Doing CrossFit exercise is a great way to get in shape with very little equipment. You can perform them at home, in a hotel room or even in a park to enjoy the great outdoors. Here are a few of the more common exercises designed for legs and abs.
Body Weight Exercises
Squat and Pistols
Complete a regular squat so the hips are below the knees and then back to a standing position. Pistols are the one-legged squats with the "up" leg being stretched out in front of the body.
Box jump
Start by standing on the floor in front of a box (15", 20", 24", or 30") and jump and land on top of the box with both feet. Fully stand up on the box and jump back down. To make it more difficult, as soon as you touch down on the floor, immediately jump back up on the box.
Burpee
Start standing, drop to the floor into a pushup position, contact the floor with your chest, pull your knees forward under your chest and feet on the floor, stand up and end with a small jump.
Lunge
Take a step forward and plant your foot a step ahead of you. Bend the knee like you are putting the other knee on the ground. The front knee should be directly above your foot so your shin is vertical. Push back off of your front foot to stand back up.
Jump rope
Do a "double under" or even a triple - the rope passes 2 or 3 times around with each jump.
Knees-to-elbows
Hang from a bar with your arms straight. Raise your knees until you touch your elbows. It is important to curl your body up to engage your lower abs. Imagine pulling your hips to your hands. Variation: Keep your legs straight and pull your feet to the bar.
L-sit
Hang from a bar and hold your legs straight out in front of you. Keep your feet at or above the level of your hips.
L-sit advanced
Hang from a bar, bring your knees to your chest, straighten your legs into an L-sit, and bring your knees back to your chest and back to a hanging position. Think of making an L shape with your feet up, away from you, back in and down.
Ground Ab Work
Move from shoulders on the ground to a sitting position with the shoulders over your hips. An ab mat can be used for support and to protect the spine. The feet are sometimes anchored to help when abs are weak but avoid this if possible.
Variations include:
Roll back
Bicycle
Legs vertical
Crunch
Incline crunch, etc
Hip thrust
My name is Jacques Delorme and I run a youth nutrition blog at http://visportsnutrition.ca where you can get all sorts of information on nutrition, exercise and motivation for youth athletes. Visit my site and feel free to leave comments and questions if you need more information.
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