This Short Ab Workout Is Here To Spice Up Your Core Routine

Another ab day, another set of crunches and planks, am I right? Not so fast! This seven-minute fiery core routine is here to work your core with moves that will push your abs in new ways.

Mixing up your exercise routine this way can help you avoid hitting a “fitness plateau,” or when your strength gains start to slow down because your body is less challenged by a movement it’s gotten used to.

“Your body is very smart and it will learn how to become efficient at doing the same movements,” Jeanette Jenkins, trainer and Marshalls clothing rep, previously told Well+Good.

The idea of making variety a part of your fitness routine often refers to the need to incorporate multiple elements for a well-rounded workout, such as strength training, cardio, and mobility work. However, it also applies to the movements themselves, since your body will get used to being pushed in the same ways over and over again.

Which is why in fitness, as in life, variety is the necessary spice. And Charlee Atkins, trainer and founder of Le Sweat, is here to be your salt bae with an efficient routine that packs a challenge into every rep.

A lot of the moves Atkins employs include elements of classics like crunches and planks. However, she turns these bases into compound movements that work more areas of your core, such as the “crunch combo” that will fire up both your upper and lower abs. A “quarter get-up” is like an oblique focused roll-up. And the final set of bicycles includes a twist that Atkins promises will “change your life on bicycles.”

Press play to find out how to turn these ab moves on their head, and strengthen your core in under 10 minutes. As Atkins says, “Let’s hit it.”