When it comes to strengthening your deep core muscles, you’d be amazed at how much you can achieve with short workouts where you actually don’t move very much at all.
This eight-minute abs workout from Pilates instructor Lilly Sabri is a great example of this. Throughout the workout, you do moves where you either hold a fixed position or do small movements like pulses, which quickly exhaust the deep core muscles.
Pilates in general is great for working the core like this and if you can do this workout or ones like it regularly you’ll see the benefits in terms of stronger abs in just a few weeks, as long as you’re backing up your efforts with a healthy diet.
You don’t need any equipment for this workout beyond one of the best yoga mats, which will provide better grip for moves like planks and side planks and make the exercises more comfortable if you’re training on a hard floor.
Watch Lilly Sabri’s 8-minutes Pilates abs workout
There are eight moves in the workout, and you do each of them for 50 seconds before resting for 10 seconds. Most of that rest period will be spent getting in position for the next exercise though, so keep your attention on Sabri to see and hear her instructions.
Sabri does the workout with you and provides pointers on form and breathing throughout, which are helpful to ensure you’re engaging the right muscles with each exercise.
I often find with Pilates-style workouts that focusing on my breath not only helps me engage more muscles but also distracts me from my burning abs during long sets.
There is a short kicker at the end of the session, where you do one more 10-second hold as a finisher, so it does extend slightly past eight minutes but you’ll still be done and dusted in no time at all.
The workout is suitable for all fitness levels but some of the exercises might be too difficult to do for the full 50 seconds if you are a beginner, so don’t be afraid to adjust the session to have longer rest periods if required.
While the workout stands alone as a great quick session in its own right, if you do have more time then it would work well as an abs-focused finisher for a full-body workout, or you could brave a second round of the moves for a harder core session.
If you enjoyed the Pilates-style approach to the workout then you could give this 35-minute legs and core workout a go for a well-rounded lower-body session, and if you prefer to stay standing during core workouts then try these five standing abs exercises recommended by a personal trainer.
