Louise Redknapp’s coach says you don’t need sit-ups to build abs – do these 6 exercises instead

Louise Redknapp recently started following Women’s Health cover star and midlife fitness coach Caroline Idiens’ strength workouts. The star took to Instagram Stories to share that she was new to strength training and that Idiens’ workouts – never more than 30 minutes and designed to do at home with minimal equipment – had been helping her to stay motivated.

‘So I’ve just done my first Caroline’s Circuits 20-minute full-body workout,’ Redknapp said. ‘It was good, I mean it was hard but it was only 20 minutes so I felt like I could actually just keep going, and now I’m doing my hour’s walk!’

Each of Idiens’ full-body workouts is designed to target every body part, and she recently shared that building a strong core doesn’t have to mean endless crunches – standing exercises can work just as well. ‘Not all core exercises involve sit-ups or crunches,’ she wrote on Instagram.

Don’t just take her word for it: a 2024 study found that standing produced the highest abdominal-muscle activity compared with sitting, side lying, and lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.

Inspired? ‘Incorporate some of these into your next full-body workout,’ says Idiens, as she shared her top 6 standing core exercises. Scroll down for demos, along with our instructions and form tips.

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Standing dumbbell torso rotation

• Stand with feet wide, hold a dumbbell out at shoulder height in front of you with straight arms. Rotate your torso from side to side, keeping your hips facing forwards.

Standing dumbbell marches

• Stand tall holding a dumbbell overhead in both hands. Alternate lifting each knee towards your chest, keeping your core engaged and avoiding flaring your rib cage.

Standing crossbody dumbbell crunch

• Hold a dumbbell overhead with one hand. Lift the opposite knee while bringing the dumbbell diagonally towards it and squeezing your abs as you do so. Complete all reps, then switch sides.

Standing dumbbell oblique crunch

• Hold a dumbbell in one hand by your side with fingertips of your other hand at your temple. Bend your torso down towards the dumbbell, squeezing your obliques and keeping your hips and torso facing forwards, then return to standing.

Half-lunge dumbbell wood chop

• Start in a half-lunge with your back knee hovering off the floor, holding a dumbbell diagonally overhead towards one side, in both hands. Slowly bring it diagonally across your body towards the opposite hip.

Standing dumbbell twist

• Stand with feet wide, holding a dumbbell with bent arms in front of your torso. Rotate your torso from side to side, keeping your hips facing forwards and moving the dumbbell with your torso.

One of our most frequently asked questions here at Women’s Health? How to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. So, we asked superstar trainer Oyinda Okunowo exactly how to do it. In this 4-week plan – created exclusively for Women’s Health COLLECTIVE members – you’ll get the workouts and nutrition guidance needed to help you on your way to better body composition. Tap the link below to unlock 14 days of free access to Oyinda’s plan and start training today.

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As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.

After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!

Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.

She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.