12 Minute Standing Abs Workout with Weights

Tone and tighten your stomach in no time with this awesome standing abs workout. Complete core strengthening in only 12 minutes and you never have to get on the floor. Beginner as well as advanced ab exercises demonstrated – grab your dumbbell and let’s get to work.

12-Minute Standing Abs Workout

• Standing dumbbell crunch
• Rotating dumbbell crunch
• Rotating curtsy lunge
• Standing oblique side bend
• Plie squat and twist
• Curtsy overhead bends
• Wood chops
• Plie side bend crunch

Keep reading below for video, pictures, and descriptions of each of these exercises.

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Looking for a great way to intensify your ab workouts and take your core to the next level? There are two sure-fire ways to do it…

Try some new exercises and add weight!

All-too-often we think “ab workouts” need to entail a million sit ups and crunches to yield toned and fit results. Not true!

I encourage clients and patients all the time to get up off the floor and try something new. It’s actually a more functional way to train your core, can be easier on your back and neck, and yield amazing results.

Today I’m sharing with you eight of my favorite standing abs exercises compiled in one awesome core workout you can do right from home.

All you need for this workout is one dumbbell (or any type of resistance – even a big water bottle would do!) and you will be feeling this in no time!

No weights at home or weights too difficult? No problem – just do it without the weight. I’ve got beginner as well as advanced versions of each exercise demonstrated in the video below.

Bonus: NO CRUNCHES REQUIRED! You will be standing the entire workout!

HOW TO MAKE AB WORKOUTS MORE EFFECTIVE

Before we get started, let me put in a plug for why this core workout is more effective than others you may have tried.

Our core is capable of movement in 3 planes of motion. We can bend forward and backward, we can bend side-to-side, and we can rotate.

You have muscles that move your spine and core through each one of these motions and it’s crucial that, in order to maximize your outcomes, you perform exercises in each plane of movement.

Also – your core is probably stronger than you think. If you’ve been performing sets of 20-30 sit-ups and crunches it’s probably time to add a little more resistance and take your rep number down.

This workout is going to do all of that! We’ll be performing standing exercises with weights that are going to bend and move your core through all the motions it’s capable of.

HOW TO TONE YOUR ABS

A healthy, nutritious diet combined with regular aerobic and resisted training workouts are key to toning and tightening your abs. You need to work in all planes of motion to target each of your abdominal muscles individually. Adding resistance (including dumbbells, cables, bands, etc) is a great way to strengthen your muscle contractions and see great results even faster.

WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL CORE STRENGTH

The thing I love about this workout is that it’s “functional core strengthening.”

What I mean is that outside of working out, we rarely perform a sit-up or crunch. Maybe if you’re getting up after lying down you would “sit-up” to do so, but other than that we don’t really do them much.

Functional core strength involves bending, twisting, squatting, and rotating against resistance while upright. Those motions are much more practical, much more functional, and much truer to what “real life” entails.

You’re going to love this standing abs workout with weights!

Equipment needed: one dumbbell (1-3 pounds beginner, 3-8 pounds intermediate, 8+ pounds advanced)

Don’t have a set of dumbbells? You’ll love these! These CAP neoprene barbells are a must for any home gym:

Follow along with this full standing abs video workout! Just hit play on the video below and get ready to shred your midsection:

• Stand holding your dumbbell in both hands over your head.
• March your left knee up to hip level while crunching your elbows down towards your knee.
• Return to the starting position and then repeat with the right knee

• Stand holding your dumbbell in both hands over your head
• March your left knee up to hip level and angled towards your right shoulder.
• Crunch your elbows down at an angle so your right elbow goes to your left knee.
• Return to the starting position and then repeat with the right knee

• Hold the weight out straight in front of you.
• Perform a curtsy lunge by dropping your right foot back behind you and to the outside of your left foot.
• Rotate your torso/the dumbbell as far as you can to the left.
• Return to the upright starting position.

• Hold the weight in your right hand, place your left hand behind your head, and bend as far as you can to the right.
• Perform an oblique crunch by raising your right shoulder as high as you can to the ceiling and bend over to the left.
• BONUS – bring your left knee up towards your left elbow while performing the crunch.

• Start down in a plie squat with your weight straight out in front of you.
• Come up out of your plie squat and rotate to your left.
• Return back down into the plie squat and repeat to the right.

• Stand upright with the weight over your head.
• Drop into a curtsy lunge on your left leg by dropping your right leg back behind you with your right foot outside of your left.
• As you perform the curtsy lunge side bend to the left to elongate your right obliques as much as possible.

• Start with the dumbbell at your left knee.
• With both hands raise the dumbbell up and over your head to the right.
• Slowly return to the starting position.

• Drop into a plie squat position with a dumbbell raised over your head.
• Hold your plie as you sidebend as much as possible to the left. Use the muscles on your right side to pull yourself back to upright.
• Repeat by dropping as far as possible to the right.

 

THERE YOU GO! I hope you enjoyed this easy, 12-minute abs workout with weights!

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Looking for more great ab workouts?

10 Minute Total Abs Workout

Standing Abs Workout with Weights

Make it happen,

Jared