I threw my neck out once, and that was enough to give me a pathological fear of doing it again. That's one of the reasons I love a quickie ab workout — I figure strengthening my core is a great way to protect against future back and neck issues, especially while working from home.
For week two of the three-week, 12-minute exercise series Kayla Itsines' created just for Refinery29, the celebrity trainer and co-founder of the Sweat app developed a workout that targets the abs. It can be done alone or added on to your regular sweat session.
And trust us: It's short but kind of deadly. In fact, Itsines recommends turning up your music for this one. "I always need to have music playing while I workout out because if I can hear myself or anyone else
breathing and puffing I can’t focus," she says.
You'll perform each move for 30 seconds, and repeat each lap three times total, resting for 30 seconds between labs. What I love about this workout is it's functional — you won't be crunching for 12 minutes straight. But tomorrow, you'll definitely notice that your core feels sore.
Deadbug
Step 1
Lie on your back on a yoga mat with your arms extended directly in front of your chest and palms facing toward your feet. Bend your knees and bring your legs into tabletop position, ensuring that your knees are stacked over your hips, and your shins are parallel to (in line with) the floor. This is your starting position.
Step 2
Inhale. Exhale, gently draw your ribs to your hips to engage your core. Draw your left arm back and down toward the floor, alongside your head. At the same time, extend your right knee and hip to lower your right leg towards the floor. Ensure that your arm and leg are lowering at the same speed and that you maintain a neutral spine.
Step 3
Inhale. Raise your left arm and right leg to return to the starting position.
Step 4
Exhale. Draw your right arm back and down towards the floor, alongside your head. At the same time, extend your left knee and hip to lower your left leg towards the floor. Once again, ensure that your arm and leg are lowering at the same speed and that you maintain a neutral spine.
Step 5
Inhale. Raise your right arm and left leg to return to the starting position. Continue alternating between left and right for 30 seconds.
Bent-Leg Jackknife
Step 1
Start by lying on your back on a yoga mat with your arms extended above your head. Engage your abdominal muscles by drawing your belly button in towards your spine and elevate your legs off the mat slightly. This is your starting position.
Step 2
Inhale. Bend your knees and using your abdominals, draw them in towards your chest, ensuring that your feet stay together. At the same time, bring your arms forward towards your feet, slowly lifting your head, shoulder blades and torso off the mat.
Step 3
Exhale. Slowly lower your arms and extend your legs to return to the starting position, but without lowering your feet to the floor. Repeat for 30 seconds.
Three-Way Mountain Climber
Step 1 Place both hands on the yoga mat shoulder-width apart and both feet together behind you, resting on the balls of your feet. Gently draw your ribs to your hips to engage your core. This is your starting position.
Step 2
Keeping your right foot on the floor, bend your left knee and bring it in towards your chest. Extend your left leg to return to the starting position. Keeping your left foot on the floor, bend your right knee and bring it in towards your chest. Extend your right leg to return to the starting position.
Step 3
Keeping your right foot on the floor, bend your left knee and bring it into your chest and towards your right elbow. Extend your left leg to return to the starting position. Keeping your left foot on the floor, bend your right knee and bring it into your chest and towards your left elbow. Extend your right knee and return to the starting position.
Step 4 Keeping your right foot on the floor, bend your left knee and draw it forwards and outwards towards your left elbow. Extend your left leg to return to the starting position. Keeping your left foot on the floor, bend your right knee and draw it forwards and outwards towards your right elbow. Extend your right leg to return to the starting position. Continue this sequence of close, cross and wide mountain climber for 30 seconds.
Each movement of your leg is 1 rep. This means there are 6 reps in each sequence for the 3-way mountain climber.
Plank Rotation
Step 1 Start by placing your forearms (wrist to elbow) firmly on the mat, ensuring that your elbows are directly below your shoulders. Your forearms should be crossed under your chest with your right fist in front of your left elbow and your left fist behind your right elbow. Extend both legs behind you and elevate your hips off the mat, resting on the balls of your feet. Brace your abdominals and ensure that your spine remains in a neutral position. This is your starting position.
Step 2
Shift your weight to your left side, release your right forearm and extend your arm upwards. At the same time, turn your torso to face the long edge of your mat, ensuring that you draw up through your obliques to keep your hips elevated. Lower your right arm and untwist your torso to return to the starting position. You should feel tension in your shoulder and core throughout this movement.
Step 3
Repeat on the other side and continue alternating between sides for 30 seconds. Maintain control of your breathing throughout.
Half Burpee & Plank Jack
Step 1
Plant both hands on the mat slightly further than shoulder-width apart, feet together on the mat behind you while resting on the balls of your feet. This is your starting position.
Step 2
Inhale. Jump both of your feet outwards so that they are slightly wider than your hips, ensuring that your hips remain level.
Step 3
Jump both of your feet inwards to return to the starting position.
Step 4
Exhale. Jump both of your feet forwards in between your hands, ensuring that your feet remain shoulder-width apart.
Step 5
Inhale. Jump both of your feet backwards to return to the starting position. Continue alternating between half burpee and plank jack for 30 seconds. Each half burpee is equivalent to one repetition.
Side Plank (L)
Step 1
Place both hands on the floor shoulder-width apart and both feet apart behind you, resting on the balls of your feet. Gently draw your ribs to your hips to engage your core and maintain a neutral spine, ensuring that your hands are directly below your shoulders. This is your starting position.
Step 2
Inhale. Exhale. Release your right hand and extend your arm upwards. At the same time, turn your torso to face the long edge of your mat, ensuring that you draw up through your obliques (abs along your sides) to keep your hips elevated. Hold this position for 30 seconds, breathing deeply throughout.
Side Plank (R)
Step 1
Place both hands on the floor shoulder-width apart and both feet apart behind you, resting on the balls of your feet. Gently draw your ribs to your hips to engage your core and maintain a neutral spine, ensuring that your hands are directly below your shoulders. This is your starting position.
Step 2
Inhale. Exhale. Release your right hand and extend your arm upwards. At the same time, turn your torso to face the long edge of your mat, ensuring that you draw up through your obliques (abs along your sides) to keep your hips elevated. Hold this position for 30 seconds, breathing deeply throughout.
Rest for 30 seconds
Grab a sip of water, towel off your sweat — then start back at slide one.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
This full-body workout program, which I created specifically for Refinery29 readers, is designed to help you get active and get moving in the new year. These workouts are all 28 minutes in length and are great if you're short on time or just want to get your workout done for the day. Best of all, you can do them anytime, anywhere.
Each workout in this series is made up of two circuits that contain four exercises each. Set a timer for seven minutes and complete the movements in Circuit 1, taking a 30-second rest at the end of each lap (a lap is all four exercises in a circuit) so you can maintain your form throughout the whole workout. (You should aim to complete as many laps of each circuit as possible within the seven minutes.)
Then, rest for 60 seconds before beginning Circuit 2. Repeat both circuits again for a full 28-minute workout!
If this sounds confusing at first, don't worry — just take a look at the first day and my videos to get the hang of it.
There are five days of workouts here, which are meant to be completed over the course of seven days. How you complete them, and in which order, is up to you, but I don't recommend that you do resistance workouts on consecutive days. Instead, you should aim to include a LISS (low intensity, steady state cardio) or recovery session on the days between resistance workouts to allow adequate recuperation.
In this slideshow, you'll find the workouts, reps, and accompanying videos. But if you need more detail on how to perform these exercises, please download Week 1 of the Kayla Itsines x Refinery29 PDF here.
Next week, on Jan. 8, we'll share Week 2 of the program.
Four-Point Arm & Leg Extension 12 reps, 6 per side Lay-Down Push-Up (Knees) 12 reps Squat 12 reps Caterpillar Walk 10 reps Rest
30 seconds
This is considered one circuit or lap! You should aim to complete as many laps as
possible within seven minutes for each resistance training circuit this week.
