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When it’s time to focus on your abdominals, you don’t need high-tech equipment to get to work. Have a towel handy? Then you are ready to fire up every part of your core.
And that’s important if you are looking to crush your rides and nab those Strava KOMs or QOMs. While fitting in leg day is significant for power, having a strong core is essential to tackle climbs and sprints, too.
Including core exercises into your regular training routine helps maintain a stable position on the bike for the duration of your rides, says Amber Rees, senior trainer at Barry's in New York City and cofounder of the Brave Body Project.
“Sliders [or towels] are like having a megaformer machine right inside your home,” Rees says. “Sliders [or towels] help you to improve stability; they force you to slow down; and they enhance your overall body awareness. They’re high-intensity and low-impact, and they will make your core strength better than ever.”
So Rees created a five-exercise circuit to fire up those muscles in a unique way—by using a towel, which mimics sliders. By doing abs exercises with a towel (or sliders if you have them), you’re upping the intensity of the workout since the gliding motion puts tension on all of your core muscles and challenges your balance and stability.
You can add this core workout into your regular strength sessions or even tack it onto the end of a ride if you’ve got the energy.
How to do it: Perform each exercise for 50 seconds with a 10-second recovery. Perform the circuit two times through. The whole circuit takes 12 minutes. Each exercise is demonstrated by Rees so you can learn proper form.
You will need two dish or hand towels and a smooth floor surface. Sliders work well, or in a pinch, you can even use two paper plates on a smooth floor.
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Sprawl
Start standing on two towels, feet shoulder-width apart. Hinge at hips, squat down, and place palms on the ground. Slide legs back into high plank position with wrists under shoulder and core engaged, pause, then slide legs back in toward hands, return to standing position, and repeat.
Pike
Start standing on two towels, feet shoulder-width apart. Then get into a pike—or inverted V—position by bending forward to touch your hands to the ground and sliding your feet out. Slide legs back into high plank position, pause, then slide legs back in toward hands. Repeat.
Down Dog With Foot Tap to Spider Crunch
Start in a high plank position with hands on top of two towels and feet shoulder-width apart. Wrists should be under shoulders and core should be engaged. Slide right hand to left foot, slide right hand back to starting position, then draw right knee to right elbow. Return to high plank position, then repeat on opposite side (left hand to right foot, then left knee to left elbow).
Bear Plank
Start on the floor on your hands and knees, with a towel underneath each foot. Keeping your back flat and your butt down, lift your knees off the ground a few inches. Slide both feet back until they are straight and you are in high plank position. Pause for 1 second, then slide both feet in to return to starting position. Repeat.
Side-Lying V-Sit
Lie on your right side at about a 45-degree angle, legs straight. Shift weight onto right hip and place right forearm down on floor for balance, right hand on top of towel and left hand behind head. Bring your chest and knees together into a tuck position for an elevated tuck crunch. Extend legs back out. Repeat on left side.
