While the gym is a great place to hit your exercise goals, you can achieve impressive results outside the gym as well. You can work out at home, in the garden, or at your local park using nothing but your own body weight to train.
This four-move core workout from fitness trainer Lisa Lanceford combines four intense bodyweight exercises with no breaks and plenty of sets to strengthen and sculpt your midsection, including your abs.
You don't need any equipment, but to make things more comfortable, we recommend placing one of the best yoga mats between you and the floor before diving into Lanceford’s routine.
To complete this workout, you’ll perform 8-12 reps of each exercise and repeat the full routine three to four times. There aren’t any breaks, so stay focused and push through to get the most you can out of this core session.
Watch Lisa Lanceford's four-move core workout
In each of Lanceford's video demonstrations on her Instagram account, she shows you which part of your core each exercise targets. Although her routine only involves four exercises, if you perform each with solid form it will target multiple muscles in your core, including the obliques, rectus abdominis (abs), and deeper stabilizing muscles.
- Side plank crunch: 8-10 reps, 3-4 sets each side
- Oblique V crunch: 8-10 reps, 3-4 sets each side
- Oblique knee to elbow crunch: 8-10 reps, 3-4 sets each side
- Star to extended arm sit up: 10-12 reps, 3-4 sets
It might be tempting to rush through the reps, but to really benefit from this core workout, it's important to slow down and focus on proper form. Rushing can lead to poor technique, which hinders what you get out of the workout and increases your risk of injury.
Instead, concentrate on controlled movements and engaging the right muscles, especially your abs and obliques. Spending more time under tension, which means holding the muscles in a contracted position for longer, will help toward building strength and improve muscle endurance.
Lanceford's workout is suitable for all fitness levels, and you can easily adjust the difficulty to match your ability. If you find the reps or sets too challenging, you can reduce the number of reps or take short breaks between exercises. Start by aiming for fewer reps, like 6-8 instead of 8-10, or add a brief rest between sets to catch your breath.
On the other hand, if you're craving a bigger challenge, you can increase the intensity by adding weights, such as holding a small dumbbell during the exercises. This extra resistance will make your muscles work harder and help to build strength and further sculpt your core.
This approach is known as progressive overload, a training method where you gradually increase the demand on your muscles over time, whether through added weight, reps, or intensity. But working out should be enjoyable, so it's up to you how you structure this routine to suit your abilities and preferences.
More from Tom's Guide
- Forget squats — these 3 moves target your glutes and strengthen your lower body
- You only need 2 dumbbells and these 5 moves to build upper body strength and core muscle
- Forget the gym — this 6-move dumbbell workout builds upper body muscle and enhances posture
