another version of the woodchopper, cutting through the middle of your core. You want to keep your knees, toes and head facing forward, and only focus on working through your torso as much as possible, as well as keeping as much tension in your obliques as you can.

Exercise #3: Woodchopper (High-To-Low) – 10 Reps

Immediately after completing the reps for the middle woodchoppers, you’re going to go into the high-to-low version, going from the top of the cable machine down to the bottom. The aim with these different variations is to cut through your obliques several different ways when doing this challenge, instead of just doing 3 or 4 sets of a standard woodchopper, doing just a horizontal line.

As soon as you finish, you’re going to do the same exercises on the other side of your body, this time starting with high-to-low, before moving onto the middle and then low-to-high woodchoppers. Remember, the form is the exact same, and again you’ll be performing 10 repetitions per exercise for a total of 60 reps.

Keep in mind that you are not resting at all between these exercises. That doesn’t mean you have to do them as fast as possible, but it should only take you a few seconds to go from one to the other. Make sure your reps are as smooth as possible, and really flex your obliques as you do each crunch – don’t just whip your hands back and forth and get zero muscle engagement. Really try and work that mind-muscle connection as you twist by squeezing and flexing your obliques as hard as you can.

Also, the most difficult variation is probably going to be the low-to-high woodchoppers, so when you do this variation, take some time to really feel out the motion first, so you know exactly what you’re doing. A lot of people tend to just move their arms up and down to get this exercise done, but you really want to make sure you’re pushing and squeezing through those obliques.

Exercise #4: Leg-Raise – 40 Reps

As soon as you finish all 60 repetitions for the woodchopper variations, you’re going to do 40 leg raises. Now in the video, it may look as though I use momentum to go up and down with these, but what’s actually happening is that when I bring my legs down, I thrust them to the floor as hard as I can while flexing my entire core on every single repetition. You’re aim should be to eventually perform your leg raises the same, with a slight pause at the bottom of each rep, which is going to help ensure you keep tension on your core. Make sure you get your knees as high as you can, thrusting them towards your chest.

How Is Each Round Set Up?

Once you’ve completed your 40 reps of leg raises, you’ll rest 60-90 seconds, then do it all again, starting with the woodchopper variations, and that’s what one round looks like. This means each round will have a total of 100 repetitions, and you’re going to do 6 rounds which makes the 600 rep total.

Now obviously if you’ve never done this before I recommend starting off with a bit lighter weight. If you’re having a hard time with some of the exercises (I know some of you might have a hard time with the hanging leg raises), an alternate you can do is to literally just lay on the floor and do a reverse crunch.

Alternate For Leg Raises: Reverse Crunch – 40 Reps

The reverse crunch is a really great way to hit those lower abs, and while you’re not going to hit them as hard as you would with a leg raise, something is always better than nothing. Even if you do want to try and do the leg raises on your own, for maybe your first or second round before you tire out, then go to the floor and do the reverse crunch. So do as many hanging leg raises as you can, and then when you tire out just hit the floor and do the reverse crunch to make sure you still get some nice lower ab stimulation for this circuit. The last thing I want you guys to do is be able to only handle half the routine and then skip part of it.

Why Are There So Many Oblique Variations?

One of the best things about this is, traditionally, when you see me hit my obliques, usually I’ll just do a really heavy middle woodchopper or a really, really heavy standing oblique crunch, where I’m just hitting each side for 10-15 reps with a heavy dumbbell. What’s really great about this challenge is that you’re going to be targeting your obliques in a way you’ve probably never hit them before.

You’re going to feel sore in areas you probably knew could be sore, because you’re doing high-to-low crunches, which are going to place more emphasis on your upper obliques, and you’re doing low-to-high crunches, which are going to place more emphasis on your lower obliques. If you’ve just been doing standing oblique crunches and middle woodchoppers, you probably only felt sore in that middle area. Granted you’re stimulating the entire muscle no matter what, but just like when you’re training any other body part, there are ways you can do exercises to place more emphasis on specific areas, so that’s why there are so many variations.

Conclusion

I hope you all enjoy this new challenge, and I know you’ll have some diced obliques and rock hard six packs after adding this to your weekly routine!