Carve your abs with a pumpkin

It's the halloween bank holiday weekend here in Ireland, which means there are pumpkins all over the place. Because it's a long weekend, it also means many of us will overindulge at some point over the next few days! As frequent readers will know, I'm all about balancing our bad habits and indulgences with good habits, so here's a trick or 2 to help limit the damage the treats will do to your waistline.

Before you carve the pumpkin, use it to carve your abs.

Many exercises that use a medicine ball or weight can just as easily be done using a pumpkin, though slams are probably best left out of this one, unless you love cleaning up squished squash! As usual,
make sure to get warmed up properly before going into the guts of the workout. 

Pumpkin ab circuit.

If you feel a sharp pain at any point, stop! Listen to your body and work according to your own ability level, not someone else’s. Remember, you are responsible for your own health.

Perform each exercise for 40 seconds, then begin the next one within 20 seconds.

If 40/20 timing is too challenging, try using 30/30 timing instead (30 sec's effort, 30sec's recovery). If 40/20 is too easy, try 50/10 or just blast straight through!

1. Pumpkin mountain climbers.

Place both hands on your pumpkin, and begin in a split start position, on the balls of the feet. Aim to keep the hips at the same height throughout the movement as you switch the feet. The core should be engaged throughout, this will help you keep a straight line through the body from head to heel.

2. Pumpkin plank

Aim to hold the position for the full 40 seconds. There should be a straight line from your heels through the knees, hips and shoulders. If/when tiredness kicks in, and your hips begin to drop, raise hips to prevent excessive pressure on the lower back. Try to breath normally throughout.

3. Pumpkin squat to press

While not technically an ab exercise, if you want to keep or get a flat stomach, keeping your metabolism high is crucial, and the high number of muscle fibers activated in this exercise means it delivers results! 

Feet should be shoulder width apart or a little wider, with the toes pointing slightly out. Start the squat by pushing your butt back, this'll help keep your knees behind your toes (crucial to avoiding pressure on the knee joint). Sit back and down into the squat, pause at the bottom position for a second before powering up and pushing that pumpkin overhead. Keep the core tight as you do so to avoid over-arching the lower back. Control your decent back down and repeat.

 4. Pumpkin twist

Sit on the ground, or an exercise mat if you have one. Knees bent to 90 , lean back till hips are also at 90 . Depending on the weight of your pumpkin, the arms can be bent or straight (straight is more challenging). It is crucial here to keep the core engaged! Twist the torso to one side, making sure the shoulders come around. If the shoulders don't turn, you're not going to get the great toning effect on the sides that this exercise should give you. Exhale and pull with the muscles on the opposite side to bring you back to center. Inhale as you twist to the other side & exhale back to center.

That's it. After each circuit take 60-90 sec active rest (walking, not sitting). 5 rounds will take about 25 mins. Be sure to do a good cooldown to finish. I hope you have fun with this stomach toning circuit, but for the love of god, don't do it right after eating, or you'll be one pukey pumpkin!