Frog kick exercise is an ab exercise to work the muscles of your core and make your abs lean, hard, and visible. It’s a great variation to doing any ab workout, as doing only crunches and sit ups over time can become dull and sometimes stale. And variation and spice is the key to sustainability and focus!
Unlike other forms of core workouts (e.g., crunches) that solely focus on the ab muscles (i.e., rectus abdominus), frog kick exercise recruits most muscles of your core, your lower back, glutes, and quadriceps. So it’s a more complete exercise.
Additionally, the forward and backward motion makes this exercise a great way to burn calories and lose fat. A noble goal that most of us need.
There are many benefits of incorporating frog kick exercise as part of your ab workout, and proper form do this exercise is key. Much like sit ups and crunches, if your form is poor it not only won’t be as effective, but can also result in injury.
Upper Abs vs. Lower Abs
As a general rule, ab exercises where your upper body is in motion work your upper abs (crunches, sit ups).
Ab exercises where your lower body is in motion work your lower abs (reverse crunches, leg lifts, frog kicks).
Ab exercises where both your upper and lower body are engaged work both upper and lower abs (jackknives).
Frog Kick Exercise
To perform the frog kick exercise, follow these simple steps:
- Lay on the floor or a workout mat on your back, with your legs together and extended and your hands by your side or under your butt.
- Lift your heels off the floor and pull your legs toward you as you bend your knees as shown below. This is the up position when your abs contract.
- Return your legs to the start position with your legs straight and still together. This is one rep.
- Repeat this exercise 10-50 times depending on your conditioning, as well as where they fit into your ab workout.
Frog kicks are a fantastic exercise to strengthen your core muscles and work on your abs. It is a simple exercise that doesn’t require any equipment and relies solely on your body weight.
Frog Kicks are a great exercise to include in your complete ab and core workout.
Benefits of Frog Kick Exercise
Frog kick exercise is an excellent exercise to stimulate the core muscles and abdominals. This routine recruits the vast majority of your core muscles, lower back, and glutes. So it’s a well-rounded exercise to work multiple muscles.
Performing this exercise requires a bit of practice to achieve a controlled and smooth motion.
Building your core and lower back muscles is also vital to prevent injuries and increase flexibility. Additionally, recruiting multiple muscle groups at once will increase your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which leads to more lipolysis (i.e., fat burning). (1)
If you are not familiar with BMR, here is a quick definition: BMR is a metabolic parameter used to measure the number of calories needed by your organs to function.
This number is dependent on several factors, including:
- Age
- Gender
- Body type
- Weight
- Height
- Diet
- Degree of physical activity
- Lean muscle mass
The last parameter is what makes frog kick exercise a great routine to push your abs to the surface.
Here is why….
Developing your abs while still having a thick fatty layer above your abdomen will not make your abs visible.
Frog Kicks Work Your Entire Core
It is for this reason that most professional coaches ask their clients to perform exercises that recruit several muscle groups instead of focusing on a single muscle group. In doing that, you will inadvertently boost your BMR, which decreases the layer of fat sitting on your abdomen!
Consequently, your abs will appear much faster. Click to learn more about what is required for ripped abs. It’s simple, but it’s not easy!
Crunches, on the other hand, only focus on the abdominal muscles, which yields slower results.
There is a lot of value by including frog kick exercise as part of your ab workout, and overall core workout.
Click to return to more ab workouts, and check out our ab exercise videos.
David Williams
A diet and fitness enthusiast, David Williams is an ex-Army Airborne Ranger and Infantry soldier with decades of fitness and wellness experience. A West Point graduate with a degree in engineering, he focuses on technical research related to fitness, nutrition, and wellness. He loves the beach, and spending time with his wife and daughters.
References
- Editors, B. B. D., By: & Editors, B. D. (2018, September 18). Lipolysis – definition, mechanism and process. Biology Dictionary. https://biologydictionary.net/lipolysis/
