8 moves to tone and strengthen your core muscles!
Hey there sexy ladies and gents! Coming at you today with a core workout to set your abs on fire. I’m actually not kidding, that tummy will be burning, starting with move 1.
My brother has called me like 4 times asking for me to send him ab workouts and every time I tell him to check out the blog. Adam, this ones for you!
I almost always finish my workouts with some type of ab work. Does anybody remember 8 minute abs? There was a YouTube video that we did in PE. I remember thinking it was the worst thing ever. But I still do it to this day!
This 8-minute core killer will target all the core muscles. All you need is a mat and a light to medium dumbbell. You can even do it without the weight!
Try performing each move for 1 minute. The first 30 second will be doable, the last 30 will be tough. 😝
Quick tips:
- Try to relax the shoulders and neck. If it gets to be too much, drop the weight.
- For all moves, focus on pulling the belly button into spine.
- For crunch moves, imagine pulling ribs to hips.
- Make each move intentional. It’s easy to just perform the exercise, but if you focus on contracting the muscles each rep, you’ll get more out of the work
Who’s ready to give it a go?!
8-Minute Weighted Core Killer
Equipment: mat, light to medium dumbbell
- Crunch + Press – lying on back, hold dbell by ends and bring arms straight over chest. Crunch so shoulders come off mat and keep arms overhead, lower body back to mat.
- Bicycle – lying on back, hold dbell by end with right hand. Lift upper body into a crunch position and hold. Then bring right knee into chest. Take arm on outside right leg and pass dbell under right knee to left hand. Put right leg down or straighten out depending on level of intensity desired. Bring left knee into chest and bring arm outside of left leg and pass dbbell underneath left leg to right hand. (Creating a figure 8)
- Reverse Crunch – lying on back, hold dbell by ends and bring hands straight over chest. Bring knees to 90 degrees, knees over hips. Using the lower abdominal muscles, crunch legs back to chest, while brining hands behind head. Bring knees back over hips and dbell back over chest.
- Straight Leg Push Throughs – lying on back, bring legs together straight in the air and flex feet. Open legs into V-position and crunch upper body through legs. Lower body back down.
- Russian Twist + Press – in c-sit position, feet on ground or off, hold dbell by ends at hip height. Twist body to right and swing dbell down to right side of hip (almost touching the ground). Twist body back center and press dbell overhead to the left. Bring dbell back down center and twist right. Alternate directions at 30 seconds.
- Full Sit Up – lying on back, hold dbell by ends and place over chest. Bring feet close to butt and perform a sit up, keeping dbell at chest height. Lower body down slowly.
- Side Plank + Hip Dip – With elbow under shoulder, perform a side plank, pressing hips toward ceiling. Place dbell on right hip and dip hip toward the floor. Lift back to starting position.
- High Plank Hold – bring hands right under shoulders and perform a high plank. Tuck hips under (pull hips to ribs) and keep butt down. Hold.