When the temperature drops, it’s easy to let workouts slide, but core training is worth keeping up through winter. A strong core does more than sculpt your abs. It supports your posture during long hours indoors, improves stability for winter runs or icy walks, and makes every other workout feel stronger.
A quick 10-minute routine is also simple to slot into your day, whether it's at home or tagged on the end of a session at the gym. One of my favorite trainers Britany Williams recently shared this routine, and let me tell you, it's intense despite only taking a total of 10 minutes to complete.
This isn’t your standard round of crunches and planks. The workout combines twists on familiar moves with light dumbbell work and a plyo box to challenge every section of your core. The result is a routine that feels fresh, hits harder, and leaves your abs burning in the best way.
Watch the 10-minute Core Building Workout
You can find a list of all the exercises below according to Williams' instruction. The aim is to do each exercise for 30 seconds (per side for those that apply) and repeat the full circuit twice over, allowing 60 seconds rest between rounds.
- Sit-up & Leg Lift
- Bent Leg V-Up Twist
- Rotational Side Plank
- Modifies Copenhagen Plank
- Overhead March
- Around the World Crunch
- Side V-Up
What are the benefits of this workout?
If you think of core training as something you only do for a flat stomach, you are missing the bigger picture. A workout like this is not just about building a chiselled six-pack . It's about creating strength in the muscles that wrap around your torso and hold you together. Your core is your body’s foundation. It steadies you when you move, keeps you upright when you sit, and gives you power when you run, lift, or twist.
Building that kind of strength takes more than endless crunches. It's about combining different movements that hit your abs from all angles, challenge your balance, and wake up the muscles that sit deeper than the surface six pack. A routine like this does exactly that. It blends sit-ups, planks, twists, and lifts in a way that teaches your core to do its real job, which is to stabilize and support you.
The benefits spill over into daily life, too. If you spend long hours at a desk, your core can be the difference between slumping forward and sitting tall without effort. Those muscles act like scaffolding for your spine. When they are weak, your back works harder than it should, which often leads to stiffness and pain. When they are strong, your posture improves naturally, and your body feels lighter and more aligned.
Consistency is what keeps that strength alive. Don't be put off if you are new to core training; those muscles still respond well to being trained little and often. Ten minutes on the regular is a good starting point for building a solid base, especially with a sequence that mixes strength, stability, and mobility.
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