F45 has been rising in popularity these last couple of years since it provides a unique training experience for its members that seems to be working for a lot of them. Instead of the typical and somewhat boring gym routine where you have to come up with your own workouts, F45 does that for you so you don’t have to worry about it. With over 50 different workouts that are all different and unique, you’ll never feel bored or demotivated to train since you’ll constantly be experiencing something new. One of these workouts is called the F45 Abacus, what is it about? How is it performed? And is it worth it?
The F45 Abacus workout is a cardio-based routine that consists of 6 different stations. During the first lap of each one, you’ll slowly increase the timing just like an Abacus and on the second lap, you’ll start decreasing it.
In this article, we’ll talk about what an F45 Abacus workout is all about, if it’s hard, and some examples of how it’s performed.
Table of Contents
What is the F45 Abacus Workout?
Do you know what’s the greatest thing about F45 Training? Not the fact that they have dozens of extremely fun and innovative workouts (that’s great too!), but how they actually name them.
They always manage to come up with the best names for their workouts. According to them, they want something that has meaning, is eye-catching, and that looks cool. And that’s the case for the majority of their workouts.
There is probably a workout for any cool name that you can think of (well, not really but you get my point!).
You have things like Renegade, Varsity, Empire, Wingman, Triple Threat, Quarterbacks, Redline, 22, 3-peat, and of course, Abacus.
And although in some instances, these names are selected randomly just because they appear cool like the Moon Hopper workout, or give homage to a city name like Noho (North Hollywood), SoCal (Southern California), Docklands, Miami Nights, and so on, the majority of the time, these names give a slight hint of what the workout is actually gonna be about. In the case of this particular workout, it definitely falls into the latter category.
If you didn’t know, an Abacus is a simple device that was used for calculating back in the day (and it still is in some cases), consisting of a frame with rows of wires or grooves along which beads are slid, but what does this have to do with the workout?
Well, the F45 Abacus is a cardio-based routine that revolves around slowly increasing work time during the first lap, then slowly decreasing it on the second one.
This means that the timing adds up just like an Abacus. It starts off with 20 seconds of work, then 22, then 24, and so on until you reach 28 at the end of the first lap, then it starts decreasing from 28 seconds to 26 to 24 all the way to 20.
It may look easy at first since it only has 6 stations, but in reality, it’s one of the most difficult F45 workouts because of its unique timing.
Here is everything you need to know about this workout broken down:
- Stations: 6
- Pods: 1
- Laps: 2
- Sets: 5 per station
- Timing:
- Lap 1 – 20/10, 22/10, 24/10, 26/10, 28/15
- Lap 2 – 28/10, 26/10, 24/10, 22/10, 20/15
F45 Abacus Workout Example:
Here are two examples of what an F45 Abacus workout will look like (keep in mind that this may look different depending on your studio).
Workout Example 1:
Format:
- Lap 1 timing: 20 seconds on | 10 seconds off 22 seconds on | 10 seconds off 24 seconds on | 10 seconds off 26 seconds on | 10 seconds off 28 seconds on | 10 seconds off
- Lap 2 timing: As per the above timing, starting with 28 seconds and working backward
Stations:
- 10 X High Knees 4 X Frog Stomp
- Deadball Over The Shoulder
- 5 X Squat + 2 X Jumping Lunge
- Mountain Climbers + Shoulder Taps
- Kettlebell Clean
- 2 X Burpees + 5 Sprawls
Workout Example 2:
Format:
Same format as before
Stations:
- 10 Dumbbell Punches + 2 Sumo Snatch
- Ski Erg / Bike Erg (Your Choice)
- Cones – 10 Fast Feet + 2 Seal Jacks
- Kettlebell Swing Single Arm
- 5 Deadball Slams + 1 Inchworm
- 10 High Knees + 2 Burpees
Conclusion:
If you’ve never done an F45 Abacus workout before and are not sure what to expect, then I hope this article made it more clear for you. Just remember that if you find it too difficult or too easy, you have full flexibility to go lighter or heavier depending on your physical ability. And if you’re not sure how an exercise is done, just ask the trainers there and they’ll be glad to help.
All that matters is that you have a solid workout and push your body to its fullest potential.