Even if you have the best intentions to work out regularly, it’s easy to let the time slip by and realize you haven’t trained in days or even weeks.
The key to consistency, especially if you’re just starting a fitness kick, is removing the barriers to working out, whether that’s a lack of time or equipment, not knowing what to do, or feeling daunted by inaccessible workouts.
This standing legs and abs workout from fitness trainer Pamela Reif is ideal if any of the above are reasons you’re not finding time to train.
At 10 minutes, it’s short enough to squeeze into even the busiest schedules, and you don’t need any equipment for the session.
Reif leads you through every move, so you can follow along and know you’re getting an effective workout done, and because it’s all done while standing, it's more accessible and low-impact than workouts where you have to get up and down off the floor.
Watch Pamela Reif’s 10-minute standing legs and abs workout
Reif does the workout with you, but doesn’t give voice instructions — any tips are written on screen — so make sure you can see yours throughout so you know what moves are coming up and to copy Reif’s form.
Throughout the workout, you do each move for 30 seconds, going straight to the next exercise without a break, which means it will get more challenging as time goes on.
If you need to take a quick break, then absolutely do so, but if you can push all the way through, it will increase the effectiveness of the workout by maximizing the time under tension for your muscles.
The session contains a variety of standing crunches and squats to work your legs and abs, along with twisting moves to hit the obliques.
Standing crunches can be a very effective alternative to sit-ups and the classic crunch, but to get the most out of it, focus on engaging your core muscles to drive the movement rather than just lifting your legs.
With the standing crunches (and really, all the moves in the workout), it’s important to move slowly and with control, and to keep the muscles you’re trying to strengthen in mind. I tend to find focusing like this also helps make workouts fly by more quickly, since I’m not just thinking about the time left in each set.
Whether you’re doing standing workouts or hitting the floor, the key to getting good results is training regularly, so don’t expect wonders to occur after just one short session like this.
If you can do it two or three times a week, you’ll start to notice your strength and fitness increasing. Then you can progress to longer workouts or increase the difficulty of your short sessions by using weights or harder exercises.
This 30-minute standing Pilates workout would be a great progression for those who want to stay standing while working out their core, and if you have a dumbbell and don’t mind floor moves, this 10-minute core session is another effective option.
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