If you often feel tension in your neck or lower back while doing traditional core workouts, these standing ab exercises could be a great option for you.

You guys liked our short Standing Ab Workout so much that we decided to treat you to another one – this one much longer than the first.

In the 34 minutes of this routine, we first get your heart rate up to get your muscles warmed and your calorie burn up. Next, you are going to twist, rotate, and reach your way to a slimmer waist – all without ever sitting down on a mat for a traditional crunch.

What’s in this video:
3 Minute Cardio Warm Up
7 Standing Ab Exercises
3 Rounds Total

Exercises in this routine:
15 Standing Oblique Crunches – Balance on one leg while you bring one knee up to that same elbow. Make sure that you focus on squeezing through that side. Repeat on both sides of the body.

15 Bent Over Torso Rotations – Bend over at the waist, and extend your hands out in front of you. Keeping your back flat and torso as parallel to the ground as possible, rotate slowly back and forth from side to side. Make this harder by holding onto a weighted object.

15 Standing Toe Touch Crunches – Balance on one leg while you bring the other up and out in front of your body in a slow controlled lifting motion. Once your leg is at the top of it’s range of motion, crunch forward and reach for those toes. Alternate back and forth between which leg you are lifting.

15 Diagonal Crunches – Lean forward while you rotate your shoulders, reaching that elbow to the opposite foot. Come back up the same way you stretched down, and repeat on the opposite side.

20 X Pivots – Place your hands behind your head and lean forward and across the left side of your body, down towards the left foot, then make a straight line to the right side of your body, where you pull yourself upward in the same manner that you went down on the opposite side. Once you are back in the starting position, repeat the motion, this time starting by leaning down and across to the right side of your body & pulling back up on the left side.

15 Bent Over Back Extensions – Bend over and get your back and torso as close to parallel to the ground as you can. Once you are in this position, round your upper back forward, and then extend it back upwards. This exercise looks deceptively easy, but you will definitely feel this in your lower back.

10 Corkscrew Squats – Bring your hands up to one side of your body and then rotate downwards to the opposite side as far as you can, then come back up to the starting position. Do 10 reps in each direction.


How often should I do this routine?
Do this routine 3-4 times a week to keep your body trim and your abs toned, all without a single traditional crunch. This particular video would go really well with a short, intense cardio workout – one of our HIIT videos would be a great choice.


Calorie Burn Estimations
We estimate that this upright ab workout burns between 6-8 calories per minute, or roughly 204 – 272 total. These estimation ranges are based on a women weighing 130 lbs and a man weighing 180 lbs. If you weight more or less than that, your expenditure may be over or under the figures we have listed.