20-Minute Dumbbell Abs Workout | Standing, Mat and No Repeats

If you actually want strong abs and a functional core, you need more than just crunches. You need standing core, mat abs, and power core training, and you're going to get it all in this no-repeat 20-minute ab workout. So let's jump in. But before we do, hit subscribe to my channel, or if you want more of my structured workout programs to follow, train with me inside the Nourish Move Love app linked in the description below. All right, team, you asked for longer core training and we've got it for you. Today we're doing a full 20 minutes focused on the core. And we're gonna use some dumbbells. All you need is a single weight. I have anywhere from a 15 to 20-pound weight with me on set, and I'm excited for this no-repeat core workout. I'm Lindsey Bomgren of Nourish With Love, and I'm joined by the amazing Caroline. Hello. She'll be offering modifications today so you can scale this to your fitness level. Again, you can use one dumbbell or no dumbbell throughout the entire workout. It looks like this. You have 3 circuits. You have a standing circuit, a mat circuit, and then a power core training circuit. Each circuit has 5 exercises. You'll be doing each exercise for 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest, and then you do it once and you are done. So it is no repeat. Do each exercise once and you are done. Quick, effective 20-minute core training. Are you ready to jump in? Let's do it. All right, let's do it. We're going to get nice and warm before we jump in, starting with basic knee hugs. So standing here, give me a big inhale up, exhale, come down. I want you to now put your hands on your core. Give me another big inhale, exhale. Pretend like you are knitting your abs together like shoelaces, holding this nice braced core position. Draw your knee up in line with your hip and give it a nice hug and then switch it out. Engaging that core, engaging those hip flexors. Nice alternating knee hugs right here. Hug and hug. As you hug your knee towards your chest, think about lengthening through your glute muscle. Nice little stretch for the glutes. Nice little stretch for the glute. Nice. One more each side and then we're going to go into a good morning. Right there. Nice work. Take your hands behind your head and now soft bend in your knees. Push your hips back towards the wall behind you. Now really think about lengthening through that glute and the hamstring, which is the back of your leg. Stand tall, pushing your feet into the floor to stand you nice and tall. Nice hip hinge movement. We are going to start— this is a very functional core-based workout, so you're going to see some maybe non-traditional core exercises right out of the gate with our standing core, starting with a single leg deadlift. Getting that hip movement down, this hip pattern, this hip hinge is really important. Do one more, and then we're going to go to a step back lunge. Nice work. Let's go right leg forward. Your left leg is going to step back to a lunge. I want you to hold your lunge. Now take your left arm and just fly it out to the side. Yeah, you're going to see that move later today. Drop your back knee to the ground and give me a nice spinal rotation, taking your left hand outside your right knee. Back to center, drive through the front foot, stand up, knee drive. Let's do it again. Step back lunge, drop this back knee to the ground. Nice. Oh, we didn't— oh, you got to hold that lunge. Hold your lunge. Give me the fly. Now drop the knee to the ground and give me that spinal rotation. Drive through the front right foot, knee drive. One more time. 3, 2, 1. Step back, hold. Fly, drop, and twist through that spine. Nice work. Drive it all the way up. Same thing, other side. Actually, let's do our deadlift first. We'll stay here. Load that right leg since that's what was loaded. You can give me the staggered stance or you can give me a single leg. You're going to give me a rotational deadlift. Woo! Right out of the gate, that's going to be challenging. So think about rotating across, right? So I'm taking my left hand and rotating it outside. My right foot if possible. This is a single leg deadlift with rotation, really going to challenge your internal and external hip muscles, especially that internal rotation. Really important. Our pelvis is part of our core, guys. Nice. Give me one more here. Same thing, other side. Here we go. Load that left leg. Step back right. Step back lunge. Hold. Fly on the right. Drop the right knee to the ground. Rotate through that spine, drive through the left foot, knee drive. Do it again. Hold, fly, drop, rotate, drive up. There it is. Do it one more time. Load, fly, drop, rotate, drive up. Nice. Keep this left leg loaded. Right leg can float. Right hand outside left foot. Single leg deadlift with rotation. Nice work. Really thinking about connecting The entire foot, big toe, pinky toe, and heel to that mat. Anytime you go into balance work like this, think about really using your foot. Your foot is your nice, strong, stable base. I like to do this with barefoot shoes on. You could even do this barefoot, minimal padding. We want our foot getting as much proprioception or input as possible so it knows how to be strong and balanced. Nice work. One more here. Nice. Let's just go for some high knees. You can give me marches, add a little power here. High knees, high knees, high knees. Run it out for 8, 7, 6, you got it. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Big inhale, reach up. Exhale, you can take it to the back of your space. Walk out to a high plank position. Once you get to high plank, hold it there. Option, you can drop to your knees, shoulders stacked over wrists. Pull your knee in and in, or hold your plank. Option, hold plank. Option, give me knee drives, mountain climbers. Pull that knee towards your chest for 4, 3, 2, and 1. Hold plank. Shift onto the left side. Can you open up into a side plank? Hold here. Hips are high. Nice work. That inside knee can always be down. Set it down. Give me a push-up. Down, up. Open up to the right side. Hold here. Nice strong high plank, side plank. Nice work. Set it down. Give me another push-up. Down, up. Push up and back. Down dog. Pedal out your heels. Big inhale to the toes. Exhale, melt your heels to the ground. Drop your knees to the mat. Little cat-cow. Drop the belly, lift the chin. Roll, reverse that spine. Caroline's going into a bird dog. I'm going to give you a Superman. So arms extend, lift up, lower, recover. Do it again. Lift. Can you get your quads and your hands off the mat, engaging your spine, backside of the body, entire posterior chain fires up here. Nice. Give me one more here. Big lift, plant, and get yourself up to a standing position. We're going to get started with this workout. Are you ready? Yeah, let's do it. All right. We start from a standing position. You have 5 exercises standing, 1 dumbbell to load it. Starting with that single leg deadlift with rotation. I'm going to float. Caroline is going to do a staggered stance. Pick your level. Dumbbell in the left hand, load the right foot. Single leg deadlift, trying to get my dumbbell outside the right foot and standing up. A lot of balance, a lot of core. It's 40 seconds and it starts in 3, 2, let's go. Single leg deadlift. Trying to rotate, adding rotation. If rotation doesn't feel good for you, stick with single leg deadlift. When you go for that rotation, I'm taking left hand outside right foot. Woo! There's that challenge. There it is. Trying to count my taps. Every tap at NML is a pushup, so you know. I got 1 pushup so far. Nice work. Thinking a nice strong— thinking about internal hip rotation. Also thinking about not letting that knee, right knee collapse in. And that foot, big toe, pinky toe, and heel. Nice strong tripod driving into that ground. Single leg move here. A lot of core, a lot of balance for 3, 2, and recover. Nice work. I'm going to swap my weight and go slightly lighter. I'm going to keep the weight in my left hand. Remember that lunge we did? Right leg forward, step back to lunge, hold lunge. Single arm lat raise. Holy bananas. Knee drive. That's your move. Right leg forward, left leg goes back. Fly just on this left arm in 3. 2. 2. Step back lunge, hold that hover, single arm fly, and drive up. You'll see Caroline is just not going as deep into that lunge, taking more of a staggered stance. Do you notice as soon as you draw that weight out away from the body, your whole core fires up? Yes. This is not only unilateral or single-sided training, but this is called distal core training. That means the farther the weight is from my body, the more my core has to work. It is designed to stabilize me as my arms and legs move away from me. Exactly what you're doing here, and you're adding load, which makes it even more challenging. Non-traditional core training right here for 5, 4, 3, 2, and recover. Do that same exercise on the other side. Switch the weight to your right hand, left leg forward, right leg steps back to lunge, lateral raise just on that right arm, single leg knee drive if it's available for you. Take it shallow, take it deep, you decide. Step back in 3, 2, step back lunge, hold. Fly on the right, drive up, balance, single leg knee drive. These are slow controlled movements. We're not going to fly through any of these exercises today. Really thinking about intentional core training throughout this entire workout. Non-traditional functional core training. I love training core this way. It's so fun. I know we had Megan say, That she's learned so much from doing Nourish, Move, Love workouts. But the favorite thing she's learned is how to train your core with weights. Your core is a muscle, just like your bicep. It needs resistance and load to get stronger. That's exactly what you're doing right here for 3, 2, 1 more fly, and you're recovering. We're going to go to that single leg deadlift on the other side. So heavier weight if you can on the right hand. Loading that left leg, hip hinge, right hand now goes outside left foot if that's available to you. Staggered stance or single leg in 3, 2, let's go. Soft bend in that standing leg, stand up. Soft bend in that standing leg, rotating that dumbbell or reaching that dumbbell. The farther you reach that weight away from the body, the more your core has to work and load. If you start to feel this in your low back, You can take the staggered stance and you can shorten the range of motion. You don't have to go as far to the ground. Nice, strong, stable foot. You might notice one foot feels more stable than the other. Totally natural. Woo! We all have those muscle imbalances. It's why we do unilateral training because when we do a bilateral deadlift with 2 feet on the ground, one side can compensate. The stronger side can take over. 3, 2, and 1. Not unilateral training. They each got to work equally. All right, your last move. It's a dumbbell halo with a chop. If you can't do a dumbbell halo because of shoulder issues, follow Caroline. She's got a front raise. If you're with me, it's a halo up and around and a chop. Load that dumbbell on your right hip. Halo or raise in 3, 2, let's go. Halo, chop right, chop right. Load on the left. Halo, chop left, chop left, chop. There it is. Halo, working on shoulder mobility. Now taking that weight all the way up and around, transferring the weight across the midline. Making that core anti-rotation core training right here. Anti-rotation core training right here. Nice work, team. Come on, you got it. This is your final standing ab exercise. From here, 10 seconds, we take it down to the mat for our 5 mat ab exercises. That's where you go in 5, 4, 3, 2, rest and recover. Nice work. Your first ab exercise on the mat requires no equipment. Same thing, we're just moving to the mat. 5 moves, 40 seconds Strength on. You're going to hold a plank. From this plank, I'm going to rotate open to side plank. Option to add abduction. You're there in 3, 2, let's go. Yeah, we just scaled up. This is a holy bananas move right here. You can hold side plank, add that abduction, roll back to plank. Open to side plank, add abduction. Yes. Studies found that the clamshell activates 50% of your glute med, your outer hip abductors. This move right here, side plank with abduction, 100% activation of your glute med abductors. Yes. Say holy bananas for 10 more seconds. 100% activation happening right here for 5, 4, 3, 2, and recover. That is A holy bananas move. Grab a weight if you want it. It's a full body crunch with 2 seated twists. Caroline has your seated modification. She's going to kick her legs out when I go full body. Roll up, twist, twist. 1 full roll up, 2 seated twists in 3, 2. Start with that roll up all the way back, all the way up. Rotate through that trunk. Get that dumbbell outside the hip all the way back. All the way up, rotate, rotate. Do it again. All the way back, all the way up, rotate, rotate. Dumbbells optional here. Feet floating is optional. Feet can stay on the mat. Use that breath, use that breath. You got it. Nice work, team. This is a rotation. We did anti-rotation. Now we rotate through that trunk, adding load. 10 more seconds. Core's on fire. You got this, team. Stick with me. Final 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. I love when the timer works out like that. All right, you got that side plank with abduction, other side. Yes, 2 beautiful legs God gave you. Gotta work them both equally. Knee down or float it. Let's go for that 100% hip engagement. In 3, set up your plank. In 2. And 1, set up that plank, rotate to the side, abduction. We also call these half angels in our house. My husband loves this exercise. I have a like/dislike exercise with it. We do the love it, like it, learning it model with my kids and their food. On their plate is always something they love. Hello, fruit. Something they like, like the protein chicken, and something they're learning to love, like the broccoli. Right? This can be one of those moves maybe I am learning to love, but man, do I feel strong after I do it. You got 10 more seconds here. 10 more seconds. You're back on your backside after this. Finish strong for 3, 2, and 1. Whoo! All right, grab a weight. It's totally optional. You're just going to hold it overhead. It is a single, single, double leg lower. Weights overhead. Neck and shoulders can be on the mat or lifted. It's 1, 1, and then 2, single, single, double in 3, 2, let's go. Drop one leg, drop the other leg. Now can you drop both? If both is not available to you, just stick with the alternating single leg drops. You see the modification here Caroline is doing is bending at the knees. The shorter the lever or the closer the legs are to the core and the trunk, the easier it is. The longer the lever, The farther those legs get away from the body, the harder it is. The more core is required to lower and lift those legs. Stick with me, 10 more seconds. You got this, team. Let's go. You got this and one more move on the mat before we transition to our power core circuit in 3, 2, and 1. Awesome job. Awesome job. All right, here we go. Your final circuit, it's called Hold the World. Hold the World. I love this one. Hold the world. Start with a dumbbell on one side of the body. Hold it here. Hold for 3, 2, 1. I go for a full rollback up and switch. Caroline has your modification in 3, 2. Hold the weight of the world right here. Hold it for 3, 2, 1. If you're with me, full rollback, full roll-ups. Transfer that weight. Now hold here for 3, 2, 1. Full rollback, full roll-up. I love this move because sometimes as a woman, you can feel like you are holding the weight of the world, right? But you are not doing it alone. We're doing it together. I have this Pause app I listen to on my phone every single morning. I do this meditation devotion prayer with it, and it says, just lay down all your burdens. You can lay them all down. Lay them all down at the feet of Jesus, right? Just lay those burdens down. Come on, you don't have to do this alone. Hold it. Yes, team, for 3, 2, and recover. All right, you got your final move. We're moving into power core training. 5 moves, power, 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off. We go for a bicycle crunch, no weights out of the gate. Bicycle crunch, 3-count bicycle crunch. 1, 2, 3, and hold in 3, 2. Let's go, let's go. 1, 2, 3, and hold. 1, 2, 3, and hold. 1, 2, 3, and hold. Little pause in between. Sometimes when we add power, we can just start ripping them out. I want intentional reps here. Shoulder to knee, hold and squeeze. Shoulder to knee, hold and squeeze. 20 seconds, halfway team. Core on fire. Holy stinking bananas. You got You got this. Yes, you can. 10 seconds, team. Let's go. 1, 2, 3, and hold. Finish. 5, 4, 3, 2, you're out. Up and over. It's a Superman push-up. It's a Superman push-up. Caroline is going to go bird dog. All right, getting a little back activation, your erector spinae. This is all part of your core, guys. I'm gonna lower my chest all the way To the ground. One Superman plant and push back up in 3, 2, let's go. Straight line, lower to the ground, reach out, lift, plant next to your chest, push up in one straight line. Lower, reach, lift, lower, plant, push. You got it. One straight line. Come on. Training front side of the body, chest, shoulders, core, nice and tight right here. Lift. Training backside, hamstrings, glutes, spine, shoulders. All turned on right there. Lift. Nice work. Can you get those quads off the mat? Can you lower in one straight line and push up in one straight line for 10 more seconds? Stick with it. We add a little bit more power in 4, 3, 2, and recover. Quick pushback stretch if you're with me, because you're about to hold a plank. We go mountain climbers. Mountain climbers, 3-count climbers. Just like you did the bicycle crunch. 1, 2, 3, and hold. 1, 2, 3, and hold. Caroline is marching it out. Standing mod, you're on in 3, 2. Let's go. Let's go. 1, 2, 3, and hold. 1, 2, 3, and hold. 1, 2, 3, and hold. Butts are low. Straight line from head to toe. Drive those knees towards your chest. 1, 2, 3 and hold. I'm just eating my hair. 1, 2, 3 and hold. Hold. Yes. Halfway team. Halfway. 20 down. 20 to go. Come on. I know your shoulders burn. Stick with me here. You got this. Come on. Final 10, 9, 8. You got this. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. 1. 1, you're done. Whoo! Whoo! Holy bananas, had to sprint through that one. Okay, here we go. 2 moves. Wood chop to the right, wood chop to the left, and that's your 20-minute core circuit. No repeats. Let's go. Grab that weight, load it right here. Left hip in 3, 2, right shoulder, left hip, right shoulder, Left hip, right shoulder, left hip. You drive your hips forward to transfer that weight across your midline, up over that right shoulder. Drive, drive. You got this. Come on, this is your power circuit. It's meant to raise your heart rate. It's meant to add some intensity. Power core training. Solid functional circuit. You did standing core, mat core. Now it's power. Finish strong. 5, 4, 3, 2, recover. Sweat towel needed. Other side. Same thing on the left. Wood chop on the left and you're out. Raising that heart rate too. Love it. Load right hip, chop left shoulder. You're there in 3, 2, let's go! Chop, load, drive your hips forward, load, drive, load. We've trained it all today. You hit anti-rotation, rotation, crunches, right? A lot happening in this core workout. No repeats, but so stinking effective. Woo! Keep going. Elizabeth said she's done this workout a few times. She loves it for improving her balance and her core strength. And she loves that it's full length, no repeats. Elizabeth asked for more. This is for you, Elizabeth. Woo! Here we go. 5, 4, 3, 2, rest. Woo! Yes, team. Way to go, Caroline. Awesome work. High fives to you at home. Quick stretch. Quick stretch. Shake those arms out. I don't know about you, but that felt like a little bit of a shoulder workout. Yeah, very much. Let's go. Right arm across the body, drop the shoulder, gaze over the right shoulder, roll out that wrist. Breathe it out, breathe it out. 20 minutes, quick and dirty. Got it done. Same thing, left arm across left shoulder, drop the shoulder, roll out that wrist. So proud of you for showing up today. I hope you love this workout. We'd love to see you back on the mat. Here we go. Big inhale, reach up. Exhale, forward fold. Hands Plant, step back. Don't worry, you don't have to hold plank. You can go right into tabletop. Drop your belly, lift your chin. Reverse it, tuck the chin, roll that spine. Nice. Awesome job. Caroline can go again in holding this cat-cow. I'm just going to go dropping down to the ground and showing you a little cobra option, really opening up that core, gazing over the shoulders, opening up the front side of my body. Woo! So proud of you guys. I hope you loved that core workout. If so, let us know in the comments below. We love hearing from you. Thanks for joining us for this workout. We'd love to see you back on the mat really soon. Awesome job knocking out that core workout. If you loved it, hit subscribe to my channel. And if you want more structured done-for-you workout plans that you can just press play on, check out the Nourish Move Love app. Scan this QR code for full details. Otherwise, if you want more ab workouts, check out my 30-day ab challenge linked in this playlist right here. Have a great day.