If you're starting to get bored of sit-ups and crunches (effective though they are), there's good news — they’re not the only way to strengthen your midsection. Instead, you can use this 10-minute standing abs workout to build a stronger core without a sit-up in sight.
You’ll be standing for the whole session, so there are no floor-based moves, but it can still help to roll out a yoga mat to improve your underfoot grip. Otherwise, you don’t need any equipment to get started, just a few minutes and some space.
The routine was developed by fitness trainer Maddie Lymburner (known as MadFit on YouTube) and is designed to work the muscles around your stomach without needing the floor, making it a great option if you have sore knees or lower back pain.
You’ll do each exercise for 45 seconds, take a 15-second rest, then start on the next move. It’s a no-repeat routine, so you’ll do each move once, making it an ideal choice for when you’re tight on time but want to work your core. Or you can repeat the circuit three times for an extended abs workout.
If you’re used to floor-based abs workouts, use Lymburner’s demonstrations to practice your standing technique and perfect your form to get the most from your training and avoid injury. Plus, that’ll help ensure that you do engage your core muscles instead of arching your lower back.
Watch MadFit’s 10-minute standing abs workout
People often use core and abs interchangeably, but there are a few differences. Your abdominals, which include the rectus abdominis six-pack abs muscles, form part of your core, a larger collection of muscles that help connect your upper and lower body, improve your posture, and increase your stability.
So, training your abs using Lymburner’s workout also helps strengthen your core. Another reason it’s so effective in just 10 minutes is the style of exercise — high-intensity resistance training (HIRT). This is a lot like its cardio cousin, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), but with a focus on strength-building exercises rather than cardio moves.
But as you keep the breaks to a minimum, it has a similar heart rate-raising effect, which helps you burn energy during the workout. Sustaining this high heart rate for the duration means you’ll also boost your metabolism (the amount of energy you burn throughout the day).
This makes it an ideal routine if you’re looking to develop visible abs. To get to your goal, you need to reduce the amount of fat around your stomach, and since you can’t spot-target fat loss, high-intensity, metabolism-boosting workouts like this are a good place to start.
Since this is a short session, you could combine it with a 25-minute dumbbell HIRT workout to target your whole body, strengthen your core, and burn fat in just over half an hour. It’s an efficient way to train, and all you’ll need is a set of weights, like adjustable dumbbells, to get started.
Why don't people like crunches?
Crunches, like sit-ups, are classic bodyweight abs exercises designed to target elements of your core, including the rectus abdominis six-pack abs muscle. They're relatively straightforward, require no equipment, and are pretty effective.
But if that's the case, why would you want to ditch them for this ab workout? If you're anything like me, the main reason is boredom. You can do endless repetitions of the move, but it quickly becomes pretty tedious and your mind starts to wander.
And once you lose concentration, that's how you break form and begin to do things like arch your back or tense your shoulders in place of engaging your core. This is obviously not helpful, and can lead to longer term pain as well.
Plus, this specific workout from Lymburner requires no floor work at all. So if you find getting down on the ground challenging, this is a perfect alternative. And sometimes it's just nice to have a break from the usual routine and give something else a try.
So while I definitely think this short routine is worth adding into your schedule, that doesn't necessarily mean that you need to drop crunches (or sit-ups) from your workouts, unless you want to give yourself a break for a little while!
More from Tom’s Guide
- I tried this standing abs workout with 30 million views — here’s what happened
- This dumbbell abs workout builds core strength in just 8 moves
- Forget planks or crunches — these 5 standing core exercises will torch your abs
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