Health & Fitness · HIIT ·

7 Tire Exercises: Workout For Abs, Arms and Legs (By A Certified PT)

by Steve Theunissen

Working out with tires presents your body with a whole new level of challenge. It’s more functional than most other training options, combines strength and conditioning and allows you to develop explosive power. At the same time, tire workouts stimulate your individual muscles - especially the legs, abs and arms.

As a personal trainer, I’ve been using tires in my Bootcamp and gym sessions for decades. In this article, I’ll lay out my seven favorite tire exercises to target the abs, arms and legs.

I’ll also provide some pointers on the right tire size for you. All you need is a tire and maybe a pair of dumbbells to make these exercises work for you. 

Selecting the Right Tire Size for Your Workout

Choosing the appropriate tire size is critical to getting in a productive tire workout. If it’s too light, you won’t be challenging your muscles enough to get results. A tire that’s too heavy is going to force your body to move in a way that’s likely to cause injury.

As a general guide, you want a tire that you can flip 5 times without having to take a break. In my experience, women begin with a tire that weighs around 100 pounds, while men start with a 200-pounder. I have also used tires in my children’s bootcamps using care tires, which weigh around 25 pounds.

A 100-pound tire is what you’d find on a small commercial truck. A large truck will have tires that weigh around 200 pounds. Tractor tires weigh 300 hundred pounds or more.  

The No Tire Tire Workout

An innovative patented functional training device from the ABS Company is revolutionizing the tire training experience.The Tire Flip 180 allows you to get an awesome progressive tire workout without having to scour your community for tires. Plus, typically to accomplish this you would need multiple tires at your disposal as you can not generally alter the weight of the Tire. The Abs Company solves this problem by allowing you to add weight plates to the tire. 

There are 2 versions - The Tireflip 180® starts at 100 lbs and allows you to add up to 60 pounds for a training range of 100-160 lbs! The TireFlip 180® XL starts at 160 lbs and allows you to add up to 80 lbs for a training range of 160-240lbs! It’s even got dual anchors so you can add battle ropes. 


7 Exercise Tire Circuit

The 7 tire exercises in this circuit force your individual muscles to work together to produce dynamic movement. You’ll be moving through three planes of movement:
  • Side to Side
  • Front to Back
  • Rotational

At the same time, you’ll be getting a good conditioning workout, so expect to be puffed out by the end of it. Move through the exercises quickly to keep your heart rate elevated. 

The tire exercises have been chosen to primarily work the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, abdominals, biceps and triceps. 

Begin with a 5 minute warm-up involving medium intensity cardio and dynamic stretching. 

7 Tire Exercises for Abs, Arms & Legs

  1. Tire Flips

Muscles worked:

  • Quadriceps
  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings
  • Biceps
  • Triceps
  • Latissimus Dorsi
  • Abdominals

 Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Stand in front of the tire with your feet shoulder width apart and arms by your sides. 
  2. Hinge at the hips to drop into a full squat, maintaining an upright torso. Grab the underside of the tire with a palms up grip your fingers spread. 
  3. Lean into the tire so that your forearms are resting against it.
  4. Push your heels into the ground as you drive with your quads and lats to flip the tire. 
  5. As the tire comes up to shoulder level, switch to an overhand grip to push it through to complete the flip. 
  6. Move directly into the next rep. 

Personal Trainer Tips:

  • Keep your core tight and engaged. 
  • Grip the treads of the tire, not the spaces between them.
  • Be as explosive as possible on the initial drive.

2. Squat & Press

Muscles worked:

  • Quadriceps
  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings
  • Biceps
  • Triceps
  • Latissimus Dorsi
  • Abdominals

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Stand in front of the tire with your feet shoulder width apart and arms by your sides. 
  2. Hinge at the hips to drop into a full squat, maintaining an upright torso. Grab the side of the tire with your palms pushing against the rubber.. 
  3. Drive the tire up until just before it reaches the tipping point. 
  4. Now come back down so that you are in a bottom squat position, with your hips lower than your knees.
  5. Perform the next rep.

Personal Trainer Tips:

  • Perform your reps in a continuous manner.
  • Keep your core engaged throughout.
  • Use a beginner dumbbell workout to build up to these. 

3. Decline Tire Push Ups

Muscles worked:

  • Pectorals
  • Triceps
  • Deltoids
  • Adbominals

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Get down on the floor in the top plank position with your feet on the tire. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder width with palms flat on the floor. Place your feet together and maintain a straight line from your ankles to your neck.
  2. Lower your chest to the floor.
  3. Explode through the chest and triceps to push back to the start position.

Personal Trainer Tips:

  • Do not allow your butt to come up during this exercise.
  • To benefit from the decline push up, you need to move through a full range of motion, coming all the way down to the floor. 

4. Plank

Muscles worked:

  • Abdominals
  • Obliques
  • Erector spinae (lower back)

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Stand in front of the tire.
  2. Get down into the plank position with your elbows resting on the tire so that your body is elevated. Your feet should be together and your body in a straight line from head to toe.
  3. Hold the plank position for the stipulated amount of time.

Personal Trainer Tips:

  • Tense your entire core throughout the movement.
  • You may want to place a towel under your elbows for comfort.
  • Do not allow your butt to lift.
  • If the elbow version is too challenging, do the exercise with your palms on the tire and arms extended.
  • To make the exercise harder, turn around and put your feet on the tire. 

5. Tire Deadlift + Farmer’s Walk

Muscles Worked:

  • Quadriceps
  • Latissimus dorsi
  • Biceps
  • Deltoids
  • Abdominals

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Stand in the middle of the tire.
  2. Squat down to grab the tire with an underhand grip and palms facing away from you. Maintain a neutral spine.
  3. Push your heels into the floor as you deadlift the bar to a standing position.
  4. Begin walking forward, keeping your core tight and your shoulders pulled back.
  5. Take 10 steps and then turn and return to the start position.
  6. Continuing walking back and forth until your designated time has expired. 

Personal Trainer Tips:

  • Do not round your shoulders.
  • Keep your quads, glutes and hamstrings engaged throughout the entire exercise. 
  • Make sure you don’t make these deadlifting mistakes. 

6.Tire Box Jumps

Muscles Worked:

  • Quadriceps
  • Latissimus dorsi
  • Biceps
  • Deltoids
  • Abdominals

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Stand about a foot back from the tire with your feet shoulder width apart and arms by your sides.
  2. Load your body to jump by dropping your hips and swinging your arms back.
  3. Follow through to jump both feet onto the tire.
  4. Jump backwards to return to the floor.

Personal Trainer Tips:

  • Use an explosive motion to jump onto the tire.
  • You can make this exercise more challenging by jumping over the tire into the center and then immediately jumping again to come out the other side. 
  • Another way to advance this exercise is to stack one tire on top of another. Just be sure that they are sitting securely so that the top tire doesn’t slip as you jump onto it. 
  • A third way to increase the intensity of the tire box jump is to hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands. 
  • Make sure you use proper plyometric technique.

7. Tire Dips

Muscles Worked:

  • Triceps
  • Deltoids
  • Abdominals
  • Erector spinae (lower back)

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Sit on the edge of the tire, facing away from it.
  2. Put your hands behind you on the edges of the tire, palms facing away, at shoulder width.
  3. Straighten out your legs and move your butt off the tire.
  4. Straighten your arms. Your points of contact should be your palms on the tire and your heels on the floor.
  5. Bend at the elbows to lower your butt to the floor. 
  6. When your arms are at a 90-degree angle, push through the triceps to return to the start position.

Personal Trainer Tips:

  • Do not buck from the hips to get up from the bottom position.
  • To make the exercise more challenging, bring your hands closer together.
  • You can make the exercise less challenging by bringing your feet closer to the tire.

Tire Circuit for Abs, Arms and Legs

Combine these  tire exercises into a 20 minute circuit.  Perform each exercise, in the order described above, for 60 seconds. Take a two minute break and then repeat the cycle. As you become stronger and more conditioned, add rounds to a maximum of five. Be sure to stick to that strict 120 second rest period between each round. 

I’ve been using the TireFlip 180 for this circuit for a while and it’s awesome! The quick change resistance on the TireFlip 180 allows you to move really quickly between the exercises, keeping your heart rate - and the intensity level - sky high!

Summary

The seven exercise tire workout for arms, abs and legs does a great job of working your muscles, along with a number of other secondary muscle groups. At the same time it will boost your explosive power and improve your functional strength and agility. As a bonus, you’ll get a terrific cardiovascular conditioning workout to improve your endurance and make your heart stronger.

I recommend doing this tire circuit 2-3 times per week, giving yourself at least 48 hours recovery between sessions. 

Want all the benefits of tire training without having to acquire a gym full of tires? Check out the innovative TireFlip 180. 

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