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Do You Do This During Ab Workouts? 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making

Do You Do This During Ab Workouts? 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making

by | May 4, 2025 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief, Workouts

Feel like your ab workouts aren’t paying off? This video’s your missing link.

Because harder moves don’t mean better results.

We can be doing all the “right” exercises—and still not see the payoff.

Why?

Because we’re compensating. Letting our hips or lower back take over instead of our abs doing the work.

And when that happens, we start to blame the moves—even the ones we should be doing.

We write them off because they cause pain. But it’s not the move. It’s how you’re doing it.

So let’s fix that. Let’s stop the aches and pains. Let’s make sure every rep actually builds the strong abs you’re working for.

Here are 5 common ab training mistakes—and how to fix them.

MISTAKE #1: Doing moves you haven’t earned.

Moves need to fit our current fitness level, needs and goals. When we do exercises we haven’t earned, we end up using the incorrect muscles to power the movements.

This is why we can end up feeling our lower back or hip flexors over our abs working during certain core movements.

Too often we then try to put a bandaid on the issue to power through.

Doing a harder move is better, right?

WRONG!

Regress to progress.

Modifying a move doesn’t mean making it easier on yourself – it means allowing yourself to optimize the exercise.

A prime example of this is putting your hands behind your lower back during leg lower exercises.

Placing your hands under your lower back might feel better in the moment, but it’s not teaching you to properly control the exercise and brace your abs.

Instead of putting your hands behind your lower back to cheat and do a move you haven’t earned, learn to properly brace by regressing to the pelvic tilt hold.

Then build back up.

Learn to truly engage your abs through that tuck of your pelvis toward your ribs. This will protect your lower back and allow you to use your abs to stabilize, even engage your glutes as well.

When you can control this hold, you can then begin to add back in movement, using a pelvic tilt with march.

Then a double knee tuck before building back to a single leg lower and finally the full double leg lower movement.

By building up the right way, you’ll actually work your abs and be amazed at how much stronger they get.

Don’t let ego in doing a harder move hold you back.

MISTAKE #2: Demonizing spinal flexion moves like crunches and sit ups.

Crunches and sit-ups often get written off and even demonized.

But these bodyweight basics work our abs through spinal flexion. Something that planks or big heavy lifts don’t do.

It’s our abs’ job to power that rounding of our spine so we want to include moves that train it.

The key is using these moves correctly so that we don’t rely just on our hip flexors or end up overusing our lower back.

Spinal flexion is about thinking of the curl or roll up of one vertebrae at a time.

Starting out, you may find crunches are easiest to control as they are a more isolated movement. You’re only having to really focus on your abs powering a smaller range of motion to flex your spine and lift through your shoulder blades.

Really focus on your abs curling your upper back off the ground as you press your lower back down into it.

The crunch can really help you focus on that ab activation and mind-body connection because it is so isolated.

Then you can start to move into sit ups, learning to control the full roll up.

Too often with sit ups we just, well, sit up, letting our feet flop around or using momentum, even swinging or arching back overhead when we lay down.

Instead slow things down and think about rounding forward as you reach toward your toes to roll up. Then slowly lowering one vertebra at a time back down

But don’t avoid training this movement pattern. It may not only be the key to getting the amazing strong and defined abs you want (with your diet dialed in of course) but may even help you avoid back pain in your other lifting exercises!

MISTAKE #3: Not focusing on the correct muscles working.

Often we are including many of the “right” core moves, we’re just trying to mimic what we think is proper form and not performing the full exercise or using the correct muscles to power the full movement.

It goes back to mistake #1…we’re trying to do an exercise we haven’t earned so we cheat.

We do leg lowers where we aren’t bracing our abs properly with the posterior pelvic tilt so we’re only really using our hip flexors to lift and lower.

Or we’re doing hanging ab moves and not actually curling our knees toward our elbows by rounding through our spine, we’re only bending and extending at our hips to tuck our knees up.

If you feel your hip flexors working during these reverse crunch or leg raise movements, your hip flexors are what are getting worked. Not your abs.

This perpetuates aches and pains and makes all of our hard work not pay off the way it should.

And even backfire. Because not only can this lead to hip flexor issues, but tight, overworked hip flexors can perpetuate our lower back pain.

Focus on that true spinal flexion. The posterior pelvic tilt is spinal flexion with that tuck of your pelvis toward your ribs.

That curling of your knees toward your elbows as you hang is spinal flexion.

Focus on that movement and regress to progress if you need so you can.

Try an incline ab variation or even lying reverse crunch with overhead hold. But train the proper movement and recruitment pattern.

Don’t just focus on doing the move, focus on what you feel working!

MISTAKE #4: Training to fatigue over using frequency to your advantage.

Have you ever just thought, “I just need to get through the moves!” then rushed through the exercises while tired knowing you were a bit sloppy?

Quality matters. Yet so often we focus on quantity.

We seek to be sore and tired.

Instead of trying to destroy your abs in a workout and do a ton of reps and sets, lower the volume and train them more frequently over the week.

And have a clear set routine you repeat each week, don’t randomly string things together.

While ab exercises can and should be done for higher reps, like 15-25 per set with generally lighter loads if any weight, you still don’t want to focus on just doing 100s of reps in a day.

Spread out that volume over the week. When you are fresher and less fatigued for the moves, you’ll perform a better quality of work.

You may find you are even able to do more advanced variations for all the reps than you could have had you stacked them all together.

And you put yourself at less risk for getting tired and then calling on other muscles to help you power through the moves.

Think about even just a couple of moves done for 2-3 sets 3-4 times a week even.

MISTAKE #5: Focusing on doing more over intensity.

A 2-minute plank where you’re zoning out? Not helpful.

Yet so often we focus on doing more over not only the quality but also the intensity of each rep.

When you’re doing an exercise, focus on really challenging yourself with the movement. Focus on what you feel working and engaging that muscle fully.

With bodyweight movements like the plank, use that mind-body connection to try to engage your abs, and entire core, harder to create shakeage.

Yes shakeage.

Focus on your back supporting your shoulders, bracing that core as if being punched in the gut with that slight posterior pelvic tilt. Flex your quads and drive back hard through your heels.

Don’t let yourself relax during the movement. Create that tension.

Because holding longer while cheating may make your ego feel good, but it isn’t making those abs work more.

We often end up compensating as well, which is why we feel our hips or back the next day even if we didn’t notice during.

It’s not about the clock — it’s about the tension.

You want to feel like you’re barely surviving a 15 second hold the more advanced you are over having ego in just going longer.

You want to use that more advanced ab move, even if you have to pause to complete all the reps.

Shorten the time. Maximize the effort and intensity.

Stop going through the motions with your workouts or letting ego lead to you trying to do moves you haven’t earned.

Regress to progress, focus on that quality of work and be intentional with every move you do!

This will lead to you building the strong abs you want, you can then reveal through proper nutrition!

For amazing workouts to help you build your leanest, strongest body ever, check out my Dynamic Strength program:

–> Dynamic Strength

Add This To Your Shoulder Workout (AT HOME!)

Add This To Your Shoulder Workout (AT HOME!)

by | Apr 15, 2025 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Workouts

When training at home or when we travel without access to equipment, it can feel like there are some body parts that are hard to hit and exercises that are hard to replicate.

But we can get in a killer workout no matter what.

That’s why I wanted to share a great replacement exercise for the overhead press if you want to target your shoulders without any weights.

That move is the Pike Push Up.

However, this push up variation is much harder than we realize and you don’t want to…well…drop yourself on your head while doing it.

Please regress to progress and make sure you build up to this deceptively hard yet simple move.

To help you build up I’m going to share some form tips to implement this move correctly but also an amazing modification.

Because with the pike push up you can mimic that vertical press to work not only your shoulders but also your triceps and core!

The key is actually performing this push up variation though as the vertical press!

First, let’s break down the form on the full pike push up.

If you want to get the vertical pressing benefits of this push up variation, you’ve got to make sure you’re actually performing a vertical press.

It is easy to let this move become more of a horizontal push as you fatigue. But the more you start to let yourself drift into more of a traditional push up position, the less you’re going to emphasize your shoulders and triceps and the more your chest is going to begin to work.

You may find your pike push up turns more into a decline variation, which isn’t bad, it’s just not working the same muscles to the same extents!

To do the pike push up, you want to place your feet up on a bench or couch or stair. The higher the platform, the more challenging this move will be.

The platform allows you to shift more weight onto your arms for added resistance.

Walk your hands back so your butt is up in the air and your chest is facing back toward the wall behind you with your arms extended.

You want to try to create as straight a line as possible from your hands up to your butt.

As you begin to lower, you will shift forward just slightly as you lower your head toward the ground at about your fingertips.

Think about the similar movement of the overhead press but in reverse.

When your head is near the ground, that’s like the bar at about your chest.

Then as you extend your arms out to push back up in the pike, that’s like you pressing the bar overhead.

You want to think “vertical press” and push your butt up toward the ceiling.

You just don’t want to end up rocking so forward your hands are at your shoulders or chest. This isn’t that incline bench or decline push up.

You can even lower your head down to lightly touch the ground before pressing back up. Really focus on pushing that ground away with your entire hand.

As you get tired it is easy to not notice you start to push forward off your feet and move into less of that vertical position.

While you ARE pushing off your toes on the bench to load your weight vertically, you want to push your butt up toward the ceiling not rock back and forth.

If you notice as you fatigue your hands creeping out from the platform or your butt sinking, pause and reset or even modify.

This seems simple, but is much harder than it looks.

That’s why you may want to start first off the ground from a more downward dog position, doing the Downward Dog Pike Push Up.

With this variation your feet will be on the ground and you’ll set up almost as if you’re doing the downward dog.

But even off the ground you have room to modify more or less.

The more forward you walk your feet, the more challenging the move will get.

You want to even shift your weight a bit forward onto your hands if possible to make it harder.

You then want to maintain that nice straight line from your hands on the ground up your spine to your butt as you lower your head between your fingertips then press the ground away to extend your arms straight back out.

Just be conscious you don’t rock forward and drop your butt or you’ll end up turning this into more of a regular push up.

You want to focus on those triceps and shoulders and feel like you’re pushing your butt up into the air.

If you film yourself doing this, you want to still see an angled press with your arms in line with your body and spine as you extend out.

Visualizing that barbell or dumbbell press can help!

You can walk your feet closer to your hands and really push up onto your toes before then moving your feet to a low incline to progress.

If you’re struggling to control the more downward dog position though, do not walk your feet in toward your hands yet

Instead even consider putting your hands on an incline like a stair.

By raising your hands up, you reduce the resistance on your upper body, helping you practice that vertical press with a lighter weight.

Regress to progress and focus on the proper movement and feeling your shoulders and triceps working.

There is always a way to match our fitness level and even the equipment we have on hand to get in a great workout based on our needs and goals!

But try one of these pike push up variations, using what you need based on your abilities now.

Just like we change up tools and weights and reps to create progression with the overhead press, you can vary resistance through inclines and foot positions with the pike push up.

You can even change up the tempo you use to perform the pike push up, slowing down just parts of the exercise.

And then you can use it for interval work or different rep and set designs as needed.

When we don’t have access to equipment we can still challenge ourselves and build muscle and strength with fabulous workouts!

Want amazing workouts you can do anywhere?

–> Check Out Dynamic Strength

5 Tips For Muscle Growth (GAINS 101!)

5 Tips For Muscle Growth (GAINS 101!)

by | Apr 6, 2025 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

So you want to build muscle…

Put down your cardio crown and get ready to eat more.

In this video I’ll cover muscle building 101, or bulking, and it’s going to require you to go against many of the dieting and training practices you’re used to, especially if you’ve found yourself constantly on that yo-yo dieting cycle over the years.

Now if you’re wondering, “Should I do a bulk?” here are some things to consider…

Are you thin and wanting to see more muscle definition?

Have you dieted down but aren’t as defined as you’d like?

Are you going through menopause and seeing weight creep on around your middle?

Are you feeling like your metabolism is broken?

Have you plateaued in your weight loss journey after being in a deficit for 6 months or more?

If you said yes to any of these, it may be time to focus on a muscle building phase.

Building muscle can improve our body composition if we’re already pretty lean, making us look leaner and more defined…

It can also improve our insulin sensitivity and metabolic health to avoid gaining unwanted fat as we get older…

And a bulking phase can even help us ultimately bust a weight loss plateau through a period of time focused on performance, metabolic health and hormonal balance while gaining muscle so we look leaner as we lose.

But I’ll tell you the thing that most often holds us back from seeing the amazing muscle gains that are possible…

And it isn’t even a nutritional mistake or workout one….although there are a few common ones I’ll go over to help you avoid them…

It’s the fear of gaining weight on the scale!

Many of us have worked hard to achieve our weight loss or fat loss goals. Often a number on the scale is tied to that.

Especially if you’ve lost weight more recently, the idea of seeing that number go up can freak you out.

But honestly, it might and you may look even leaner as it does.

If you’re serious about putting on muscle, consider ditching the scale and instead focus on body measurements and progress pictures for a bit.

If you do use the scale, be ready to see even an initial jump as you move to eating more, focusing on more carbs and even see more muscle tissue damage and inflammation from pushing hard in your workouts.

This isn’t fat nor muscle being gained. Sorry doesn’t happen that fast.

We have to remember that simply by no longer being in a deficit we won’t be depleted and our body is going to store the extra we’re giving it.

This means full energy stores. And as you build more muscle, the more you can store. But these stores are needed to see those gains.

And then as you build muscle, the scale may go up. Because if you gain 1lbs of muscle and don’t gain any fat, the scale is going to go up 1lbs.

Not to mention, more muscle means more storage capacity.

With pushing your lifting hard as well to promote those muscle gains, you’re also going to see jumps on the scale due to bodily process to recovery.

So to summarize, the scale will go up and may show big swings daily.

On top of this, as you see the scale go up, especially over time as you build muscle, you may even then need to embrace eating more to retain the lean muscle and increase in metabolic processes!

This is why measurements and photos can be key. Too often the scale jumps and we instantly cut back when we need to do the opposite.

It’s why we never truly make progress.

Gaining muscle is hard, especially the longer we’ve been training for. And a big part of what can sabotage us is the scale mind games.

Measure areas you want to build muscle in and those that you want to avoid gaining fat in, like your waist.

Watching trends in each can help you see where those gains are happening and how your body composition is truly changing.

Now, the how-to of bulking.

And I don’t know about you, but I want to build muscle efficiently while also not having then to backtrack a ton to lose fat.

I want to do things in a sustainable way that leads to optimized long-term results.

So I say this with still wanting you to see those pure muscle gains without gaining a ton of fat….

Ditch the steady state cardio other than walking. Stop the long HIIT sessions. Focus on lifting.

While both may have helped you lean down, they both work against those pure muscle gains.

We have to remember that what got us to one goal often works against us getting to the next level.

Cardio, especially the long run and endurance rides, is catabolic to muscle mass and depletes our glycogen stores. It can hinder us from lifting heavier and optimally recovering and rebuilding from our strength work.

It can raise cortisol levels and put our body under chronic stress.

If you want to gain muscle faster and have even been frustrated by a lack of results, ditch the cardio for a time.

This also means not turning your strength workouts into cardio sessions.

Too often to feel more worked from our workouts, because we equate feeling tired with a workout being “good enough,” we cut back on rest.

This can make us get more out of breath or feel shakier.

But it also doesn’t allow our muscles to truly recover to lift as heavy the next round. And if we can’t truly push the weights and exercise variations we’re using to work closer to true muscular failure, we aren’t going to create the same stimulus for muscle growth.

Don’t avoid longer rest periods the heavier you lift. If you’re using a big compound lift like a deadlift or bench and really trying to work to fatigue at 5 reps, you may need 2-3 minutes of rest.

You actually want to feel like you earned that and don’t fully want to get back to the weight even with that much rest!

Too often we lift submaximal loads, just stop at the top of the rep range and cut our rest to make it feel harder. But this won’t lead to the same muscle growth.

And on top of dropping the cardio, and not just focusing on our workouts making us feel tired and out of breath, you probably need to eat more.

Now if you’re thinking, “I need to burn fewer calories AND eat more?! Won’t I just gain a ton of fat?!”

The answer is, NO, especially if you are strategic in how you increase your calories and dial in your macros.

You may see an initial jump on the scale as you eat more and even potentially bump carbs, but this increase is glycogen storage and water weight retention.

Both of these things are needed to help your muscles repair and rebuild, not to mention provide you the energy in the first place to train hard and actually create progression to drive growth.

But just creating a huge surplus isn’t the answer. You want to increase your calories over what you’re consuming to maintain your weight by 100-300. The bigger the deficit, the more you may see fat being gained.

And while you may not care about gaining some fat in the process to ultimately gain more muscle, there is a point of diminishing returns where gaining fat can ultimately hinder your performance and, especially if you aren’t focusing on quality fueling, lead to slower recovery.

You also then will have to do more of a cut after if you want to lean back down and risk losing some of the muscle you worked hard to gain.

The more we end up in this bulking, cutting cycle, the more we can find ourselves gaining and losing the same few pounds over truly just slowing down to focus on recomp happening.

So a small, sustainable surplus you can increase as you make progress can help you build while staying leaner to ultimately retain more of your muscle long term.

And then focus on QUALITY – both in your workouts and your diet.

While it may be tempting to not care how you’re hitting your calories and macros, and you SHOULD work in foods you love, you do want to focus on nutrient dense foods to help your body recover optimally, and help you feel your best in your training sessions.

Eating crap, well, it makes you feel crappy and often even sluggish in your training.

Proper fueling and hydration can also help you avoid being as sore and fatigued. And the better you recover, the harder you can train and the better your gains!

The quality of your workouts is also key. Too often we go through the motions with our training. Stopping when the weight feels kind of hard and we hit the number of reps we were supposed to do.

We aren’t super intentional and focused to maximize each and every rep and push as hard as possible.

We aren’t focused on what we feel working to maximize muscle engagement.

We even rush through over paying attention to tempos and ranges of motion.

A lack of attention and focus doesn’t allow us to optimize our training sessions. The more experienced a lifter you are, the more this lack of attention and focus will hold you back.

Don’t ignore the importance of really focusing on quality not just quantity in everything you do. It isn’t just about more moves.

It’s about having a purpose for everything you include.

It’s not just about more calories or carbs, it’s about quality and even playing around with timing.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with the details, especially to start, but be conscious of all that you’re including and track and record how you feel.

The more you understand all the habits you’re implementing, the more you can tweak as you go to truly see results build!

Want a custom plan and guidance to build your leanest, strongest body no matter your age?

–> Learn more about my 1:1 Coaching and schedule a consultation

How To Build Muscle (Using Double Progression)

How To Build Muscle (Using Double Progression)

by | Mar 23, 2025 | Blog, Exercises, Workouts

Gaining muscle is a slow process.

While you’d think being a more experienced exerciser would have its advantages, gaining muscle faster isn’t one of them. It actually gets harder the longer we’ve been training.

That’s why it is key, no matter our fitness level, that we focus on the double progression technique to maximize our efficiency and see better muscle and strength gains faster.

Before I go over what double progression is and how to use it in your routine, I want to shed some light on how quickly we can actually expect to see muscle gains, especially based on how long we’ve been training.

And I will tell you, one of the BIGGEST things holding many back from truly seeing their hard work pay off in the gym IS the nutritional component which I’ll touch on a tip at the end.

But in terms of how fast you can see results…

Lyle McDonald’s research shows us that a more newbie lifter can gain up to 1lbs per month as a woman and up to 2lbs as a male.

With each year of training that goes down.

At just even 4 years of training experience, which many of us have been training for decades even, muscle gains are just even a few pounds per YEAR. Yes, not per month, per year! Women can see .1lbs per month and men .25lbs per month.

And this is often when our training is even more optimized for results. Which honestly…most of our training routines aren’t.

Not in a bad way, we just don’t push the progression as much as we could because we’re worn out from life.

We include too much cardio.

We miss days.

We get bored and want to try something new over staying consistent.

Heck we even try to do too much to try to rush results.

Or we simply don’t really fuel to promote our hard work in the gym.

But we’re human! This is going to happen!

That’s why I think it’s key we not only A. Remember to be patient but B. Also take ourselves back to basics and refocus on quality and intentionality with those basic systems over just trying to work harder and do more.

And that’s why I want to remind you of this key training technique – double progression.

So what is double progression and how can you use it?

Have you ever in your workouts had a rep range of 6-12 reps and picked a weight, gotten 12 reps and just stayed there for all the sets?

It felt “hard enough?”

You could have pushed harder.

Or have you ever just done the bare minimum in reps with weights and then tried to go up in weight the next week only to find you can’t keep going heavier week after week in your progression and are maxed out?

You’ve wasted another way to progress!

Trust me, I’ve been guilty of these both at times. Trying to push too hard with only changing loads. Or just going to the top of the rep range and stopping there.

I’ve even had times where I’m constantly changing weights and reps all at the same time.

But this all holds us back even when we FEEL like we’re working hard.

It’s also not a strategic, intentional build that allows us to truly push and optimize.

And this is where Double Progression can help.

Double progression helps you progress the same move in two different ways – by adjusting reps and by adjusting weight, but with one driving the other.

This method regulates how you increase both volume but also intensity of your training.

So…How it works….

It can be used with any rep range you have assigned (let’s say you’re doing 6-12 reps).

Once you hit the top of that range for a certain number of sets (usually 1-3), you’ll increase weight (generally not more than 5-10 pounds).

You want this increase to force you back down toward the bottom of that rep range (so more like 6-8 reps).

You’ll then keep this weight until you can again hit 12 reps for 1-3 rounds. At that time, you’ll move back to increasing weight.

With this double progression, you’re first working to increase reps, which is volume, before then progressing by increasing weight, or the intensity.

This is that double progression.

An example of this may be if you’re doing Goblet Squats for 6-12 reps and you decide if you can do one set of 12 you’ll increase. You have 3 working sets.

You do 12 reps with your weight for your first round. So you go up.

The next round, you can only do 8 reps with the heavier weight. So you stay there for the final round, performing another 8 reps.

Next week you start with that same weight but do 10 reps. You can stay there for all 3 rounds.

The following week you again are able to do 12 reps so you go up.

This push to get out more reps with a weight before increasing is what helps you optimally drive muscle growth, maintaining proper form while constantly pushing that progression.

But there may be some times we misjudge weights, going too light or too heavy.

There may be times that you find you go up in weight and can again hit the top end of that range. Don’t be afraid to go up again.

There may also be times that you miss the bottom of the rep range when increasing weights.

If this happens, you may find you drop down to a weight between what you had used and the weight you’re now using.

If you don’t have a weight between or feel like you can maintain proper form with just a quick pause between a few reps, you may pause for 15-20 seconds to complete the reps.

Just then stay at this weight for longer to progress that volume.

If you are doing 3 rounds and find you miss the rep range on the first round, you can then either use the short pause to keep the weight over the rounds or even lower weights for the final rounds, knowing the lighter weight will be harder simply because of going heavier to start.

The key is to focus on increasing the number of reps you can do first with a weight before you then add weight over always just trying to go heavier.

But part of what also pushes you with double progression is not just stopping at a rep number because it’s the top one listed. This pushes you to truly test out your limits, even working down in reps as you add weight!

Don’t be afraid to use this technique with any lift you include in your workout routine where you really want to make sure you’re maximizing your efforts, especially if you’ve felt stuck in your progression!

Now, the one very side note I wanted to mention with nutrition to optimize your muscle gains…

Eat to fuel that growth!

If you’re putting in this work to build muscle in the gym, you need to make sure your diet is working with you, not against you.

Too often I see clients, especially after a weight loss phase, not eating enough. Partly because they’ve trained their body to function in a deficit and the hunger cues even aren’t there.

Partly because they are afraid of gaining fat, which I totally get.

But building muscle requires us to have adequate fuel to not only truly be able to train hard but also to build more muscle, which requires more energy to be maintained.

This doesn’t mean go crazy with the surplus, but if you’ve been struggling to build, you need to assess whether your diet is truly in line with your goals.

Be conscious that with building muscle, especially the more advanced you are, the more precise you sometimes need to be in optimizing your diet to complement.

But if you want to build more strength and muscle, make sure you’re using this double progression technique in your training while fueling those gains!

Dial in your workouts to build muscle and strength and see that amazing definition…

–> Learn more about Dynamic Strength

I SHOULD be in better shape

I SHOULD be in better shape

by | Mar 16, 2025 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, Mindset

SHOULD.

That one word often sabotages the mindset changes we need to make and habit actions we need to take.

“I “should” be further along.”

Only makes us frustrated and feel broken and like a failure. It doesn’t help us learn or want to make more changes.

“I “should” workout 6 days a week.” “I “should” track my macros.”

Ideals are fabulous. But if you can’t do them?

We often do NOTHING.

We need to, as one of my fabulous coaches says “Stop SHOULDING all over ourselves.”

Because when we say all the things that SHOULD be happening, we don’t focus on what we actually CAN do.

SHOULD prevents us from making a change.

I’d encourage you right now to even ask, “Why SHOULD you do this? Why SHOULD you be further along?”

Because so often we never really ask this important question.

And when we do, we pause to assess what we are actually doing and what we need to move forward. The mindsets we CAN shift and the actions we CAN take.

That’s why in this video I want to share 3 steps you can take TODAY to honestly create an action plan to move forward toward your goals.

Starting with Step #1 asking yourself this important question…

“What does my CURRENT lifestyle and results actually look like?”

Where you are right now is a result of your past hustle and current habit practices.

The dieting practices you’ve done, starving yourself, cutting out whole food groups.

Overeating in self sabotage when you can’t stand the restriction any longer.

The skipped warm ups that lead to overuse and injury.

The rushed workouts where you didn’t fully push that progression or challenge yourself – you just got through them.

The haphazard programming and randomly strung together “best moves,” “best foods,” “best macros,” hoping something works….

This lack of planning and lack of focusing on owning our CURRENT lifestyle and priorities when we seek to make a change and instead just trying to work HARDER or do MORE based on a certain ideal…

This is what leads to the SHOULDING and stops us from making changes.

So step 1, before you go in search of a “perfect plan,” which doesn’t exist and I’ll get into more shortly, is to OWN YOUR LIFESTYLE AND PRIORITIES FIRST.

When you step back and truly assess what your lifestyle is and where your priorities lie, you can plan around them as you make changes and meet yourself where you are at.

What habits are truly beneficial that you’re doing?

What habits are holding you back?

What excuses do you always seem to make that lead to you falling off your plan?

When we ask these questions and assess, we can find little changes that meet us where we are at to move us forward.

We can start to build a plan that is actually sustainable.

Because if you don’t know where you’re starting from, you can’t outline a route forward.

And if we don’t own our priorities, they become our excuses every single time.

Family pressures and events? Long hours at work?

Not enough time always your excuse?

Stop then trying to force some ideal training schedule of 6 days a week and 1 hour in the gym.

Instead, especially if you’re barely making 3 sessions of 30 minutes now, why not start with that?

There is no perfect plan. But there is progress. And small changes to build lead to consistency which yields results!

Step #2, write out where you’re going.

And I don’t just mean write out your goals here. I want you to consider what the lifestyle at your goals will actually LOOK like.

Because it won’t look the same as what you’re doing now.

Change requires change.

If what you’re doing now worked to see results, you wouldn’t be looking for another program, another thing you SHOULD be doing.

You’d just keep doing the habits you’re already repeating.

But in order to make changes, we have to understand what changes are actually needed.

And while we may not have the full picture, we can often highlight a few things we know we will either need to do MORE of or LESS of to be at our goals.

As you list out the lifestyle your goals would require, don’t think right now about if it is doable. Don’t let the changes overwhelm you.

Just consider what you may need to do and even think about WHY.

The WHY part of that is key. Because often we don’t understand why we make certain changes or believe certain things are “best.”

This assessment of why we believe we need certain habits can help us already start to see things that may not fit or that may not be needed to then find other habits that are more in line.

Especially since you know where you are right NOW! You can start to see how many ideals you have that aren’t anywhere close to what you’re doing.

It may be eye opening to realize how far off you are from the habits you need, or believe you need. It can make us think…

“Well no wonder I’ve struggled to make some of these changes in the past! They’re a complete 180 from where I am!”

But don’t let this overwhelm you. Just write everything down. No judgement. No stress as to what you can or can’t do.

We will get there.

And I say write it down because writing it down makes it more real and tangible. It gives you a set destination to map out a route toward, breaking down those habit changes.

It reminds you of what you may need and even WHY you may need it when there are lows in the journey.

And it also then allows you to find one habit change to start with that may then impact other areas.

Often there is one thing that can really get the momentum going…

Which brings me to Step #3, set one small change you can make even right now!

Sometimes we make changes like we’re covering our eyes and simply pointing at a city on a map to drive to. Or like we’re just picking a place to go we’ve heard is “best.”

Then we expect ourselves to just know how to get there. And for everything to go smoothly and be amazing.

The thing is…

Without directions, we have no idea how to get there and half the time we won’t even make an attempt to travel.

How do we know that is even a place we WANT or need to go?!

We don’t always know what is required to shift in our lifestyle to replicate the habit or change we’ve selected.

We don’t know even if that change is something doable with our current routines and habits and how those will have to morph.

Instead, we want to base all changes off of where we are starting from.

We want to treat it like we’re mapping out that first turn out of our driveway to get to our destination. Not just pointing to some random turn somewhere along the route!

Because starting your journey by turning the wrong way right out of your driveway? That journey is not going to go well.

Instead, meet yourself where you are at and make sure you’re heading in the right direction with a doable step immediately.

This allows you to not only make a change that feels doable to build momentum and motivation through action, but it allows you to start the course toward a bigger habit change.

And it allows you to make changes in a way that can allow for easier course corrections.

We do have to start trying to find what may be “best” for a specific goal without fully knowing if it is best for us.

But by breaking down that habit based on where we are starting from and ultimately where we want to go, we can attempt to move forward to build up.

In the process, if we find that the habit doesn’t fully align, we can then always take another turn, knowing we’re still heading the right way.

That’s the key.

Changes that meet us where we are at to move forward but that build off each other so we can adjust as we go and find things that do or do not ultimately match our specific journey.

So based on your current lifestyle and routines you’ve just assessed, what is one small change you can make today that is a component of what you feel you need MORE of to reach your destination.

I say to focus on the MORE of instead of LESS of because often mentally these changes are easier to make. We mind adding more than we like subtracting, especially if what we think we need less of is something we enjoy.

But find that habit change that is, as weird as this expression is, the first bite to eat that elephant.

And write that change out to start today.

This isn’t sexy. Doesn’t lead to overnight results. But this momentum shift is what will carry you through and make you want to do more.

Because getting started with all the things we feel we SHOULD be doing is the hardest part.

This helps us take action and makes something we SHOULD do something we not only CAN do but even WANT and GET to do.

Write out that change and put it someplace you can see daily for the next week. Even give yourself a chance to check it off when it is done.

Then set a time a week from now to add on another change.

Stop SHOULDING all over yourself and ultimately never taking action. Start with action today and do these 3 steps and share in the comments the first small change you’re making!

If you want a completely CUSTOM PROGRAM with accountability and guidance to help you build your leanest, strongest body no matter your age (it is NEVER too late to make a change), check out my Coaching.

–> Apply and schedule a free consultation

The One Small Change That Will Transform Your Lower Ab Workout

The One Small Change That Will Transform Your Lower Ab Workout

by | Mar 9, 2025 | Blog, Core, Exercises

One small tweak to a move can be exactly what we need to create progression and take our results to the next level.

That’s why I want to show you how just this small change in your bench positioning can progress the basic lower body crunch to challenge those lower abs even more.

If you haven’t yet tried Incline Abs, you’re going to want to.

In this video I want to break down how to do this move to get the most benefit as well as why it is so amazing.

Because this exercise is deceptively challenging and must be earned, I’ll also share ways to modify it and build up!

But first, why should you use this move?

Incline Abs are a move I’ve fallen in love with because they are a great way to create progression through the same but different from hanging abs, but also take the basic lower body crunch up a notch without adding weight.

And lower body crunch movements are a great way to target that lower portion of our rectus abdominis, or our lower abs, to a great extent.

This move reduces some of the strain on the upper body that comes with doing the hanging knees to elbows, while still giving you the benefit of engaging your upper body to pull down on the bench as you curl your knees up.

So you get the upper body bonus but with less upper body strain.

That upper body hold can be helpful to engage the lats and even your serratus to better help you active your abs and protect your lower back.

And because of the bench behind your back, you won’t be able to swing or use momentum as easily as you can with hanging knees to elbows.

The bench variation can help you really practice that spinal flexion to learn to control that knee tuck, even making it a great option if you’re working to build up to hanging core moves.

But don’t think that this move is easy just because it may be a way to build up.

It isn’t. And the harder you pull down on the bench and more you focus on that controlled roll up and down being powered by your abs over just flexing at the hips, the harder this move gets!

Now, breaking down how to do this move to maximize it before I share some modifications and variations…

When you set up for this move, you’ll want your bench on about the second notch for a 45 degree angle.

Sit back against the bench and grab the top of the bench in both hands so you can really pull down hard on it and feel the sides of your back engage.

With your knees bent and toes touching the ground, push your back into the bench and slowly curl up one vertebrae at a time.

Feel yourself rolling your knees up toward your elbows pulling with your abs.

It will be tempting to just sort of bend your knees to tuck but this not only won’t get you far, it will just lead to you overusing your hip flexors.

You want that curl to be powered by your abs which means rounding through your spine.

Once you curl your knees up to your elbows, focus on that slow lower down one vertebrae at a time.

At the bottom, do not release tension on the top of the bench or bounce off pushing off with your feet.

You may feel your hips just slightly working at this initial point so can keep your knees tucked up and not fully touch down if you’re struggling with that initial ab engagement to start.

The key here is that hard pull down on the bench and curl!

This is deceptively hard when done intentionally and with control. And starting with a flat bench may be key.

However, if you feel really stuck building up to this move, even try a slow eccentric “only” variation.

To do this, you can slightly use that push off or momentum to set up at the top then control the lower down for a 5 count.

Because we are often strongest in the eccentric portion, this may help you take on your weight to work through the movement with control but while using momentum strategically.

But if you can’t control that lower down, the flat bench or even the ground with an overhead hold can be key to start.

You’ll still get that upper body engagement and you can learn to control that spinal flexion.

If you kick out straight with the moves it will take things up a notch from keeping the knees bent to touch the toes down as you lower back down from the curl.

Make sure to keep your abs engaged as you extend your legs out straight if you do, tilting your pelvis toward your ribs for that posterior pelvic tilt. That will engage your abs with your legs out straight and even engage your glutes.

You can kick your legs out a bit higher if needed as well to modify just slightly.

With this flat variation still stay focused on that curl of the spine to bring the knees in and pull down hard on the bench or pole you’re holding on to overhead.

But this flat variation is a great way to get started on that curl without the added resistance that gravity applies with the incline.

Regress to progress but focus on that curl and use that overhead hold to help you really work those abs.

And then use that change in posture on that bench to progress the lower body crunch to challenge your lower abs.

From there, don’t be afraid to change up tempo or even add loads as you use that Incline Ab variation. But don’t just jump to adding loads. Focus on that control and slow roll powered by your abs!

For more moves to challenge your entire core, check out these 7 Intense Ab Moves.