I've been trying out lots of new workouts while I'm staying at home, from Venus Williams's Instagram Live sweat session [1], to a full-body couch routine [2], to Jessica Alba's resistance band butt workout [3] (the burn). But, strangely, I haven't been experimenting with core workouts quite as much. When I heard that Gabrielle Union [4] had a 10-minute "quarantine abs" workout available for free on the FitOn app [5], I took that as a sign and pulled it up after my morning strength workout.
First thing to know about this workout is that, because it's "quarantine abs," it's no-equipment [6] and very accessible. Union and her sister, Tracy, do all the moves on folded-up cardboard boxes to show that you don't even need a mat to get your core work in. Union's husband (and former NBA star) Dwyane Wade goes on to lead the workout, with Union and her sister doing the moves on the side, and I loved that they kept the workout simple yet fast-moving and effective. You hit all aspects of your core, including your lower abs [7] and obliques [8]. The advanced final move was level-up crunches, which really had me feeling the burn deep in my abs. Shout-out to Union's extremely relatable reactions to each move, which made me laugh out loud multiple times during the workout!
Check out the moves below (we did 10-15 reps of each) and go to the free FitOn app to do the full workout with Union [9].
- Bicycle crunch [10]
- Modified half-banana
- Half-banana [11]
- Bent-leg oblique crunch [12]
- V-crunch [13]
- Ankle taps [14]
- Level-up crunch (traditional crunches [15], while raising your feet progressively higher throughout the set)
