TikTok has become the number one destination for finding quick and fun fitness challenges since quarantine kicked off earlier this year.
TikTok has become the number one destination for finding quick and fun fitness challenges since quarantine kicked off earlier this year. (See: April's handstand challenge.) Summer 2020 will be remembered for the so-called "ab clock exercise," a fast and daunting series that is a twist on classic pull-ups. Everyone has given the workout a go, including burpee-queen Kayla Itsines — and now, it's your turn.
Rather than cranking yourself into the air like you would for a normal pull-up, this workout asks you to hang from your nearest pull-up bar or monkey bars and hit with your pointing toes every hour of the clock. If you've ever tried kiping, the move is a lot like that ... but more difficult. Need I say every single muscle in your core hits the ab clock? Need I say your arms are going to burn? Need I say your heart is going to race? I don't think I did, but I tried it for myself just to confirm the top-notch difficulty of this workout.
I'm approaching my own home pull-up bar with somebody's trepidation about cliff diving, free solo, or doing something just as nervous. I jump to grip the pull-up bar and the exercise of the ab clock goes exactly as expected. At least the unseen 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock points are doable but my heart fails to touch the clock's higher numbers. (Midnight? No way. 11 o'clock? I guess I'll just put that dream to bed.) Alas, I'll give myself an A for effort and walk back to my desk with my tired torso. The ab clock may not fall exactly within my range of movement, but it was fun to try anyway.
Every good workout, of course, ends in some nice, gentle stretching and-would you believe it?! — There's a method for that too based on the clock. What are you waiting for, then?
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