A few months after the "In My Feelings" Challenge [1] had the whole world listening to Drake on repeat, the "Baby Shark" Challenge [2] swept the internet into a frenzy of dance videos set to the kids song that just won't quit. And, as athletes do best, many put a workout-inspired twist on it. Take one group of girls from England's Retford Gymnastics Club [3] who posted an ab routine [4] full of V-ups [5] and hollow holds [6]. Gymnasts from that same facility also posted a "Baby Shark" ab workout — this time on the uneven bars — and we took notice.
As a former gymnast [7], I know this footage all too well: these girls are at the point in gymnastics practice where they're hanging from the bar for some strength training (or, conditioning, as we referred to it [8]). For me and my teammates, it often looked like this: 50 leg lifts [9], 50 pull-ups, 50 skin the cats [10], etc. In the video above, they're doing moves like hanging scissor kicks, single-leg knee raises [11], regular hanging knee raises, and leg lifts.
The move you see where they pull up and circle around the bar to a supported position is a chin-up pullover (something lower-level gymnasts do in their actual routines to mount the bar instead of a kip [12]). All of the exercises are done to the tune of "Baby Shark," and though these girls are just having fun throughout — especially at the end of the video — adding some of these moves to your own gym workout would bring some serious heat to your abs, given that you have access to a bar you can hang from. We challenge you, if you're up for a challenge, to try the following: leg lifts otherwise known as toes to bar [13] and knee raises [14]. Get to it!
