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Three movements covering three different parts of the same job. Epic Abs runs for thirty days using reverse crunches for the lower abs, knee-in and twist for the obliques and flutter kicks for the deep stabilisers and hip flexors. Everything happens lying or sitting on the floor with no equipment, no impact and no noise, which makes it one of the quieter challenges and an easy one to keep going anywhere with a body length of floor.

Two day types alternate through the month, both 4 sets with 30 seconds of rest. Combination days pair reverse crunches with knee-in and twist at matching rep counts, climbing from 6 of each to 20. Flutter kick days are a single exercise climbing from 16 to 30. Each number appears twice or more before it rises, so the progression is gradual enough that no single session feels like a jump from the one before it.

How to do the exercises

Three exercises run through this challenge: reverse crunches and knee-in and twist together on one day, then flutter kicks on the next.

• Reverse Crunches: lie on your back with your knees bent and your arms flat by your sides. Draw your knees toward your chest and lift your hips slightly off the floor, then lower with control. Keep the movement small and controlled rather than swinging your legs for momentum - the lift of the hips is where the lower abs actually work.
• Knee-In and Twist: sit with your torso leaning back and your legs lifted off the floor, hands supporting you behind or held in front. Draw your knees in toward your chest while rotating your torso to one side, then extend and repeat rotating to the other. Keep your feet off the floor throughout. Reps are counted in total, alternating sides.
• Flutter Kicks: lie on your back with your legs straight and your hands under your glutes or flat by your sides. Lift both legs a few inches off the floor and alternate small rapid kicks up and down without letting your heels touch. Press your lower back into the floor and keep it there - if it lifts, raise your legs higher until it settles.

Adjust Difficulty

Make it easier: On flutter kick days, raise your legs higher. The higher your legs the easier the exercise and the less your lower back is asked to do, which matters more than the number of reps. On combination days, put your feet down between reps of the knee-in and twist rather than holding them up throughout, and reduce the range on the rotation. Break any set in half with a short breather in the middle. Cutting to 3 sets on a hard day beats missing it. If your lower back lifts off the floor at any point, that set is finished regardless of the count.

Make it harder: Slow every rep down and pause at the point of peak contraction - knees drawn in on the reverse crunch, torso fully rotated on the twist. Lower your legs closer to the floor on flutter kicks, which is the single biggest difficulty change available. Extend your arms overhead on flutter kicks instead of using them for support. Cutting the rest to 15 seconds turns the later weeks into a genuinely demanding session, and a fifth set is the last step available.

What to expect

The three exercises produce three different sensations, which is what stops the month getting monotonous. Reverse crunches burn low, the knee-in and twist burns along your sides, and flutter kicks produce a deep ache that arrives fast and stays. Expect flutter kick days to feel harder than the rep count suggests once you are past set two. Expect your hip flexors to be involved throughout, which is normal for lower ab work - if you feel it only at the front of your hips and nowhere in your midsection, slow down and press your lower back harder into the floor. Across thirty days this builds strength through the whole midsection rather than one part of it. Visible definition depends on body fat as much as on the training, but the strength underneath is the half you control.