Abs workouts do not need to be long to be very hard, but even so when a video popped up on my YouTube feed claiming to be the “hardest abs workout ever” and it was only 10 minutes long, I was suitably intrigued.
A lot of other people were clearly also curious, since the video has an incredible 7.6million views, and over 5,500 comments mostly praising the session.
The workout itself is actually only nine minutes long and created by fitness trainer Igor Voitenko, whose YouTube channel is called NEXT Workout.
You don’t need any equipment for the workout bar one of the best yoga mats and despite the terrifying title I’d say it’s actually suitable for most fitness levels. Though beginners might need to take longer breaks than those Voitenko suggests.
Watch Igor Voitenko’s 9-minute abs workout
There are 15 moves in the workout which are broken up into five sets of three moves, with the groups of three all targeting the same area of the core.
You do each move for 30 seconds then rest for five seconds before going onto the next move.
You do each move for 30 seconds then rest for five seconds before going onto the next move.
Given you have to change position between moves there’s not a lot of rest at all in this workout, which increases how much work you can cram into just nine minutes.
I tried the workout one morning to see if it could live up to its billing as the hardest ever, here are my main takeaways.
It’s not the hardest abs workout ever
The session is probably the toughest short abs workout I’ve tried, but for pure difficulty it doesn’t outdo longer sessions like this 40-minute core workout I once tried.
I’d say that’s a good thing, though. I was able to get through almost all the moves without extra breaks and if you have some experience with abs workouts then you should give this one a go — don’t be daunted by the title.
The pace is fast
Voitenko does the workout with you and the aim is to match his movements during the session, and he is moving fast for most of the moves.
Coupled with the very short break it does feel frenetic at times and you’ll get through a lot of reps of moves like crunches and flutter kicks.
You do slow it down at times deliberately though, often following an exercise with the same move done slowly to maximize the time under tension for your abs.
Focus on form to protect your lower back
When doing abs exercises quickly I find that my form can suffer and I don’t imprint my lower back on the floor correctly with some moves.
If you start to feel that your lower back muscles are working harder than your abs and obliques, it’s worth slowing a little to focus on form and engage the right parts of your core.
Plank jumps and bicycles were the hardest moves
I knew the round of bicycle crunches that was coming at the end of the workout would be tough, especially doing them at speed having already exhausted my abs with other moves. But I didn’t expect the plank jumps to be quite so tricky.
This move involves holding a plank position while jumping your feet out to the sides and back again, not letting your hips drop when you land.
Voitenko set a punishing pace for this that I couldn’t match for the whole 30 seconds, so it’s a move I’ll look to do more in future abs workouts to get stronger at it.
The switch in focus every three moves helps
While you barely get any rest throughout the workout, the way Voitenko changes the focus of the exercises every three moves makes the session more manageable.
For example, you start with a series of moves like flutter kicks that mostly work the lower abs, then go into a round of crunches and crunch variations, which mainly work the upper abs.
By changing the focus every three moves you not only ensure that you’re working all the major muscle groups in your core in the workout, it allows some muscles to ‘rest’ while others do more of the work.
It’s an effective way to spend 9 minutes
While it might not be the actual hardest abs workout ever, this is a great short session to add to your training routine. If you do it a few times a week as part of a healthy lifestyle you’ll notice your abs getting stronger and more defined in no time.
It would also be a great finisher for a strength workout — try adding it onto the end of this 15-minute full-body workout for an effective all-round training session you can do in under 30 minutes.
