Laurel Blackburn

Get Killer Abs and a Tight Core with This Simple Move. Learn how this top boot camp instructor has her clients seeing results in as little as 3 weeks with this hardcore ab circuit.

The abdominal muscles are made up of 6 groups of muscles that extend from different places on the ribs to various places on the pelvis.

They provide support and movement to the entire trunk as well as assisting with the breathing process. The deeper the muscle, the more important it is to supporting and maintaining a healthy core and spine.

The transverses abdominus muscle is the deepest of the abs muscles. It wraps around the torso and acts as a support.

The internal obliques are a pair of abs muscles that are located on each side of the torso. They help with rotation and lateral flexion of the spine. They are the next deepest of the abs muscles after the TA.

External obliques are also located on both sides of the torso and assist with rotation and lateral flexion as well as other things.

The rectus abdominus is the most superficial of the abs muscles, it helps in maintaining body posture, although not as much as the deeper muscles. The rectus abdominus is the muscle that most of us use to define how ripped we are or how fit we are.

I know that most of you are not on this website to learn the anatomy of your trunk, but rather to get six pack abs and get ripped.

The truth is that we all have a six pack to start with. It's just that most people are not lean enough to see them. You can do all the crunches and use every ridiculous gadget out there and believe me, there are plenty, and you will still not get the ripped look you desire. You have to burn the fat that is covering your abs. It all comes back to diet and exercise.

I find with my clients that high intensity cardiovascular exercise like sets of sprints, or other high intensity intervals work best for shedding fat.

I've put together a short workout that includes high intensity cardio with one of my favorite abs exercises to start you on your way to a healthy core and to getting those six pack abs you desire.

The move is called The Super Plank. My clients hate it, but it works. The great thing about the Super Plank is that not only are you working the muscles of your abdominals, but you are also getting a great chest and triceps workout.

Begin this circuit with some jogging mixed with a few sets of push ups. The circuit is as follows. Sprint (and that means all out, not just a fast jog) about 50 to 100 yards, get into a full plank position. Maintain a rigid core. Do not let your hips drop or your back to sag. From the full plank position, do 1 push up and then go down to your forearms 1 at a time.

Push yourself back up to your hands, again, 1 at a time and then do another push up. Continue until you have completed 15 reps. Get up and sprint back to start and follow up with another set of 15 Super Planks. Repeat for 4 or 5 sets.

The great thing about the Super Plank is that you can add all kinds of crazy things to it. After you complete your push up you can go right into a T-stand in which you will support yourself with 1 extended arm and rotate your body until your other arm is extended and facing the sky (or ceiling). To make things really interesting you can also add a set of mountain climbers while you are in the plank position.

Experiment with this basic core exercise and let me know what you come up with.

Get into a full plank position.

do 1 push up and....

then go down to your forearms 1 at a time.

Do you want to see more plank variations? Here are 12 plank exercises that I use for myself and my clients. Make sure to start off with isometric exercises before incorporating more dynamic plank movements.