Our deep core muscles have some very important responsibilities like maintaining our posture, protecting our hips and back, and stabilizing our body as we move. In order for these muscles to do their jobs well, they have to be strong and conditioned.
I love a good deep core workout, but the planks and bird dogs that I usually do have started to get a little boring. I was searching for a way to revitalize my routine when I found fitness trainer Fiona Judd's lower abs and deep core workout on Instagram.
She uses various pieces of equipment in this program, so I grabbed one of my favorite dumbbells and decided to give it a try.
Watch Fiona Judd's dumbbell deep core workout
In addition to a moderately-heavy dumbbell, you’ll also need a loop resistance band and light weight plate for this workout. Don't worry if you don't have those — I used the dumbbell in place of the plate and you can skip the band if needed.
You’ll perform each exercise for 30-45 seconds, with a minute of rest in between. Aim to complete the circuit 3 times. The exercises are:
- Banded dead bug
- Bear dumbbell pull-through
- Bridge marches
- Flutter kicks
- Plate pass
Judd notes several modifications for severe diastasis recti, a condition in which the abdominal muscles separate and cause a gap above the belly button.
These modifications are not only useful for those with diastasis recti, but for anyone doing this workout. If you find it difficult to keep proper form, feel free to modify as instructed.
I was interested to see how adding weights would intensify my usual abs routine. Here’s what I found after completing Judd's deep core workout.
It was harder than I expected
I’ve performed all of these exercises before, so I didn’t think I’d be too surprised by anything in this program. I thought wrong. I don’t know if it was the duration or the repetition, but this workout really put my core muscles through the ringer.
That being said, I could have chosen to modify sooner and drop from 45 seconds to 30 seconds. Even if I had made those adjustments, I still think this workout would have been challenging.
This is a killer abs circuit for intermediate or advanced fitness levels. If you’re a beginner, I’d come back to it after practicing the best core workouts consistently for a few months.
My abs were shot by the end
I made it through the first two rounds of this workout without modifying or reducing the intervals, and ultimately I think that was a mistake.
By the time I got to the third round, I really wasn’t able to complete any of the exercises without heavily modifying them and taking unintended brakes in the middle of the circuit.
Fortunately I didn’t injure myself, but my core muscles were sore for about 3 days. Learn from my errors. Modify the exercises if you feel your form starting to fail, choose a shorter work interval, or take longer rests to properly recover.
My glutes were also fatigued
While we usually think of our ‘core’ as our abdominal muscles, the glutes are technically part of the core as well. I’m glad that Judd's included a glute exercise in this workout, if for no other reason than to give the abs a break.
Bridge marches aren’t a “break” for your glutes, though — they’re an intermediate to advanced-level exercise that will sufficiently challenge those muscles. And if you decide to use a loop resistance band on the dead bugs as shown, you’ll get some glute work done there too.
My abs were way more fatigued than my glutes were, but my glutes didn’t get to kick back and relax either. Keep this in mind if you want to pair this workout with leg day.
The flutter kicks hurt my neck and lower back
Thanks to a chronically tight neck and lower back, exercises like flutter kicks are usually impossible for me to do without modifying. Judd suggests leaving your head on the floor if needed, and while that solved the problem for my neck, my back started to tense up by the time I got to round two.
I ended up having to further modify the exercise by reducing my range of motion and lifting my legs higher. I appreciated that Judd included a few modification options with this workout but in my opinion, even modified flutter kicks aren’t an appropriate exercise for someone with diastasis recti.
A better option is to substitute an exercise like heel taps, which would have also worked in my case. If you are dealing with any injuries, some of the modifications provided may not be enough. Swap out exercises that don’t work for exercises you can do, or skip the exercise completely.
More from Tom's Guide
