If strong, toned abs are your goal, this simple, fast, four-minute Tabata core circuit will get you there, but be prepared to sweat for it. Tabata [1] is a form of high-intensity interval training [2] (HIIT) that pushes you to go all-out for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Then repeat — eight more times.
Trainers Karena Dawn and Katrina Scott of the popular fitness community Tone It Up created this core-focussed Tabata blaster for the Tone It Up app [3], where's it's only a four-minute section of the full Tabata Tone workout. So after this quick workout reduces you to a puddle of sweat, just imagine getting up and doing even more high-interval circuits. We're sweating just thinking about it. "Tabata is an amazing form of high-intensity interval training," Katrina told POPSUGAR. She described this abs sequence as "killer."
Four-Minute Tabata Abs Workout
Directions: Repeat four rounds of this two-exercise ab circuit, for a total of four minutes of work.
- Bicycle crunch: 20 seconds
- Rest: 10 seconds
- Toe-touch crunch: 20 seconds
- Rest: 10 seconds
And that's it. Grab a mat and some water (you'll need it!), and check out the slides for a refresher on how to do each move.
Bicycle Crunch
- Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground (pull your abs down to also target your deep abs).
- Put your hands behind your head.
- Bring your knees in toward your chest, and lift your shoulder blades off the ground, but be sure not to pull on your neck.
- Straighten your right leg out to about a 45-degree angle to the ground while turning your upper body to the left, bringing your right elbow toward the left knee. Make sure your rib cage is moving and not just your elbows.
- Switch sides and do the same motion on the other side in a "pedaling" motion.
- This completes one rep. Do as many reps as you can in 20 seconds.
Toe-Touch Crunch
- Lie on your back on the floor. Raise your arms to your ears or directly above your chest.
- Without lifting your hips from the ground, raise your legs, holding them there throughout the set.
- Use your abs to slowly curl your shoulders off the ground, bringing your fingertips to your toes.
- Slowly lower your shoulders to the ground. Don't use your neck as momentum to make the motion.
- This completes one rep. Do as many reps as you can in 20 seconds.