In this more advanced abs routine we will show you how to incorporate weights into some of our most focused abdominal and core exercises. This routine actually activates almost every muscle in the body, but does it in a way that forces the abdominals, obliques, and lower back to take the brunt of the effort.

Though we use extra weight during this routine (in the form of a 6 pound medicine ball), all of these exercises can be done without any extra equipment and still facilitate a challenging core workout. If you don’t happen to have a medicine ball, don’t worry, you can use almost any form of weight as a replacement, from a dumbbell to a water bottle. Keep in mind that if you have never done any of these exercises before, you need to go through it at least once without any weight to make sure you have enough strength and control to do them with proper form. Only then should you try and use extra weight for these motions.

Start with a very light weight and build up as you feel comfortable, always making sure that clean form is your main priority. For example, though I am using a 6 pound weight in the video, I would suggest starting with no more than a 2 pound (0.9 kg) weight. You can always come back and do it again with a heavier weight if you find that, even with perfect form, you have little difficulty with the exercises. As an extra warning, when I filmed this workout video I had not used extra weight in an abs routine for a while and just 6 extra pounds made me quite sore the next day.

In this abs workout video we will be going through 8 different exercises, two of which we will be done with a “left side” and “right side” version, with will give us a total of 10 individual movements. Each movement/exercise will be done for 45 seconds through with a 15 second break/prep to get ready for the next exercise. Because this routine is so short there will be no other extended breaks so once you start try to keep going through along with me though feel free to hit pause if you find you need more rest. After all, having better form is more important than how quickly you get this workout done.

Workout Structure:
- 8 Core Exercises
- Intervals of 45 sec On and 15 sec Rest/Prep

Equipment:
- Exercise Mat (optional)

Warm Up/Cooldown:
- Not Included

Workout: 10 Minutes (45 sec on, 15 sec off)
- Crunch
- Windshield Wipers
- Back Bow
- Ball Crossover Crunch
- Russian Twist
- Side Hip Raise (R)
- Side Hip Raise (L)
- Cross Crunch (R)
- Cross Crunch (L)
- Swimmers

Because this exercise video is so short it will not have a huge calorie burn but if you can do it with extra weight then the calorie burn will increases with the increasing amount of weight you use. For the average person using not weight at all you can expect to burn between 50-120 calories total for this routine.