Windshield wipers are probably one of the most difficult core exercises in our weekly kettlebell class as well as one that comes up more frequently than others. You’re working your oblique abdominal muscles when you lower your legs to each side. It involves a lot of core strength to lower your legs slowly and not just slam them down to the ground, and then even more core strength to raise them back up. Usually you’ve got your arms stretched out to either side to help maintain your balance, but last week I got to attempt this move without that extra stability to help out. Instead I got to hold a kettlebell in each hand while moving my legs from side to side. This intensified the amount of core strength necessary to perform the move as I now had to focus on not falling over with each rep. This was my first time attempting windshield wipers like this, and while it’s not very pretty I’m proud of my myself for getting through it.

Walking lunges are also another move that I do pretty regularly. This pretty basic move can be stepped up by moving it to a treadmill and playing with the incline. For this video, I did 15 incline which is the highest incline for the treadmill. For treadmill walking lunges, you want to choose a low enough speed to be able to do a full lunge with your front knee getting as close to 90 degree angle as possible. Since the belt is constantly moving, you have to make sure you have enough time to get into the lunge position before your back foot slides off the rear of the treadmill. It definitely took me a few attempts to get his particular move down, but now it’s a favorite when I need to mix up my time on the treadmill.