30-Minute Dumbbell Ab Workout | Standing, Mat + Power Core (No Repeats!)

Fire up your abs with this 30 minute dumbbell core workout. You've got three core circuits designed to build serious ab strength and stability. And it's done in your favorite no repeats format. So let's jump right in. All right, team, you've been asking for longer core focused workouts, and that's what we're gonna deliver today with this 30 minute dumbbell ab workout. And I'm joined by the amazing Rachel. Hi. She'll be offering modifications throughout today's workout so you can scale this core workout to fit your fitness level. All right, you guys, we have a no repeats format, but you will be repeating circuits to switch sides or progress an exercise up. So what it looks like is you have three big core circuits. We're going to start standing, then we're going to go to the mat and we're going to finish with some power ab moves. So it's strength mat and power core. It's going to be a really fun ab workout. It's going to be about 30 minutes and you're going to need weights. I have anywhere from 15 to 20 pound dumbbells with me. You can always do it without weights. Grab your dumbbells. Let's get warmed up and jump into this 30 minute core training workout. All right, you, we're gonna start with the standing cat cow. So big. Inhale, reach up. Exhale. Hands come behind the head. Cat cow. So round the spine. Elbows collapse. Pull the elbows apart. Chest expands. Do it again. Round through that spine. Elbows collapse. Pull the chest apart and expand. Nice. Now you're gonna give me a good morning. So hips are gonna go back. When you get to the top, you're gonna give me a big torso rotation. Reach those fingertips away. Do it again. Hips back. Stand tall. Torso rotation. Nice. Reach those fingertips as far away from each other as you can. Back to center. Hips back, stand. Big rotate. You're going to do it one more time each way. Hips, back, stand and rotate. One more. One more. Hips back, stand and rotate. Now you're just dropping into a classic squat. So it's down and up, pushing that floor away. Nice. Knees are tracking out. Chest up, eyes up. Driving the floor away with those feet. Nice strong legs right here. Opening those hips. Dropping a little bit lower into those squats. Give me four. You got it. Four. Nice work. Three. Awesome job. Job. Two. And one. Nice work. It's a very functional workout. So we're going to show you some of the moves you're going to do today, which is going to be a single leg deadlift. I'M going to balance on my right leg. Rachel's going to show you the modification. I'm going to reach for that floor, then drive the knee up. I'm going to hinge, reach for that floor and drive the knee up. You know that we don't do a lot of traditional core moves around here. We're going to train that core. We're going to add balance, we're going to add stability and core strength in moves like this. The single leg deadlift. Nice work. You've got one more here. Down. Now just give me some knee hugs. So opposite knee. Pull it up, pull it up. Lengthen through those glutes. Nice work. Go. Four, three. Single leg deadlift. Other side. Last one. Awesome job. Right here. Standing on the left leg this time. Here we go. Can you reach for that floor and drive that knee up? Think about keeping your hip bones square to the ground. Soft bend in that front leg. Really challenge that balance and core. You guys know that I use minimal barefoot or minimal shoes or barefoot shoes. Great workout to do, barefoot or not. You don't want heavy foam shoes for this one. You're really using your feet to ground down through that floor. Awesome job. Nice work. Okay, here we go. We're gonna go lateral squats. Take a nice, wide stance. You're gonna hit side to side. Down, up, down. Activate those outer glutes. Stretch those inner thighs. Down, up. Nice work. One more each way. Awesome job. Here we go. Big forward fold. Hands are going to hit the mat. Plant and step back to that high plank. You can always drop to your knees in this high plank position. You're going to hold right here. Nice. We're going to open up to a T. So you can take a wider base with your feet, or you can drop to your knees. You're going to rotate open to a T. Gaze, Follow those fingertips. Set it down. Plant. Same thing. Other side. Rotate open to T. Nice. Think about piking those hips up, cinching through those obliques as you open to T. Open to T. Nice work. Hold that cat cow. Step right foot outside right hand. Give me a nice, easy twist. Nice work. Gonna open the glutes with that. Same thing. Other side. Easy twist. Set it down. Push back down. Dog pedal out your heels. Couple knee bends. Knees hover off the mat. Fire up those low abs. Knees hover off the mat. Two more knees. Hover off the mat. One more. Knees hit the mat all the way down. Little cat cow action. Drop the belly. Lift the chin. Reverse it. Tuck the chin. Roll that spine up towards the Ceiling. Nice. Flat back. Neutral spine. Renee, fire up your back by doing Bird Dog. Opposite arm and leg are going to reach away from each other, and you're going to hold it here for 3, 2, and 1. Switch it out. Hold for 3, 2, and 1. Nice. Now you're gonna roll over to your backside. We're gonna do that same thing, except this time you're laying on your back. Dead bug. Opposite arm and leg. Reach away. Bring it in. Opposite arm. Leg reach away. Nice. Now you're gonna hold that dead bug. Hold here. Option to stay here. Option to place both hands into this knee and really push into that knee. It's gonna fire up the core. Gonna fire up your hip Flexors for 3, 2, and Switch. Option to hold that dead bugger. Push into that knee. Fire up the core. Fire up the hip flexors for 3, 2, and 1. Nice. Plant both feet on the ground. Glute bridge. Gonna fire up those glutes. Lift and hover. Lift and hover. You have four. You're holding at the top in three. Nice work. In two and one. Hold here. Option to stay here. Option to walk those heels away from you. Hold those hips high. Fire up those hamstrings. Hold it here. Nice work. Hold for 4, 3, 2, and 1. Roll yourself all the way up to standing position. Hopefully you feel nice and fired up. You got two more moves. We're just gonna do a step through chop. Very functional. What you'll be doing in today's workout, staggered stance. Pretend there's a dumbbell here. You're gonna load the hips and then drive the hips forward to take a weight up and across your body. Load, reset, chop, load, reset. One more chop. Load, reset. So you're going to do the same thing on the other side. Taking a sacred stance. Load through the hips. Hips go back for the load. Step through chop. Weight's going to transfer across that midline. Chop. Nice. All right, you ready to do this thing? Go. Let's go. Standing core circuit is where we start. You have five standing exercises. We start with that single leg deadlift. So two weights, if you have the capacity for that, you could always grab one. Right foot is going to start on the ground. Left foot is going to float. Crush oranges in your armpits. So I'm working for a single leg deadlift. Hinge, hinge, hinge. And I'm going to try and stand with a knee drive. Option to march or knee drive. Rachel's going to keep that foot kickstanded in the back. The single leg deadlift knee drive for 40 seconds and you're there. It's actually 45. 45 on, 15 off. You're there in three, two. Let's go, let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge, hinge. Stand. Nice. You have five standing exercises. 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off. Drive. Core strength and stability. Focused. You're going to notice a mix of exercises that are anti rotation, which is what this is working on. Core stability, strength, and balance. And then we'll have some rotation exercises where we take that weight across that midline, we rotate through that torso. Nice work. Soften in that standing leg. Really like to visualize my right foot as a tripod. Big toe, pinky toe, and heel, creating that tripod effect. Try not to let those weights pull me. Keep those hip bones square to the ground for 4, 3, 2, and 1. Awesome job. Now you're going to take these weights. We're going to rack them. Front rack position. We're just holding right here, and we're marching and marching, marching, transferring that load from side to side. You're there in 3, 2, 1. You're going to march and march. We're going to all stay here. The second time through these exercises, I'm going to show you how you can progress this move up or progress it down. Also, if it feels better for you, you can keep the weights right here at your side. You can decide to suitcase carry it like this or front rack it like this. The front rack is going to put a little bit more tension on that core, right, that front rack load. Nice work. Trying to pull that knee up in line with that hip right there. Transfer that weight from side to side just like every day. Running, sprinting, walking. Right here. 10, 9, 8. You got this. Nice work. 4, 3, 2, and 1. Nice work. I'm going to drop down to one weight. I'm gonna hold both heads of the dumbbell. We're gonna go to our right. First. It is a lateral lunge. And crunch. Step right laterally. Stand up, crunch. This is rotation rotating across that core. Step right. In three, two. Let's go. Hit right now I'm gonna crunch. Nice work. Hit right, balance. Drive if you're capable, and rotate right, adding a little bit of rotation, catching the power, driving up and rotating through that midline, trying to make knee to elbow connection right there as I pull right knee up towards left elbow. Nice work. Slow, controlled core stability. Balance right here. Rotate through that core. Down, drive, crunch. Down, drive, crunch. Yes, team, you have 10 more seconds here. 10 more seconds, and we go to a dumbbell halo. Rachel's going to have a modification for you if that doesn't feel good for your shoulders. In three, two, give me one more crunch, and you're out. I'm going to keep holding each head of the dumbbell. I'm going to go halo. So I'm going to start at my left hip, all the way up and around to my right hip, and then go all the way up and around back to left. In three, two, let's go. Rotate around that core. This is another anti rotation move. My core is staying stable. My hip bones are facing you, but I'm taking that weight all the way up across that midline. Rachel's working on a little bit more distal core training. So if this doesn't feel good for your shoulders, it does require a fair amount of shoulder mobility to do the halo, especially with weight and control. But she's taking that weight out in front of her, right. Anytime you extend your arms and legs away from your body, especially if you add weight, you're absolutely going to feel that front core fire up. Nice work. 10 seconds here, 10 seconds here. And we have one more move in this circuit. 1. Standing core exercises in 3, 2, and 1. Nice work. We're going to a windmill. I'm going to drop down weights. Windmill can be a challenging exercise. I want to keep the weight stacked over my left shoulder, dumbbell in the left hand, but then I'm going to point my right toes to the side, and I'm going to glide down in three, two. Let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge, hinge, and stand tall. So I'm keeping eyes on my dumbbell. I'm gliding my right hand down my right inner thigh, and then I'm cinching up through my left obliques. If this isn't available to you, Rachel has a great option with a standing side bend oblique crunch. All right? Really think about lengthening at the bottom, contracting at the top. Lengthen on the way down, and then pull that left oblique. Really squeeze up through that left oblique. If you're with me, that dumbbell stays stacked right on that left shoulder. Eyes hit the weight. Lie down all the way up. Nice work, team. You got it right here. 5, 4, 3, 2. Give me one more down up. Nice work. Awesome job. So those are your five standing ab exercises. We're going to repeat, switching sides or slowly slightly increasing the intensity. So back to single leg deadlift. Left foot on the ground, right leg floats. You're there in three, two. Let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge. Stand tall. Knee drive on the right. Find that balance, find that stability. Come on. Left foot, it's a tripod. Left foot is a tripod. Press those oranges in your armpits, man. One leg is easier than the other, right? Totally normal. We all have those muscle imbalances. That's why we do this unilateral or single sided training. Address those muscle imbalances, right? You know, I love having the deadlift in this core workout because your core should be fired up every time you do a deadlift, right? But you might not think about it as much in like a leg workout or something. 100%. Deadlifts are such a strong core exercise. Back exercise as well. 5, 4, 3, 2. And rest. Nice work, team. Okay, back to that front rack march. Rachel's gonna stick with that front rack march. I'm gonna add some movement front and back to it. So I'm gonna rack it. I'm gonna go up, two, three. Back, two, three. Let's go. Up, two, Three, three. So still trying to get that knee in line with the hip. Walking forward and back. Add a different dynamic to this exercise. If you have more room, go ahead, walk the whole length of your room. But then try backwards as well. Walking backwards. Whole new challenge to this move. Good for your brain, right? Keeping your mind, your brain, your body busy. 10 seconds, team. Then we go lateral lunge. Other direction. In 4, 3, 2. Recover down to one weight. You're going to hold both heads. This time you're going to do that lateral lunge to the left option to add that torso rotation and crunch. So you're going to give me one lateral lunge left and crunch in three, two. Let's go. Hit left, drive out of it. Crunch. Rotate across that core. Down, drive and crunch. Nice work. Trying to take right elbow to left knee. If the rotation across the midline doesn't work for you, you can always just give me a march, right? So you can hit and you can march or you can go straight for that rotation all the way across. Nice work. This core workout is designed to be taken at your level, right? Adding weights is a great way to increase the intensity of a core workout. This is a very functional core training workout. Taking moves you do and really putting an extra emphasis on the core. Nice work. For 5, 4, 3, 2. Give me one more down, up. Nice. Back to halo. This time I'm going to add a chop. So I'm going to go left hip, right hip, chop left. Okay, let's start at the right hip. Then you're gonna chop right in Three, two. Let's go. Take it up and over to my left hip. Chop right. Now we go over to the right hip. Chop left. So we are adding or progressing onto this move. If this doesn't feel good for you, just stick with that dumbbell halo. Chop left. Nice work. Halo. Hip bones and core stay squat square to the camera or to me. Nice work. Big chop up across that midline. Nice work. Anti rotation right here. As that weight transfers across that midline. Shoulders are on fire as well. Oh, yeah. Yes. Oh, yeah. Nice work, team. 10 seconds. Come on, stick with this windmill. Other side in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Nice work. Shoulders on fire. Right windmill dumbbell in the right hand this time. Gliding left hand down, left inner thigh. Side bends with Rachel. Left toes face away. In three, two. Let's go. Eyes on your dumbbell. Nice work. Really cinching up through the right oblique this time. All the way up. Nice work. Nice little mobility and strength move here. Really same with that halo shoulder. Mobility and strength. Getting some nice, good hip mobility here. You can always take the dumbbell down this way, too, if you wanted. And being up overhead doesn't feel good for you. Transfer down here and feel that weight pull you down and then pull that weight up against you. Nice work. Down and up. Strong obliques for 10. Let's go. Let's go, team. Finish. Nice work. It's five, four, three, two, and you're out. Awesome job. Those are our five standing ab exercises. Way to go onto circuit two. We're gonna hit the mat. All right, we're gonna hit the mat first. Circuit two. All right, here we go. Find your weight that you want to use. It is a plank drag. Plank drag. Starting in a nice high plank position. Same thing, five exercises. 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off. I'm going to hold a plank. Rachel's going to take the plank to a kneeling position. Right? And I'm pulling that dumbbell across my midline. Across my midline. You're there for 45 seconds. All right, here we go. Set yourself up. Find your nice plank. We go in three, two. Let's go. Nice strong plank. I like to think shoulders stacked over wrists. Pull up on your kneecaps, push back on your heels. Pull your shoulder blades apart. Now you're transferring that weight from hand to hand. How far can you pull that dumbbell across your body? The farther you can get it away from you, the harder it's going to be, right? Increasing that range of motion is a great way to increase the intensity on this exercise. Don't always have to go up in weight. But can you make that slide bigger? Can you make that reach a little bit greater? Great way to challenge yourself. How far can you get that weight away from you? Yes. Team, nice work. You're here for 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. Awesome job. We're going to take it to a side plank position. Okay. I'm going to drop down to a little bit lighter weight. I'm going to put right forearm on the ground. Left hand is going to have my dumbbell. I'm going to go from a plank to a side plank. Rotate in three, two. Let's go. So I'm going to rotate to the side, open the hips. Weight goes overhead. Set it down with control. Rotate square, open up to side plank. Pull that weight overhead. Now you can do the same thing without a weight. I can be right here. Rachel's got a great option. Taking that inside knee and placing it on the ground. We're targeting our obliques here. Our side abs. Adding some rotation, adding a dumbbell. Shoulders are feeling it. Core is fired up. You are doing so good, team. We're going to take it to our backside after this. Give those planks a break. Come on. Keep pushing through. What would it look like If I said 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. Awesome job. Nice work. Single sided dead bug. So you can do this with or without weights. Single sided dead bug. We're going to hit just one side, set it up and I'll show you how to scale it. We go in three, two. Let's go. So opposite arm and leg extend option. You're going to stay here. You're staying on just one side. We'll do the other side next time. Dead bug. Classic dead bug right here. Again. You can do this without any weights at all. If you want to scale this advanced dead bug, I'm going to take my hand that's not moving and I'm going to push it into this opposing leg. Holy bananas. Does that create some intensity and some fire? The harder I push, the more my core is forced to fire up. You create your own resistance here. Yes. 10 seconds. 10 seconds. Stick in it, team. Stay with me for 4, 3, 2. And recover. Holy bananas. That is one hard dead bug. Okay, we're going on to a seated twist. Seated twist, right? Okay. Feet can be on the ground. Feet can be lifted. You're taking one dumbbell. Hip to hip in three, two. Let's go. Twist, twist, twist. The farther you sit back, the harder it's going to be. Option to pick your feet up off the Ground flow and controlled. I want that weight all the way outside the hip. Rotate through that core. This is one of those rotation exercises. Exercises. Strong core, strong back. Transferring weight side to side. Rotation, rotation. Nice work. Awesome job, team. Move four of five in our mat core circuit. You're doing awesome. Yes. Keep rotating through that core. 4, 10, 9, 8. You got this. 7. Stay with it. Final four. 3, 2. And rest and recover. Awesome job. Now I'm just going to an alternating leg lower. Okay. Alternating leg lowers option to take this weight with you. I'm just going to hold the weight overhead. Rachel's got bent legs alternating, dropping the heel towards the ground. In three, two. Let's go. Drop one leg, bring it up, Drop the other straighter the legs hard, harder. This is going to be weight overhead is totally optional. You can have neck and shoulders resting on the mat. You can decide to pick them up off the mat. Straighter the legs, harder. It is down and up. Really hitting the lower abs here with this move. Focusing on those low abs. Going to feel those hip flexors turn on. That's natural. Nice work. Hip bones are square and stable the entire time. Move 5 of 5 in your mat ab circuit right here. Stick with it. You got it up for water in 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. You are up. Let's grab a sip of water. Those are your moves. You're gonna repeat them. How can you increase the intensity? We're back to plank drag. I'm gonna give you an option to add on. You're gonna do one plank drag, and then you're going to add an army crawl. So down, down, up, up or forearm, plank to high plank. Okay? That's your option. One drag, one army crawl. Kneeling or on your toes. Pick your level. Set yourself up. Plank drag, 45 seconds. In three, two. Let's go. Plank drag this time. Down, down, up, up. Plank drag. Down, down, up, up, drag. Okay, Making this a no repeats workout because you have the option to scale it up or scale it down. Right? Progressing. Each time we come back to an exercise, we're making it a little bit harder. Shoulders, core. Yes. You got it. Stick with it. Hips are square to the mat. Pull that weight across. Down, down, up, up. Nice work, team. 10 seconds. Hang in it. Firing that core. You got this. Final four. Three, two, and done. Nice work. That was a tough one. All right, here we go. Side plank. Other way. Knee down. Remember, you're starting. You're going from plank rotating open to that side plank option to add a weight. Left forearm on the mat. We go in Three, two, let's go. Rotate, open. Set it down with control. Hips are square. Rotate open to the side. As you rotate open to the side, think about piking those hips up, cinching through the obliques Again, dumbbell is optional. You can open right here. You can come back to center. Give me a little reach through and open so you can reach and open. The way to progress that is to add weights, right? Functional core training. With weights, we know we build muscle by increasing resistance or external stress. We build core strength the same way, increasing that stress with weight for four, three, two, and you're down. Nice work. Back to twist. This time you have the option two seated twist, one roll back. Oh, dead bug. Thank you. This is what Rachel's here for, Keeping us accountable. No skipping moves. Dead bug in three, two. Let's go. So opposite side. Remember, you're staying on that same side. Same side, but you're doing the opposite one you did last time. Option to stay here. Arm and leg extend farther. The knees are from the chest. Harder it's going to be again. You want that even more advanced option. Take the opposite hand, push it into the opposing leg. Holy bananas. The intensity of this advanced dead bug. There is always a way to scale it up or scale it down. Pick your level and get after it, team. Yes, you can. What would it look like If I said 10, nine. Come on, stick with it. You got this? Then we're on to seated twists in four, three, two, and recover. That felt challenging. Very, very challenging. Seated twist with or without a dumbbell? Option 2. Seated twist, full rollback crunch. If you want to add on seated twist or add the roll back in three, two. Let's go. So it looks like this. Twist, twist, full roll back, roll up. Twist, twist, twist. Full roll back, roll up. Twist, twist, all the way back, all the way up. You got it. Your pace. You can progress up or you can keep it down. Pick your level. Nice work, team. Rotate, rotate. Reach those legs out. Roll all the way up. Come on. You got it. This and leg lowers. Yes, team, finish strong. Then we've got a quick power finisher. We go down to 30 seconds per exercise with your power finisher. 3, 2. Rest and recover. Holy bananas. One more move. It is the alternating or you can go to a double leg lower. You're adding a reach for the toes so it looks like this. Lower reach. 3, 4, 2. Let's go. You can stick with the alternating but reach for the toes. Or you can add a double leg lower but reach for the toes. So remember, those leg lowers Target our low abs. Adding a reach for the toes. Hits the upper abs. We hit the lower abs and the upper abs. Lower abs and upper abs. Yes, you can. Nice work, you guys. 20 seconds left. Keep working through this core movement, this. Then we drop the weights and we add a little power and intensity. But we shorten the work time down to 30 seconds. Yes. Finish strong. 30 minutes of dumbbell core. Whoo. Final four. Three, two. Rest and recover. Okay. Drop those weights. No weights. Power ab circuit, no repeats. You do it once and you are done with the exercise. Okay, 30 seconds on 15 second transition. Advanced bicycle crunch. Bicycle crunches with Rachel. Full bicycle crunch with me. All the way back, all the way up. All the way back, all the way up. 30 seconds. It starts in three, two. Let's go. All the way back, all the way up. Back. Hup. Drawing opposite shoulder to opposite knee. It's 30 seconds. We're gonna add some power. Yes, team. Yes, team. No equipment for this final burnout. We did standing core mat with strong abs and dumbbells. And now you add some power and intensity. My core is so stinkin on fire. Final three, two, one. Holy bananas. This is a hard workout. Do not underestimate it. All right, mountain climbers. Rachel's got standing climbers, opposite arm and leg. March. 30 seconds of climbers. Pull those knees up. We go in three, two. Let's go. Drive those knees. Drive, drive, drive. Yes, you can stay with it, team. 30 seconds of climbers, right here. Finish strong. Shoulders stacked over wrist. Pull those knees up. Up. Halfway. Halfway. Keep climbing that mountain. Yes, you can. Just keep moving. Back to standing after this. We all stand in four, three, two. Rest. One more move. It's a dumbbell swing. Grab one weight. Here we go. You can put two hands on it or alternate. Here we go. His back drive. Hiss back drive. You're there in 3, 2. 30 seconds. Hinge the dumbbell swing. Also commonly not thought of as a core exercise. Definitely a core exercise. Your hips, your glutes just as much as involved in core strength as your six pack abs or your deep core. Transverse in your obliques. Hitting it all finish right here. This is it, team. Final 10. Finish it. Finish it. What would it look like if I said final five, four, three, two. Rest. Weights down. You did it. Nice job. 30 minutes dumbbell core training. Holy bananas. We don't do 30 minutes of abs often. No. My core's on fire. Yeah. Back to the mat. Cat cow. Drop the belly. Lift the chin. Reverse it. Tuck the chin. Roll that spine. Flat back. Neutral core. Rachel's gonna stay here with cat Cow. I'm going all the way, belly down, and I'm going up into a cobra. Open up the front side that body. Gaze over the shoulder. Gaze over the other shoulder. Should feel so good to open up that core. Holy bananas, you guys crushed it. Back to tabletop. Hands go wide. I don't know what you rached. My shoulders. Felt that. So we're gonna do some shoulder drops. Drop right ear, right shoulder to the mat. Up and over left ear, left shoulder to the mat. Nice wide stance for the hands. One more time. Right here. Right shoulder stretch through that shoulder. Open up that chest again. Left ear, left shoulder, stretch and open. Nice work, team. 30 minutes of dumbbell core knocked it out. We'd love to see you back soon. Awesome job knocking out that 30 minute core workout. If you loved it, hit subscribe to my channel. I queued up another workout you might like here. Otherwise, if you love core training, you gotta check out my 30 day AB challenge. It's in this playlist right here. Have a great day.