It’s not an overstatement to say that Ryan Terry is one of the hardest working individuals out there. The British bodybuilder, fitness model and apparel ambassador is a prominent competitor in the Men’s Physique division of the IFBB Pro League. Recently, he acquainted the YouTube fitness community with his new abs and HIIT cardio training routine.
Terry shot to fame in the 2010 after scoring wins at the Mr. Britain and Mr. International competitions. He earned the IFBB Pro card in 2014 and has been a perennial contender in the Men’s Physique division ever since. The 2015 Pittsburgh Pro marked his first pro win and the Brit made his Olympia debut that same year, finishing fourth in the Men’s Physique division. He came back hungrier the next year and walked away with a second place finish at the 2016 Olympia.
After scoring impressive wins at the 2017 Arnold Sports Festival and the Asia Grand Prix, Terry got another shot at the Olympia gold. However, he took a four-spot slip at the 2017 Olympia and finished sixth. The 2018 Olympia saw the Brit emerge as a top contender once again as he secured a third-place finish at the show. He last competed at the 2022 Olympia and walked away with seventh place in the Men’s Physique division.
Ryan Terry is busy improving his physique in his current off-season and he recently shared his new abs workout and HIIT cardio training on his personal YouTube channel. So without further delay, let’s see what this new routine looks like.
Ryan Terry’s new Abs and HIIT routine
Ryan Terry explained that his abs workout has remained unchanged for a long time because it worked for him. And if it is not broken, don’t fix it. However, he needed some change from the rinse and repeat. Therefore he adapted this new routine recently to do something different.
“I’ve always hit the same type of ab exercise and the same type of routine. It’s worked very well for me in the past but I’m bored with it. I wanna do something different,” Terry said before starting the demonstration.
While shedding light on the structure of his abs and HIIT training routine, Terry said:
“Basically (the whole workout routine) is one massive circuit. So instead of doing four sets of one exercise and then moving on to the next exercise, then move on to the next, we’re going to do about five exercises in total. Maybe six… And we’re going to do it in one big circuit… No rest and we’ll repeat it three times.”
Terry further stated that he likes to incorporate any functional training like skipping and sled pulls at the end of the workout for fat burning. Having shared that information, Terry jumped right into the workout and demonstrated every exercise.
Abs Training circuit
Exercise 1 – Hanging Leg Raises
Terry starts the training session with abs workout and does hanging leg raises first.
“It’s one of my all time favourites. It hurts, it’s terrible but it’s definitely the most effective when training abs!” Terry said.
He hails hanging leg raises as the ultimate ab exercise and stated it’s benefits in the form of a pre-recorded voice over as he went through with the workout. Terry said:
“It’s great for your transverse abdominals, your upper and lower abdominals, your hips and hip flexors. It’s just an all round great midsection exercise.”
The 34-year-old likes to start his abs and HIIT routine with this exercise because it is the hardest one and sets the tone for the rest of the training session. He cautioned against technical errors like relying on the momentum and swinging too much instead of raising and lowering the legs with a greater degree of control.
Exercise 2 – Weighted Abdominal Crunches
This is Terry’s second most favorite abs exercise. The weighted abdominal crunches on the cable machine (that is typically used for triceps pushdowns) work the lower and upper abdominal muscles or simply put, the most visible, six pack or eight pack abs.
“I do a lot of body weight (exercises) now-a-days. But this is something we’re really going to… Help with getting that thickness towards your abs. So I typically go with 10 to 12 reps but I keep it heavy and keep it in the mid-section…” Ryan Terry stated.
Once again, Terry shed light on the potential technical errors while performing this movement. He suggested to crunch only by squeezing the abdominal muscles and not by using lower back strength to pull the weight down.
Exercise 3 – Reverse Abdominal Crunches on Rower
Terry does this unconventional movement as the third exercise in his abs workout. According to him, the Reverse Abdominal crunches on rower really help him with contracting the abs during posing.
“This is great for keeping things tight. So I’ve found this exercise helps with being able to hit a pose on stage and contracting my abs really hard without making it look really hard… I think it’s a great exercise and it’s not typically what a lot of people do…” Terry said.
Exercise 4 – Bicycle Crunches
Next up in the abs workout are good ol’ bicycle crunches. Bicycle crunches rank high up in the ladder of effective abs exercises and deserve a spot in everyone’s training routine.
“This is great for obliques, again, transverse abdominis and upper and lower abdominals. So this one is a killer for me and it really does hit my obliques exactly how I need them to,” Terry said.
Exercise 5 – Toe Touches
The next exercise in Ryan Terry’s ab workout is not something he normally does because he does not like to crunch down on the obliques. Terry’s preferred oblique training method is twisting to avoid adding thickness to the lower abdominal muscles.
“But it is great if you can lift your shoulders off the pad off the mat… Just make sure you’re crunching and really push yourself to its limits and keep your core tight at all times throughout the whole exercise.”
Exercise 6 – Roll Out
The final ab exercise is the roll out. This movement needs a lot of energy and you would be better off doing it as the first exercise of the session if you’re at a beginner’s level of fitness.
“The key to this is keeping your back, your midsection, everything as tight as possible. Just don’t create any movement, any swing…” Ryan Terry said while speaking about the technique.
To make the exercise a little bit harder, you can always stand on your toes and keep your knees up in the air. However, it requires a lot of strength and doing this exercise while keeping the knees on ground also hits the just core perfectly.
Functional Training Circuit
After finishing with the abs routine, Ryan Terry introduced his new HIIT training circuit. He explained the different exercises involved in this circuit and said:
“We’re gonna do one minute rope skipping, we’re gonna do two lengths with the sled pulls where we’re going to do some Box Jumps or a** to grass squatting (Full Squat) with a full range of motion and then we’re going to do 30 seconds to a minute SkiErg. So four exercises, one minute on each station roughly…”
Terry maintained one minute to 90 seconds of rest periods between each of those exercises. He is still testing this HIIT routine and will decide its frequency based on how much weight he loses in coming weeks. Depending on the results, he might do this workout once a week during competition prep.
“Off-season, doesn’t matter too much so I’ll just put more calories in on that day…” Ryan Terry added.
Rope Skipping
Terry starts the HIIT workout with rope skipping. Although he does not consider himself to be great at skipping, it was an integral part of the Brit’s daily routine back in the day. He appreciates the role this exercise plays in developing calf definition and continues to do it even if it is brutal.
Sled Pushing
Ryan Terry considers sled pulling as an excellent endurance building exercise that involves abs, glutes, quads and hamstrings, in short, all the major muscles in the core and lower body muscles.
“The key to this is making sure your arms are fully locked out. Your elbows should be fully locked out and you’re pushing through the legs… Not with the bend and pulling it through the shoulders…” Terry said.
SkiErg
This is another endurance building exercise that the 34-year-old did during the early days of training when he used to do a lot of functional training for cardio.
“It’s absolutely brutal. It’s important to try and get full strokes, big strokes. Use the momentum and pull down with your legs as well… Legs and arms at the same time,” Terry stated.
Full Squats into Box Jump Full Squats
This next exercise involves doing a full squat on the floor, jumping on the box and doing a full squat on top of the box. It is a cardio intensive exercise that Ryan Terry is yet to completely adapt to. He admitted that he struggles with it at the moment. So it will be a while before he can do this exercise comfortably.
Overall, the workout includes:
Abs Workout
- Hanging Leg Raises
- Weighted Abdominal Crunches
- Reverse Abdominal Crunches on Rower
- Bicycle Crunches
- Toe Touches
- Wheel Roll Out
HIIT Training Circuit
- Rope Skipping
- Sled Pushing
- SkiErg
- Deep / Full Squats into Box Jump Full Squats
Ryan Terry has been in the upper echelons of the Men’s Physique division for almost a decade. However, The Brit is still working hard and finding ways to get better. If he continues to innovate and find ways to make training more effective, he might still take home the Men’s Physique Olympia trophy in the coming years.
You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Ryan Terry’s personal YouTube channel:
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