I tried this Pamela Reif 10-minute ab workout — and it blasted my core

 

If you’re looking for a 10-minute ab workout, Pamela Reif is your girl. With over 9 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, Reif is an efficient trainer — she gets straight into the workout, and performs the exercises in real time, making it easy to follow along. Can you torch your core in 10 minutes? I unrolled my yoga mat to find out more. 

As a fitness editor, I’m no stranger to Reif’s workouts. In fact, you can read what happened when I tried her famous six-minute ab workout with over 21 million views here. I’m a fan of how short and snappy Reif’s workouts are — they sculpt into your core without you needing to spend hours in the gym, plus, you can fit them in on your lunch break.

In the caption to this killer six-pack workout, Reif writes that the workout targets “lower abs, upper abs and side abs”, that it’s an advanced workout, and that it’s “100% suitable for men”. You don’t need any equipment for the workout, so pop those best adjustable dumbbells to one side (or check out this 15-minute dumbbells ab workout if you do want to use them).

What is the Pamela Reif 10-minute ab workout? 

The Pamela Reif 10-minute ab workout is a series of 20 bodyweight exercises, held for 30 seconds each. The video has a timer in the top right corner, allowing you to follow along in real-time. When it comes to form, Reif writes, “make sure to keep your lower back flat on the mat. Only lower your legs as far as possible, so your lower back is not lifting off the mat.”

Reif also recommends lowering your head back to the mat if you feel like any of the exercises are putting too much pressure on your neck. She also recommends thinking about your abs for the entire workout — “it’s about the mind-muscle connection. Lift your legs with the strength of your abs, not your thighs”. 

As the workout is only 10-minutes long, there aren’t any breaks, although if you’re a beginner, or you’re returning to exercise after an injury, feel free to pause the video and take a break whenever you need. 

The workout is easy to follow along with, but if you like to prepare yourself beforehand, it includes the following exercises: 

Cross knee and leg lift: For this crunch variation, Reif has one leg straight, and the other crossed over, with the knee pointing out to the side, almost like a figure-four stretch. Keeping the lower leg straight, engage from your abs and crunch your torso up towards your legs. Lower back down to your starting position and repeat. 

Dennis knife and clap: For this exercise, start lying on your back, with your arms and legs outstretched and raised a few inches off the ground. Moving from your core, raise your head, neck, and torso off the ground and lift your legs up towards your torso at the same time. Keeping your arms outstretched, clap your hands behind your legs, before lowering back to your starting position. 

Reverse crunch one leg drop: Another Pamela classic — doing two moves in one. For this exercise, complete a reverse crunch, then once you have lowered your glutes back down to the mat, lower one extended leg out away from your body. Raise it back to the ceiling, then complete another reverse crunch. 

I tried the 10-minute Pamela Reif killer-abs workout — here’s what happened 

Reif wasn’t lying when she said this workout was advanced — a few exercises in and my core was shaking.

Reif wasn’t lying when she said this workout was advanced — a few exercises in and my core was shaking. Turns out, I wasn’t alone, a quick glance through the video’s comments confirmed this was a challenging workout, with one person writing, “It's when the plank feels like the easiest exercise that you realize it's working”. 

A lot of the abdominal exercises were challenging, combining two different exercises in one for a real burn. While 30-seconds is a relatively short rep, the lack of break turns this workout into a slow build — you really feel it in no time. 

As someone who suffers from sciatica, I have to be mindful during ab workouts to ensure I’m not arching my lower back. The majority of this workout was done lying on the floor, however, I found I had to reduce the range of motion in a few moves, or raise my legs higher to ensure my back stayed pressed against the ground. 

I also appreciated the activation exercises at the start of the workout. Something often missing from YouTube workouts, the activation exercises got me set up, core engaged, for the workout. Here’s how to engage your core, and why it matters.

Ten minutes later, my core felt like it had gotten a good workout. A few hours later, I was aching. The next morning I only got 20-seconds into my reformer Pilates class before I felt my abs shaking. This is an excellent ab workout for anyone looking for a quick, effective burn. It’s one I’ll definitely be repeating — once my abs have recovered.

Look to exercise to extend life, even for the oldest, study says

 

“Those who met the muscle-strengthening guideline only (versus neither guideline) had (a) 10% lower risk of mortality, those who met the aerobic guideline only had 24% lower risk of mortality, and those who met both guidelines had 30% lower risk,” he said.

The results applied to all ages groups, even the most elderly, according to the study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Peope who were 85 and older who met both the aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines had a 28% lower risk of dying from any cause than people over 85 those who met neither of the guidelines, the study found.

“This finding suggests that aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity is valuable throughout the lifespan,” Webber said.

Strength training and aerobic exercise is helpful at any age.

The study looked at leisure and other physical activity gathered by the National Health Interview Survey, an ongoing investigation of American health done by the CDC. Information on strength training and aerobic activity by age group was then compared with deaths over an average of eight years.

The study controlled for demographics and marital status, body mass index, history of smoking or alcohol consumption, and presence of asthma, cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, hypertension and stroke.

Looking only at the data on strength training, the study found adults who did two to three sessions or four to six sessions of muscle strengthening exercise per week had a lower risk of death for any reason than adults who did strength training less than twice weekly.

Doing more wasn’t beneficial — the study found seven to 28 sessions of strength training weekly did not offer additional protection.

You don’t have to go to a gym to strengthen your muscles, the CDC said. You can lift weights at home, work with resistance bands, use your body weight for resistance (for example, push-ups and sit-ups), and dig or shovel in the garden. Even “lifting canned goods could be considered a muscle-strengthening activity,” Webber said.

The goal is to work all the body’s major muscle groups: abdomen, arms, back, chest, hips, legs and shoulders.

The best fitness tracker of 2022 (Courtesy CNN Underscored)

Looking only at the data on aerobic exercise, the study found that doing 10 to 300 minutes per week was associated with a lower risk of death from any cause compared with doing less than 10 minutes per week.

Aerobic activity can include walking, bike riding, hiking, raking leaves and pushing a lawn mower and water exercises, to name a few.

Groundbreaking Discovery of “Special” Muscle That Can Promote Fat Burning While Sitting

 

The ‘Soleus Pushup’ is a metabolic innovation that rivals any therapeutic approach.

A groundbreaking discovery from the same mind whose research propelled the notion that “sitting too much is not the same as exercising too little” is set to turn a sedentary lifestyle on its ear: Though only 1% of your body weight, the soleus muscle in the calf, if activated correctly, can do big things to significantly enhance the metabolic health in the rest of your body.

And Marc Hamilton, professor of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston (UH), has discovered such an approach for optimal activation. He is pioneering the “soleus pushup” (SPU) which effectively elevates muscle metabolism for hours, even while sitting. One of 600 muscles in the human body, the soleus is a posterior lower leg muscle that runs from just below the knee to the heel.

“The soleus’ lower-than-normal reliance on glycogen helps it work for hours effortlessly without fatiguing during this type of muscle activity, because there is a definite limit to muscular endurance caused by glycogen depletion,” he added. “As far as we know, this is the first concerted effort to develop a specialized type of contractile activity centered around optimizing human metabolic processes.”

The Soleus Pushup

Building on years of research, Hamilton and his team developed the soleus pushup, which activates the soleus muscle differently than when standing or walking. The SPU targets the soleus to increase oxygen consumption – more than what’s possible with these other types of soleus activities, while also being resistant to fatigue.