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Ab Ripper X is a beast! It’s only 16 minutes but definitely works your entire core and afterward you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut…. repeatedly! A six pack is what everyone wants, right? Well, this is the workout to do it. When you’re first starting, some of those exercises can be very tough and even frustrating. I found a few ways to modify that may help you get stronger so you can eventually do the full exercises. I thought I’d pass it on to you in case you may need some more strength before tackling the moves and maybe even advanced moves. When I was working on strengthening my core after my car accident I had to modify a lot of things so I got pretty good at it!

First of all, it’s so important to remember that you just need to focus on doing the best that you can do. If you can’t do all the exercises, don’t get upset or frustrated. Don’t get down on yourself. Also, there’s going to be some that you can do more fully than others. That just depends on what sort of ab work you’ve done before and where your core strength is. In the workout, do as many as you can, at the highest intensity that you can (without injuring yourself) and you’re going to get better each time.

Fifer Scissors are super tough, but there’s a way to modify that will still work your abs and help increase your strength. Instead of holding your leg off the ground while the other is in the air, keep that one leg down. The key to increase your strength is when you switch legs, make sure you move them together. In other words, make sure that both legs are off the ground during the switch. That in itself is going to strengthen your core, big time! As you get stronger, hold the leg off the ground for the first few moves, then go back to the modified version. The goal being to do more with your leg hovering off the ground each time you go through the workout.

I think we’ve all felt the pain of V-Up Roll-Ups! For a lot of us it’s just enough to use our core to lift off the ground and touch our toes, am I right? There is nothing wrong with doing that for a while to build up your strength. The next step would just to be to lift your legs on the way down. After that, it will be to lift your legs on the way up and lift your shoulders off the ground slightly. Finally, you’ll be able to pulse up and complete the entire exercise. Take your time and do a little more each time. You may be at one stage for a while and that’s okay. If you can only do one full V-Up Roll-Up, that’s okay too! Just do the one and modify for the other 24.

The Oblique V-Ups are another potential nemesis that we can modify. Start by leaving your feet on the ground and pulse with your upper body. The second step would be to leave your shoulders on the ground and pulse with the lower half of your body. Both these moves are going to start strengthening your obliques which will allow you to do the entire move with crunching both your upper body and lower body.

My final tip has to do with the Mason Twists. These can be tricky because you have to hold your legs up the whole time. If that’s too tough, put your heels on the floor and lean back to where you really feel it and complete the Mason Twist that way. After that you’ll be able to lift your legs off the ground with your knees bent. Eventually you’ll be able to strengthen your legs and do the Mason Twist.