What are up-downs?

Up-Downs are excellent for building strength and power in the legs, core, low back, and upper body. Starting position: Stand tall in an athletic stance with your feet shoulder width apart, eyes looking forward. Movement: In one smooth, strong move, lower yourself all the way to the ground until you can place your hands flat on the floor just outside of your feet. Try not to place your hands very far in front of your feet as this reduces the intensity of the workout. In a similarly smooth and strong motion, contract your abdominals while shifting your weight slightly onto your hands, and then explosively kick your legs back into a pushup position. The goal here is to reduce vertical movement of the hips as much as possible. Return movement: Repeat the exact same steps in reverse order to return to the starting position. Strongly contract the abdominals and try to roll yourself into a ball while sucking your feet up and under a stable upper body. Stand up, and repeat. Variations: To make this more difficult you can add a jump after returning to the standing position, kick your legs out to either side on the way back, or even do these on one leg. Before adding variations, make sure you can perform the basic movements flawlessly. Any extraneous movements will be magnified with higher intensity and will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise. Repetitions/Time: Begin with 3x30 seconds with 30 seconds rest between intervals.