10-Minute Cardio Abs Tabata

TABATA ONE

Move 1: Sit Up Cross Punch

• Lay on your back with your knees bent, holding your (optional) light weights in close to your chest. Hook your feet under the couch or anything handy to hold your feet down, or if you’re more advanced do this without any support with knees bent.
• Use your upper abdominals to sit yourself up, driving across your body into 2 punches.
• Lower down with control, making contact with your lower back on the mat and unrolling fully at the top so your head touches down.
• MOD: Weights are optional.

Move 2: Alternating Front Kick

• Begin standing, core engaged and alternate kicking your feet out in front of you.
• As you get warmed up, you can add a little bounce step between each kick, adding more of a dynamic movement to the workout.
• Kick as high as you can comfortably (imagine you’re kicking a door shut), allowing your stationary leg to support you, bending at the knee slightly. The kicking foot is flexed – lead with the heel.
• You’ll see in this workout that each round I take it up a notch, making it more and more cardio intensive. Try it out, and stick to what you can sustain for the 0:20 round.
• MOD: Alternatively, drive alternating knees up, or do low kicks. You can maintain the kicking without the jumps in between for a low impact version.

TABATA TWO

Move 1: Spider Climbers

• Hold plank, belly button in and up. Make sure your hands are stacked below your shoulders and your back is not arched.
• Bring your right knee to your outside right elbow then place it back down. Repeat on the left and continue, maintaining a strong plank alignment.
• MOD: Perform the same movement with your upper body elevated on a chair or couch to take some of the pressure off and allow you to build strength in your core and arms. You can also do this from a kneeling position, driving your alternating knees to your elbows.

Move 2: Warrior Burpees

• Plant your hands beneath your shoulders and jump back to tall plank, holding your belly button in and up to keep your core engaged.
• Drive your right knee under you and up toward your left chest, then your left to right in 2 cross body mountain climbers.
• Jump your feet back to your hands, loading the weight in your heels and pop up, smoothly kicking one leg out straight, then the other. It’s also great to do high knees if the high kicks don’t work for you.
• MOD: Step your feet back and forth rather than jumping. You can also perform the mountain climbers next to an elevated surface, resting your hands on the side of a couch or chair. Rather than kicks, perform high knees.