15 MINUTES WORKOUT TO BUILD ABS AND STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE BY JESSICA DOWNY

This weighted ab routine will target multiple muscles across your core, including your abdominal muscles.

Trying to sculpt your core or build a six-pack won't happen just by completing some of the best workouts for abs regularly. It's more to do with learning how to lower your body fat and building up strength in this area. The weight lifting style ab circuit below is a good example of how to begin building and toning core muscle using one of the best adjustable dumbbells.

A real bonus of this ab and core routine is that it requires minimal equipment - a dumbbell and something stable to lean against - and you don't need to move around a lot during it. So it's ideal for those who like to work out at home but maybe have limited space, or for people who train at a busy gym where it's hard to move around stations quickly.

The workout features various different exercises, some of the moves involve lifting the weight while others will just use your body weight as you challenge the resilience of your core muscles.

The variety of exercises in this workout will engage the core as you progress through the circuit and work with the weight. "You basically handle more weight during the exercise, than you usually carry around on your body all day. 

"That’s why your body needs to adapt and create 'extra' muscle fibers, that you usually don’t need. If you stop seeing progress with body weight training, you should consider getting some dumbbells."

As we mentioned before, dropping body fat will help you gain and notice definition across your abdominal muscles quicker. If you have tried eating less but find yourself feeling hungry all the time or weak in your workouts it's worthwhile considering adding more protein into your diet. 

In a study published in the Nutrition and Metabolism(opens in new tab) journal, researchers discovered that consuming 20 grams of protein every three hours, four times per day was a more efficient way of helping men build lean body mass over eating small portions of it more often or bigger amounts less often. Once you read up more on how to use protein powder to lose wight you can invest in one of the best protein powders for weight loss to make increasing your daily intake easier.