This Legs and Core Workout Contains Zero Crunches

A legs and core workout that doesn’t call for any crunches or sit-ups of any kind? It almost sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t. In fact, that’s the beauty of today’s workout.

You may be thinking, we just worked our legs and abs two days ago—and you would be correct. But there’s a big difference between this routine and the cardio and core workout you crushed a couple of days ago as part of this New Year’s Challenge. And that’s the presence of load.

Today’s lower-body strength workout is just that—it’s a strength workout, meaning you’ll be challenging yourself with external resistance for most of these legs exercises, in the form of dumbbells, and giving yourself ample rest time in order to complete your sets with that added weight. That’s different from day 19, where you performed bodyweight lower-body exercises with a HIIT-based, high-work, little-rest programming. Plus, all the abs work you’ll do here comes from lower-body moves that really require you to fire your core during their execution.

This strength workout really lends itself to progressive overload, where you continue to add challenge to your muscles so they have to constantly adapt to get stronger and stronger. You can achieve this by adding a little more weight, cranking out an extra rep or two, or performing more advanced variations of the same exercise.

Speaking of variations, you’ll notice a two of them in this legs and core workout: the reverse lunge to rotation and the single-leg glute bridge. The lunge variation, in addition to targeting your glutes, quads, and hamstrings, also works on external and internal rotation, which are motions we perform in everyday life (think crossing your leg to tie your shoe or twisting to look behind you), and will really fire up your core as you twist.

The single-leg glute bridge is a hip extension exercise that really isolates your glutes and hamstrings just like the two-legged version. But the catch here is that lifting that one leg makes the move way more intense—and your core really needs to step up in order to help keep you stable while doing it. While this is a hamstring exercise as well, if you’re feeling it only in the back of your upper leg and not in your butt, bringing your foot closer into your butt can help you feel some of that work in your glutes too. And be sure to really squeeze those glutes at the top of the movement for full muscle engagement.

The two supersets here alternate between quad-dominant and hip-dominant exercises, so even though your rest is minimal, your muscles should still feel fresh enough to power through each set. Want a little extra work after the main set is done? Try the optional bonus EMOM finisher, where you’ll give your glutes some extra attention, hitting the gluteus maximus (the biggest glute muscle) in the donkey kick, and the smaller hip abductor muscles (those that make up your side butt) with the fire hydrant.

Keep scrolling for the details on how to really smoke your legs with this lower-body superset workout—while sneakily hitting your abs, too.

The workout below is for day 21 of the SELF New Year’s Challenge. Check out the full four-week workout program right here. Or go to the workout calendar here. If you’d like to sign up to receive daily emails for this challenge, you can do that here. (edited)

WORKOUT DIRECTIONS

Aim for 8–12 reps per exercise. Rest up to 30 seconds between exercises. At the end of the round, rest 60–90 seconds. Complete 2–4 rounds total. Repeat for Superset 2.

EXERCISES

Superset 1