Forget sit-ups — sculpt your abs in 10 minutes with this standing dumbbell workout

Sit-ups, planks and crunches are all core workout staples and for good reason — they’re all effective moves that are accessible to most people.

However, they are far from the only exercises you can use to strengthen your core. If you’d prefer to stay standing for your workout, you can still get a great abs session done in just 10 minutes.

This standing abs workout from fitness trainer Heather Robertson is great for your whole core, and all you need to do it is a set of light dumbbells and 10 spare minutes.

Robertson suggests using weights in the 3-10lb range, or if you have a set of the best adjustable dumbbells, you can pick and choose the weight to suit each move.

Watch Heather Robertson’s 10-minute standing abs workout

10MIN Standing Abs Workout with Weights - YouTube

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The workout involves two circuits of six moves, working for 40 seconds on each exercise and resting for 10 seconds between them.

Robertson does each move with you, so ensure you can see your screen to follow her technique and maintain her rhythm with each move, which is fast but controlled.

Throughout the workout, focus on keeping your core engaged as much as possible to maximize time under tension and ensure that your movements are mostly powered by your abs and obliques for the biggest benefit to your core strength.

You’ll be doing a mix of moves to engage the upper, lower and side abs, like standing crunches and twists, along with punches and reaches while holding dumbbells.

Maintaining your balance when moving the weights away from you is also a good test for your core and will improve your stability by training the deep core muscles.

It’s important not to go too heavy with your weights because if they become unmanageable when reaching out, your arms and shoulders will start to pick up more of the work as you lose your balance and give up your core engagement.

You can do this workout as a standalone session if you’re short on time, or add it onto the end of a longer full-body workout as a finisher. This 15-minute standing dumbbell workout is a great option to work your whole body before using this core-focused session to really fire up your abs afterwards.

The workout is suitable for all fitness levels and easily modifiable if you’re finding it too tough. You can do shorter work periods and take longer breaks, lower the weight you’re using, or just do the exercises as bodyweight moves without a dumbbell at all.

To increase the difficulty once you’ve got used to the exercises, you can increase the weight or work faster, as long as you’re still moving with control. As with any type of training, you’ll need to use the principles of progressive overload to keep improving as you get fitter to avoid hitting a plateau.

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