The “core” is a band of muscles that wraps around your waist and roughly extends from the base of the rib cage to the crest of your hips.

Though you may not realize it, the muscles that make up the core are some of the most important muscles in the body. The reason they are so important is because if any one of these muscles fails, your ability to do even the most simple tasks can all but disappear. Just think about what it would be like to not be able to bend over and tie your shoes, pick up anything, run, walk, or even stand. For anyone who has ever had back issues, you know what I am talking about.

These are all very extreme examples, of course, but there are other much more subtle examples as well. With a weak core, it is harder to do more complex motions, which can impact your ability to learn new movements or tasks. It can also diminish your endurance for physical activity, which at the very least can shorten a day of doing something fun, but can also cause fatigue injury while doing your job (and not just manual labor jobs, but also for non-labor jobs as well). For those of you with desk jobs, how many times have you had a stiff, painful back at the end of a long week of sitting in a chair all week long?

For the reasons above (and many more), we have put together this Active, Static Abs Workout with the intention of helping you build your strength and endurance in not only movement, but also in a static hold.  This is not necessarily a beginner workout, especially if you attempt to do the entire routine as is; so if you are just starting into regular exercise, then be sure to limit the intervals to half or a quarter the total time then build up from there. Also, you may need to modify some of the exercises to make them easier for beginners. On the other hand, if you are an exercising veteran, then you can always make this routine more difficult by holding a weight in your hands and/or using ankle weights.

This routine is a total of 23 minutes and does not have a warm up workout, so it's easier to tack this on to the end of another routine. If you want to do this on its own, then be sure to do your own warm up before you start.

The structure of this workout follows a typical AB, AB pattern with a timed interval of 35 seconds of activity followed by 10 seconds of rest/prep before the next exercise. In total, we have six groups of two exercises each, and we have included a water break halfway through the routine.

Workout Structure:
- 35 Sec on; 10 Sec off
- AB, AB Interval Pattern
- 6 Groups of 2 Exercises Each

Equipment:
- None Needed (optional exercise mat)

Warm Up/Cooldown:
- No Warm Up
- Cooldown Included

Total Time: 23 Minutes
18 Min Workout
5 Min Cooldown

Workout:

- Plank Reach Under
- Plank

- Toe Touch Crunch
- Toe Touch Hold

- Swimmers
- Back Bow Hold

---- water break ----

- Russian Twist
- Recline Hold

- Jackknife Crunch
- Leg Raise Hold

- Crunch
- Crunch Hold

Cooldown

Calories:
Because this routine is slower and more controlled, it does not burn a huge number of calories, but still manages to get a total calories burn of 82 on the low end and 205 on the high end (which can be more upped if you use extra weight).