Build abs without weights using this 10-minute core workout

15 moves in 10 minutes to work your abs and develop a stronger core

Pair performing crunches at home
(Image credit: Getty Images)

There are many great reasons to work your core—a stronger mid-section improves workout performance, aids stability, and promotes circulation. And if you're tight on time, this 10-minute ab workout trains your core without any equipment.

Even if you already use core strengthening exercises in your routine, this area of mid-body muscle plays such an essential role that it's worth adding in a short dedicated session specifically targeting your abs.

That's where this short session from fitness YouTubers Tiff x Dan comes in. In just 10 minutes, you'll pack in 15 ab-focused exercises, including staples like crunches and sit-ups, alongside planks, scissor kicks, and heel taps.

To fit that many moves into a short routine, you'll do each for around 35-40 seconds and head straight into the next exercise without a break. It'll make your abs burn—but that's why it's so effective.

You don't need any equipment, so it's ideal for when you're tight on time or hoping to fit in a quick ab blast while away from home. As most of the exercises are floor-based, it's worth rolling out one of the best yoga mats for support if you can.

Watch Tiff x Dan's 10-minute ab workout

This exercise style is known as an AMRAP workout, where the aim is to do As Many Reps As Possible in the time. It helps you pack a lot of activity into a short session, which means that you can take things at your own pace.

Instead of aiming for a specific amount of reps, you train as intensely as possible, which makes it ideal for newcomers and experienced trainers. Want to give the workout a go? We've listed all the moves you need below.

Tiff x Dan's ab workout moves

  • Leg raise + toe touch
  • Scissor kicks
  • Three-way crunches
  • Sit-ups
  • Reverse crunch
  • Negative crunches
  • Tuck to extend
  • Alt leg lowers
  • Butterfly crunch reach through
  • Prayer crunch
  • Heel taps
  • Starfish crunches
  • Plank knee drive (right)
  • Plank knee drive (left)
  • Cross mountain climbers

But why should you work your abs? Your rectus abdominis muscle, or six-pack ab muscle, forms part of your core, along with several other muscles around your lower torso, back, and upper legs. 

Having a stronger core helps improve your posture, which is one of the reasons that a study published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science found that core strength training can reduce chronic lower back pain.

But building muscle strength in this area also promotes blood circulation, which helps with your post-workout recovery, enhances your stability and balance, and can improve your exercise performance.

Impressively, independent research also published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science found that you can start to see the benefits after just four weeks of training.

Although Tiff x Dan's routine is equipment free, if you enjoy working with weights, invest in a kettlebell and learn how to do kettlebell swings for a fat-burning, cardio-boosting way to build core strength.

James Frew
Fitness Editor

James is a London-based journalist and Fitness Editor at Fit&Well. He has over five years experience in fitness tech, including time spent as the Buyer’s Guide Editor and Staff Writer at technology publication MakeUseOf. In 2014 he was diagnosed with a chronic health condition, which spurred his interest in health, fitness, and lifestyle management.


In the years since, he has become a devoted meditator, experimented with workout styles and exercises, and used various gadgets to monitor his health. In recent times, James has been absorbed by the intersection between mental health, fitness, sustainability, and environmentalism. When not concerning himself with health and technology, James can be found excitedly checking out each week’s New Music Friday releases.