They'll Fire Soon Thereafter

Abs -- probably my least favorite section of body that I deal with and I actually shuddered a bit when I saw the Jackie Warner cover but was definitely heartened when I found out the ab work included nary a crunch.

Warner promises a path to sleek and sexy abs –- Jackie-style. There are two (approximately) 15 minute ab routines – one is done standing up and the other on the mat. During the matless routine, part of the warm-up includes punching laterally – loved it. I was huffing and puffing by the time my straight arms (holding a weight) were meeting my lifted knee. Other moves that you’ll encounter include the: Squat Swing, Figure Eight (with weights) -- really dug this move. Tap and push (Loved it.)

Result of routine: Two days later, my lower ab sidewall was still feeling the Jackie-style love.

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The mat portion of the program is just as engaging as the first once. You’ll kneel on the floor and reach one arm up at a time to warm-up and, actually, kneeling is a good place to be because you’ll find yourself saying a little prayer at some point.

Those abs should be firing even though it's the warm up Warner says.

If they’re not firing during the warm-up, I promise you that they’ll fire soon thereafter. Activities that you’ll engage in during the mat routine: Weight between knee -- elbow meets knee (diagonally).

Swimmers -- a scissor leg move that I also liked. It was a simple maneuver and I felt it immediately.


(Floor Cam)

Side Oblique Plank (You'll try to get your elbow to meet your knee while in plank position.)



Modifications are available. After side planks and, before the next exercise, I paused the DVD to see how much time had elapsed because I was feeling *it.* The display reported that 4:58 minutes had elapsed. I took a deep breath and hit the play button. Next up was a plank twist. I did my best to keep up and drop my hips to the mat as many times as I was asked. You'll get to swim again with knees up (tabletop), shoulders blades off the mat, weights in hands -- arms moving.

And the words you never want to hear: These are a little bit more challenging -- burpees. I already felt challenged before that B word. Jackie-style burpees are a two-part move that look frog-like. Hands down, frog position – you move your legs in and out. Hips stay straight back doesn't dip Warner advises. About halfway through the burpees, I opted for the modification -- done moving one leg in and one leg out alternately.

Next up are the bridge, leg circles and a plank with a leg lift. By the time Warner got to leg jacks, my comments had gone from exclamations of Oh God to an important question Are you serious?. Doing Superman never felt so good. And child's pose? I embraced it wholeheartedly.

The ab workouts are great and a lot of cool moves are incorporated. Yes, the workouts are challenging but feel the challenge and do it anyway. Okay, that's not how the saying goes but you know what I mean...


*Disclosure: I received this video without charge.