We’d all love to have the chest of Schwarzenegger, the legs of Ronaldo, the arms of Thor (aka, Chris Hemsworth) and the core of… Italo Ferreira?
While the 2019 World Surfing Champion and Olympic gold medalist may not be spoken about in such hallowed terms as Arnie and co. when it comes to lifting, this week he took to Instagram to share a ‘hard core’ workout that puts everything else we’ve seen this week to shame.
Ferreira posted a video of himself hanging from a ladder, being punched repeatedly in the abs by a woman with gloves. In doing so he demonstrated a simple yet effective ab shredding technique everyone really ought to know by now – if you want abs of steel you should be doing more than just sit ups (Harvard studies have even shown sit ups can be very hard on the spine and potentially damaging).
Watch Italo Ferreira’s ‘hard core’ workout in the video below.
The caption? “Quando a gata pede pra bater” – which translates to: “When the cat asks to hit.”
Fellow surfer Kalani Robb commented: “Looks like married life.”
Ex UFC champion Rodrigo Nogueira wrote: “Os amigos podem?” (“can friends?”).
Big wave surfer Carlos Burle wrote: “Solido.”
World skimboard champion Lucas Fink said: “Doido é doido” (“crazy is crazy”).
Artist Nissin wrote: “hard core.”
Speaking of strong stomachs, this isn’t the only ab busting workout Italo has shared in recent times.
On September the 9th he shared an image of himself pushing an exercise band above his head with both his hands – an exercise where engaging the core is crucial – with the caption “discipline.”
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On August the 5th, Italo posted an image of a full-body involving workout – kettle bell swings.
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There you have it – sit-ups are for suckers. If you want abs of steel; introduce some variety into your workout, and understand that six-packs are a consequence of a good all-around workout routine, and are rarely achieved in isolation. Plus: keep things fun and you are more likely to stick at it.