Build endurance and core muscle simultaneously with this three-move ab workout — without crunches, sit-ups, or other “typical” ab exercises.
Let’s throw away stale core workouts and work the whole body hard with just three full-body exercises and a set of weights. You can use one of the best kettlebells, dumbbells, or similar, but make sure you’re working toward the heavier weight range to keep your body under challenge, especially as the rep ranges are quite low.
Grab your weights, and read on for the full workout and how to do it.
What are the full-body exercises for building stronger abs?
Here’s how to do each full-body move step-by-step.
1. Farmer's walk
The farmer’s walk is basically walking with weights and heavily engages your core muscles as you stabilize the load. The exercise also builds muscular endurance as you learn to carry for further distances.
Here's how to do the farmer's walk in more detail, and if you don’t have much space, try the farmer's hold variation instead.
How:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a weight in each hand. You could hold one weight, but remember to change sides if you’re working unilaterally.
- Engage your core and set your shoulders back and down.
- Keep your chest proud, look forward and stand tall.
- Walk with control without leaning forward, backward, or over to one side.
- Add stairs if you prefer working on an incline or want to engage your glutes more.
Woodchoppers
Woodchoppers use rotational diagonal movement to engage the whole trunk, including your waist muscles — the obliques. The functional movement also strengthens the muscles surrounding the spine and engages the hips.
Woodchops work well with a medicine ball or cable machine with the pulley set to the highest point.
How:
- Start with your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold the dumbbell or kettlebell in both hands next to your left hip.
- Engage your abs and lift and rotate the weight above your right shoulder.
- Pivot your left foot as you move.
- With control, lower the weight back to your starting position, keeping your core engaged.
- Repeat for reps, then switch sides.
Plank passthroughs
Planks are known to engage your whole body, including the shoulders, arms, chest, lower back, core, hip flexors, glutes, quads and hamstrings. The passthrough adds a dragging motion, which increases the need for muscle activation, stability and balance as you maintain the position while moving a weight from side to side. Wait for your abs to set alight.
How:
- Start in a high plank position and place a moderately heavy weight horizontal to the left side of your body.
- Draw your belly button in, squeeze your glutes and quads, and maintain a neutral spine.
- Keeping your hips square to the mat and aligned with your shoulders, reach your right arm under your body and grip the weight in your right hand.
- Drag or lift the weight beneath your body over to the right side.
- Repeat with your left hand, dragging the weight over to your left again.
- Alternate between the two sides.
E3MOM ab workout to try:
This workout is an E3MOM — every 3 minutes on the minute:
- Sprint 200m (treadmill or outdoors)
- Woodchoppers x 12 reps (6 per side)
- Plank passthroughs x 12 reps (6 per side)
In the remaining time:
- Max distance farmer's walk.
Set a 3-minute timer. Start with a 200-meter sprint — this can be done outdoors or using one of the best treadmills. Then, move into 12 reps of your woodchoppers, followed by 12 reps of plank passthroughs. In the remaining time (up to the 3-minute mark), perform a max distance farmer's walk or opt for a farmer's hold (holding the weights by your sides without moving). That’s a round.
On the 3-minute mark, go from the top. Aim for 5-6 rounds.
Ideally, you should have 30 seconds to go for a max distance or hold during the final exercise, so if you’re struggling for any time left over, scale back the reps slightly. The sprint should be an all-out effort at a maximal pace for a 200-meter distance.
If you want to focus more on strength than cardio, reduce to 150 or 100 meters and spend more time on the reps, or take out the sprint completely and increase the time spent on the farmer's exercise.
More from Tom's Guide
- No, not planks — try bear crawls instead and watch your core strength transform
- Forget planks — this 7-move dumbbell routine sculpts your core and upper body
- No need for weights — this 7-move workout improves your posture and strengthens your arms with just 1 resistance band
