30-Day Ab Challenge | Core Strength Exercises

By now you probably know that runners need strong cores to maintain efficient running form and posture. But you might not realize that those muscles around your middle are one of the first parts to fire up when you start running.

“Your core is your power center, the home base of your body,” says Lindsey Clayton, RRCA run coach and instructor at Barry’s Bootcamp in New York City. “Having a strong core stabilizes your body as you run, and adds power to your arms and legs to drive your body forward.”

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To give you some extra motivation for building your core, we put together this 30-day ab challenge with the goal of boosting your overall strength so you can head into spring training with more speed and efficiency than before.

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But before you start, Clayton has some words of advice: You don’t have to power through each move or do them as fast as humanly possible. Instead, take your time and breathe through them, fully inhaling and exhaling through each rep. Performing each move with control will help you reap the most rewards.

How to do this challenge: Each workout listed below is its own circuit. Do Workout 1 on day one, Workout 2 on day two, Workout 3 on day three, so on and so forth. Once you finish Workout 6 on day six, start back at the beginning. Cycle through Workouts 1 through 6 every day for 30 days straight.

Clayton recommends performing each exercise for 50 seconds with a 10-second rest in between each round. For the first 15 days, aim to complete 2 to 3 rounds, and work up to completing 3 to 4 rounds for the last 15 days. As always, check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program and stop at any point if something feels off.

Workout 1

Workout 3

Workout 2

Workout 6

Workout 5

Workout 4

Danielle Zickl

Senior Editor

Danielle Zickl for Runner’s World and Bicycling.