Jordan Chiles is off to the Olympics along with friend, fellow World Champions Centre gymnast, and most decorated athlete in World Artistic Gymnastics Championship history Simone Biles. They are now both members of the four-person Tokyo team, and Chiles told POPSUGAR earlier this month that their typical training schedule, as we'd expect, consists of long hours — and we mean long. Monday through Thursday, they have double sessions, followed by one workout apiece on Friday and Saturday, Chiles said. On those days with single practices, they sometimes do a team ab workout that coaches Laurent Landi and Cecile Canqueteau-Landi created during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place period.
Chiles's goal for the Olympic Trials was to "hit four for four" or "eight for eight" events, she said, given that there were two nights of competition — and her third-place all-around finish and solid showings on June 25 and 27 proved that she's on top of her game. She also was aiming to simply enjoy herself, "because the sport needs fun in it." One thing that wasn't all fun and games? This core workout.
I gave the session a go, and it transported me in time to my gymnastics practices growing up. However, I had to modify the routine when testing it out and skipped over the moves lying on my stomach due to current back pain I'm experiencing. Of course, if you want to modify the workout in other ways, be my guest, because it's advanced. You can also approach it like I did and forgo rounds 2, 4, 7, and 9 altogether, seen ahead. My abs had quite enough without these sections anyway (I heard their screams loud and clear). My shortened version took about 15 minutes with breaks, and it was a core-quake, for sure!
Equipment: None. That's the beauty of gymnastics workouts! They're almost always entirely bodyweight.
Directions: Follow the 11 rounds seen ahead all the way through, though you can take as many breaks as you feel are necessary in between rounds. You'll need to know basic hollow hold and Superman hold positions, so review those if you aren't familiar. As always, make sure you're warmed up beforehand and that you cool down afterward on your own.
Repeat once more through.
One set of these on each side.
Repeat two more times.
Repeat two more times.
Ahead, check out further step-by-step instructions for each move in this core-strengthening workout created by the Landis.
Repeat these two moves — Superman pulse and Superman hold — one more time.
Complete all three of these side hollow moves on each side.
This circuit should be done without stopping, moving through a Superman with different arm positions demonstrated here:
The above video shows a modified version, where your feet are not lifted, only your chest.
This circuit should be done without stopping, moving through a hollow hold with different arm positions demonstrated here:
Repeat this two more times.
Repeat this two more times.