Fitness Blender weaves a cruel and effective combination of both core exercises and challenging bodyweight cardio exercises. Not only does this workout boost your cardiovascular endurance, it’s also the perfect blend of calorie burning, body toning exercises to create the ideal workout to lose belly fat.

Workout Structure
There are two rounds of seven different exercises in this abs & cardio routine. You will do each exercise for 40 seconds. That sounds easy enough, but in between each exercise, you are going to be doing a short bout of cardio; 10 Burpees in between each exercise in the first round and 20 Jumping Jacks in between each move in the second round. The combination will have you toning and sweating up a storm at the same time.

Here’s a more in depth breakdown of the exercises:

• Basic Crunches – You will feel this traditional go-to abdominal move right in the center of your belly, as well as your upper and lower abs.

• Oblique Crunches + Side Leg Raises – These are great for your obliques and your outer thighs. If you need an easier version than is shown in the video, you can always modify the move by reaching towards your feet with your top arm instead of hanging it over and above your head.

• Reverse Crunches + Leg Lifts – Because of the dual motion, this is a great upper and lower ab toning exercise.

• Superman Back Bows – Don’t neglect your lower back; a good core workout is comprehensive in that it wears out all complimentary muscle groups. You can tone your glutes with this one as well, if you focus on keeping your legs slightly lifted off of the ground during the movement.

• Knee Tuck Crunches – The entire abdominal panel and thighs must engage to pull off this movement. You can adjust this to be easier or more difficult, depending on how far you lean back each time you extend your legs straight.

• Crisscross Crunches – This one is great for the obliques but the entire core has to pitch in to pull it off.

• Reclined Oblique Twists – Thighs, obliques, upper and lower abs all get worked over during this exercise. You can make it easier by lifting just one leg off of the ground at a time, and easier still by leaving both feet flat on the ground while you reach up and across your body.


Do I need a warm up for this workout?
Yes; this video does not include a warm up so make sure that you warm up before you jump into this routine – 5-10 minutes of cardio should do. You will also want to cool down and stretch when you are finished.

How many calories does this burn?
We estimate that this routine burns between 7 and 11 calories a minute. That’s 196-308 calories in 28 minutes. These figures are for a 130 lb woman and a 180 lb man – if you weigh more than that, you may get a high caloric burn from this routine. This is a very high rate of energy expenditure for an abdominal routine – largely because of the short burst of cardio that essentially make this a high intensity interval training workout (HIIT).

Everyone is always looking to find workout routines that magically melt away belly fat but the truth is that you just need to work up a good sweat on a regular basis and eat clean and in moderation. No diet pill, meal replacement shake, powder, or cream is ever going to give you as good a result as regular exercise and healthy eating will. And the best part is that doing it the natural way is only going to vastly improve your overall wellbeing, and it’s something that you can feel proud about.

Fitness Blender’s Abs and Cardio Blend routine is a great way to both firm up the core muscles and burn a good deal of calories at the same time, but it’s important to remember that unless you also incorporate diet changes, those muscles will stay hidden under that extra belly fat.