Programs reviewed:
Blogilates #100 Ab Challenge. Premise: You do 100 reps of a different ab exercise every day for 30 days.
Darebee 2 Minute Challenge. Premise: You do 2 minutes of a different ab/core exercise every day for 30 days.
My starting point (skip ahead if you don’t care): 5’10”, ~150 lbs, 37 years old, pear-shaped. No direct ab exercises regularly, but engaged core in activities. Usual routine: Lift 3-4 times per week, run/stair climb 3-4 times per week, sand volleyball for 2 hours 1-2 times per week, and yoga 1 time per week. I did these challenges with my partner, so I’ll add his thoughts as well. Him: 6’, 200 lbs, 33 years old, lifts 5 times per week, and pretty jacked but little direct ab exercise. I’ll refer to him as BH for Bearded Hottie because that was my nickname for him when he was my volleyball crush before I knew him, ha ha.
Benefits of both challenges:
Additional benefits from those outlined above:
Darebee 2 Minute Challenge
Additional benefits from those outlined above:
Progress pics: I saved these for last because I do NOT think my progress is very visible here. I workout in my sports bra in front of this big mirror, so I constantly see my abs, and I’ve noticed way more definition, especially when I’m unflexed. But I don’t think it’s very visible here. I usually have the opposite problem where I don’t notice progress until I see pictures. I don’t know. I have a shitty phone camera and the pics aren’t great.
Next up: We are in week 2 of this program and it is way harder than either. Definitely only recommend if you really want to push yourself.
Let me know if you have any questions. Hope this was helpful to someone!
Blogilates #100 Ab Challenge. Premise: You do 100 reps of a different ab exercise every day for 30 days.
Darebee 2 Minute Challenge. Premise: You do 2 minutes of a different ab/core exercise every day for 30 days.
My starting point (skip ahead if you don’t care): 5’10”, ~150 lbs, 37 years old, pear-shaped. No direct ab exercises regularly, but engaged core in activities. Usual routine: Lift 3-4 times per week, run/stair climb 3-4 times per week, sand volleyball for 2 hours 1-2 times per week, and yoga 1 time per week. I did these challenges with my partner, so I’ll add his thoughts as well. Him: 6’, 200 lbs, 33 years old, lifts 5 times per week, and pretty jacked but little direct ab exercise. I’ll refer to him as BH for Bearded Hottie because that was my nickname for him when he was my volleyball crush before I knew him, ha ha.
Benefits of both challenges:
- Created a routine. I do abs daily now.
- But switched up daily within the routine. It doesn’t get stale because you’re doing something different every day.
- It’s short (e.g., 2 minutes), so it’s easy to fit into your schedule. I usually did abs in the evening with BH rather than adding it to my existing workout time.
- It’s short enough that I never blew it off because it’s only a little bit of time. No matter how I was feeling, it’d be over in a few minutes.
- Apparently, calling something a “challenge” works well for my competitive personality. I did not want to “fail” this challenge.
- I did this with my partner, so there was accountability, but it also made it fun to do it with him.
- Even though BH is much stronger than me, he found both worthwhile and regularly challenging, so they are probably useful programs regardless of your starting point.
- My rating: 3.5/5
- BH’s rating: 3.8-4.2/5
Additional benefits from those outlined above:
- Form videos for every exercise, which included modifications.
- Some “standards” were not included, like mountain climbers and deadbugs, whereas other moves felt “gimmicky” (e.g. eagle crunch) and/or hard to activate abs/core.
- I legitimately could not do one of the moves (candlestick dipper) and BH could not do a different move (the wiggle) (his sister could not do the wiggle either!). Like our bodies just could NOT move that way, not that we weren’t strong enough. Those days didn’t actually work abs for us even though we tried our best.
- Because it is based on reps, standards like planks couldn’t be included.
- While it was nice having form videos, we found the videos pretty annoying. It’d take like 1.5 minutes to actually get to the move after chit chat. I totally recognize that this is just a personality thing, but when you're trying to get through something quick, it just added to the hassle. I know people love her though, so I’m probably just a sourpuss.
Darebee 2 Minute Challenge
- My rating: 4.5/5
- BH’s rating: 3.8-4.2/5
Additional benefits from those outlined above:
- Because it was based on time, it could include static moves, like planks, along with moves where you do reps (you just don’t have to get to a certain number). I’ve never tried a 2 minute plank before, but I made it!
- Really short/efficient form videos.
- Form videos difficult to find (or nonexistent) for some moves.
- No modifications, just had to break up the time. There were moves where I just had to break-up the 2 minutes (e.g., 1 minute on, 1 minute break, next minute) to finish, like there was no way that I’d be able to do them 2 minutes straight.
Progress pics: I saved these for last because I do NOT think my progress is very visible here. I workout in my sports bra in front of this big mirror, so I constantly see my abs, and I’ve noticed way more definition, especially when I’m unflexed. But I don’t think it’s very visible here. I usually have the opposite problem where I don’t notice progress until I see pictures. I don’t know. I have a shitty phone camera and the pics aren’t great.
Next up: We are in week 2 of this program and it is way harder than either. Definitely only recommend if you really want to push yourself.
Let me know if you have any questions. Hope this was helpful to someone!
