5 Core-Tightening Exercises That Require A Wall & Nuffin’ Else

Lil’ Jon & The East Side Boyz timeless 2002 smash hit, Get Low (Dirty), is a banger:

While Lil’ Jon was most certainly referring to a night out on the town with abundant fly shorties, his sentiments can be applied to general fitness too.

Using a wall to improve your physicality is a bloody great idea.

Walls are everywhere, they’re free to use and, if Trump has his way, we will be seeing even more of them in 2017 and beyond. 

What better time is there then to get around the erect structure with these five ball-busting moves you can do at home, work and beyond. It’s best you do these outside against brick or something similarly thicc – a leg through plaster is a disaster.

Kicking off the list is the Wall Sit; the basic bitch of wall exercises.

The Wall Sit is essentially just a squat, but against the wall. It’s easy to get into. 

Find yourself a wall and lean back on it. Step your feet out so that your knees are perpendicular with the floor. You wanna make sure your feet are shoulder width apart. Like so:

Stay in this position for 60 seconds, then break for 20 seconds. The amount of reps you do will depend on your fitness level (as is the case with all of these moves) but if you repeat this five times, you’ll reap the benefits.

While it’s a static movement, this possie fires up the quadriceps on the front of your thighs and the hamstrings on the back. This is important not only to build tone but also to prevent damage to your knees. You’ll also be engaging your core.

Lil’ Jon would absolutely be on board with you getting lower, and that’s what you should do to make this harder. When you’re 40 seconds into your rep, slide down the wall a little and you’ll feel the fiyah.

In the words of Shannon, if you want tight buns and legs, you gotta:

This move is just a variation of the Leg Sit, but with extra gurn. Get into the first position, and once you’re comfortable and have correct form, raise your right leg until it’s parallel to the floor. 

A photo posted by @keldfit on Dec 15, 2016 at 1:05pm PST

Hold this for 30 seconds, then switch and raise your left. Once the full 60 seconds is up, take a 20 second rest, and repeat this motion five times over. The trick here is to make sure your core is still the entire time. When you’re midway through the exercise, you may lean to one side to compensate – don’t. It’s all about keeping still and keeping that leg as high as you can. Thinking about Shannon’s everlasting passion may help you through.

It works the legs, of course, but also improves your balance and core strength like nothing else.

You don’t want to bastardise this move by adding different fancy techniques. As is, it works a whole lot of muscles. If you want to really push yourself, try to raise each leg for 60 seconds at a time. It’s simple but darn it hurts.

This move sounds a bit like a limited edition Hungry Jacks burger and/or a sex position, but it’s much more than that. It’s great because you can lie on your back so it sorta feels like you’re about to take a nap, until you do the exact opposite and blast your hammies! 

Lie down on your back, with your feet up against the nearest wall. Scootch up so that your shins are parallel to the floor (it’s basically the wall sit but this time you’re ‘sitting’ against the floor). 

Lift those luscious hips of yours off the floor by pushing your heels against the wall; hold it here for 30 seconds and then slowly return to starting position. You want this whole movement to be slow, deliberate and controlled; that way you’ll get the balancing core benefits, too. Repeat 10 times if you’re a newbie, 20 if you’re a seasoned vet.

This is legendary for building a strong and stable core. It also works ya quads. The best bit? If you’re doing it properly, it’ll be a one way ticket to buns of steel.

Do the move but once you’re at the top, lift a leg off the wall. Pulse it here but squeezing your buttocks and lifting your leg higher for 10 reps. 

Planks are the tits ’cause they’re functional. They work your whole body, but especially the core. How do you make them even better? Add a wall into the mix.

Lie on your stomach with your feet against the wall. Take your hands under your shoulders and lift yourself up as if you’re coming up from a push up. While doing this, inch your feet up the wall until your body is a straight line parallel to the floor. If I absolutely butchered that sentence and you don’t understand what the frick I’m talking about, here’s a picture:

Get into this move and see how long you can hold it for. Once you start sagging, stop. Doing this exercise with incorrect form can lead to lower back issues which are not worth your time.

Your whole body will be shook after giving these a red hot go. In particular, your core will thank you. Your balance and posture will be improved as well. Another benefit often overlooked is patience and focus. Staying in this position for any length of time is difficult and requires a bit of mental 

Take a leg off the wall but stay in formation. 

We finish up with an exercise that strikes fear into the most confident gym junkie; the wall walk up. Going arse over tit for fitness takes faith.

Start as you would a wall plank, but slowly creep your hands back towards the wall as you lift your legs up it, like in the above vid. You want to make sure your hands are always placed under your shoulders with fingers splayed evenly so you’re not putting unnecessary pressure on your wrists. Once you’re almost parallel to the wall in a handstand, reverse the motion to come back to the wall plank.

Repeat this as many times as you can before you think it’s unsafe to do so (if you start to feel shaky, give it a rest – falling on your face ain’t worth it).

Not only will you feel badass doing this, you’ll improve your shoulder and arm strength a tonne. If you’re working up to getting into a handstand, this is a great place to start as you’ll also work your core.

Don’t. This exercise is complex and advanced; trying to throw in some fandangle moves (like a hand off the floor) could lead to a broken nose.