Spartacus Workout Ab Attack

Ab Attack is another workout in the Men's Health & Women's Health Spartacus Workout series. It is led by David Jack and there are 4 background exercisers with him, 2 women and 2 men. Everyone is wearing athletic gear with no one falling out of their wardrobe. You'll need a couple of sets of dumbbells or a kettlebell and a mat if on a hard floor for the workout. It lasts just over 40 minutes.

The workout consists of 3 rounds plus a core finisher at the end. There is no formal warm up in the workout so the first round is done at a less intense level and functions as the warm up. After each round you get a one minute rest. The work pattern in round 1 is 40 seconds on/20 seconds rest. The exercises are below.

Half Turkish get up right side unweighted

Rolling plank

Half kneeling halo right side unweighted

Half Turkish get up left side unweighted

Rolling plank

Half kneeling halo left side unweighted

Off set squat

Mountain Climbers

In rounds 2 & 3 the exercises intensify (more weight, faster pace, adding some plyo to the moves, etc.), the work/rest periods are 40 seconds each, and all the exercises are done on the right side in round 2 and then on the left side round 3. The exercises are below.

Half Turkish get up with weight or full get up

Rolling plank with leg lift variation

Half kneeling halo with dumbbell or kettlebell

Single arm swing with dumbbell or kettlebell

Off set lunge (forward or reverse, your choice)

Single arm push jerk

Plank rows

Off set squat

Mountain Climbers (with optional push up)

Lateral squat with forward press

Next comes the core finisher. The work/rest ratio is 40/20 seconds. The exercisers are below.

The runner (alternating arm and leg lower)

Bird Dog right side

Turtle oblique squeeze

The runner

Bird Dog left side

Turtle oblique squeeze

There is no cool down or stretch. The finisher was less intense than the main workout so my heart rate naturally came down. Since it is a core workout I guess they didn't think a stretch was necessary.

There is a lot of flexibility with this workout which means it's accessible to many fitness levels. Beginners can stay with round one variations, not use weight, go slower, etc. If you do the progressions I would say this workout is low advanced.

The workout really hits the total core, not just the abs. All the off set work really challenged my oblique muscles and I am still feeling the work! While 40 minutes might seem long for a core workout, I felt there was a lot of variety to keep my interest.

I didn't really notice the music in this one which means it was neither really good nor really annoying. In the main menu you have a music off option.

I really like this workout a lot because it's pretty different from most of the core focused workouts I have. For that, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.