While many gravitate towards ab workouts in pursuit of a chiseled midsection, the benefits extend far beyond aesthetics. Building core strength and stability is integral to overall fitness, enhancing performance in various activities such as running, weightlifting, and maintaining proper posture during everyday tasks.
A well-rounded ab routine targets more than just the abdominal muscles, serving as a valuable supplement to your regular fitness regimen. The beauty lies in their efficiency—they demand minimal time, space, or equipment, making them accessible to all. But where does one begin? To simplify the process, we've crafted three 10-minute ab workouts that can be tailored to suit your fitness level.
Structured as timed workouts, the objective is to complete as many repetitions as possible within the allotted time frame. Each workout comprises four exercises designed to engage and challenge your core. Ready to dive in? Grab your trusty water bottle and one of the best yoga mats, and let's get training.
Workout 1: 10-minute, equipment-free ab workout
Do each exercise for 30 seconds and rest for 20 seconds. Go through the circuit three times:
1. Plank
Here's how long you need to hold a plank to see results.
- Get into the push-up position — hands and feet shoulder width apart, back and legs straight
- Lower your body until you're resting on your forearms with your elbows below your shoulders and your hands pointing forward
- Use a mirror, a spotter, or a phone camera to make sure your back isn't arched and your hips aren't dropped. Then focus on engaging your abs and hold it!
2. Side plank
Here's what happened when our fitness editor did side planks every day for a week.
- Start by lying on the floor on your side
- Stack your feet (one foot on top of the other) and keep your body straight (and your spine and head neutral) as you raise yourself up to rest on your elbow
- That's it — the move is simple, but form is everything. Focus on keeping your muscles engaged so you don't lose your form.
3. Bicycle crunches
Here's more on how to do bicycle crunches with perfect form.
- Lie on the floor with your back flat against the ground
- Place your hands next to your head (behind your ears — not behind your head or neck, because you'll be tempted to pull your head up)
- Bring your shoulders off the ground, and bend your knees and draw your legs up off the ground
- Bring on knee toward your chest as you straighten the other leg, and twist your body so that your opposite elbow touches your knee
- Repeat this motion on the other side, keeping your legs and shoulders off the ground the entire time.
Reverse crunches
Here's more on how to do reverse crunches and the variations to try.
- Lie flat on your back with your arms at your side and your palms pressed against the ground
- Bend your knees and draw your legs up toward your chest
- Now, lift your hips off the ground as you point your toes toward the ceiling (you can keep your legs bent or you can straighten them) and come back down.
Workout 2: 10-minute, challenging ab workout
Do each exercise for 30 seconds and rest for 20 seconds. Go through the circuit three times:
1. Elevated plank
If you want to make the regular plank more difficult, try elevating your feet. Keep your forearms on the floor, but place your feet on something higher. I normally use a workout bench, but if you don't have that, you can also use a chair or a stair.
2. Side plank with twist
Adding a twist to the side plank makes it much more challenging.
- Start in side plank position, but bring your free arm up and place your hand next to your head (touching your ear)
- Now, twist your upper body down until your elbow touches the hand of the forearm you're leaning on
- Make sure to keep your ab muscles engaged as you do this: You should be twisting your upper body, not your hips.
3. Windshield wipers
The windshield wiper is another twisty move that targets your obliques, and there are plenty of ways to make it extremely difficult (try the hanging windshield wiper).
- Lie flat on your back with your arms stretched out perpendicular to your torso
- Bring your legs up, keeping them straight, until they're pointing directly at the ceiling
- Now lower your legs slowly to one side — go as low as you can go without touching the floor, and then lower them to the other side
- Keep your legs off the floor the entire time.
4. Dead bug
The dead bug is an exercise that works out all of your ab muscles, and also helps with balance (and coordination — it's harder than it looks).
Here's more on how to do a dead bug with perfect form, plus read what happened when our fitness editor did 100 dead bugs a day for a week.
- Lie flat on your back and draw your legs up (with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle) until they're perpendicular to your torso
- Raise your arms so they're also perpendicular to your torso — this will be your starting position
- Slowly lower and extend one leg until it's straight and hovering just above the floor. At the same time, lower the opposite arm straight back until it's also hovering just above the floor
- Return to your starting position and do the same move with the opposite arm and leg
- Your arms and legs should never touch the ground during this exercise.
Workout 3: 10-minute ab workout for the gym
Do each exercise for 30 seconds and rest for 20 seconds. Go through the circuit three times:
1. Swiss ball rollout
If you have a Swiss ball (also known as an exercise ball), you can make your planks even harder with the Swiss ball rollout.
- Get into a regular plank with your forearms resting on the ball
- Slowly roll the ball forward and then bring it back in, keeping your back straight and your abs engaged.
2. Dumbbell side bend
The dumbbell side bend is a great alternative oblique exercise if you have access to heavier weights — most people will use heavier weights than they normally use with ab exercises.
If you're doing this exercise in the circuit, you can also alternate sides in each round instead of switching after each rep. Here are the best adjustable dumbbells for weightlifting at home.
- Start in a standing position with the dumbbell or weight at your side
- Keep your back straight and your abs engaged as you slowly bend to the side
- Repeat the motion on the other side.
3. Russian twists
The Russian twist also targets your obliques, gets that twisting motion in, and is especially fun when you add weight.
Keep the movement controlled; don't let the momentum of the weight help you. Here's more on how to do a Russian twist, and the variations to try, plus what happened when this writer did 50 Russian twists a day for a week.
- Sit on the floor with your knees bent
- Keeping your back straight, lean back and draw your legs up off the ground (this is basically the boat pose with bent knees)
- Pick up your weight and twist to one side — as far as you can go without touching the ground — and then twist to the other side.
4. Hanging leg raises
The hanging leg raise (or its variation, the captain's chair leg raise) is an excellent exercise, but it didn't make the initial cut because you need a pull-up bar or a captain's chair. But the exercise itself is simple.
If you need even more of a challenge, hold a dumbbell between your feet. Read what happened when this writer did 50 leg raises a day for 14 days.
- Hang from a pull-up bar using an overhand grip and draw your legs up as far as you can
- You can keep your legs straight or bend at the knees — straight legs make the exercise more challenging.
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