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Do you find it difficult to get rid of the last few pounds of belly fat? Even with a regular workout, it can be hard, but there are some specific exercises you can do in order to achieve a flat stomach or even a 6 pack! And the best part about it is that with 5 minutes of dedicated workout per day you should be able to get results! We are going to have a look at some of the best fast paced 5-minute fat burner workouts that you can do in order to gain strength and muscle definition!
Abdominal Crunches
Ab crunches are a great way to start building your abdominal muscles, yet there are plenty of other good exercises you can do. Here are some of our favorites, that you can combine into a 5-minute ab workout.
Basic Crunch
This exercise is one of the simplest ones, yet very efficient. Lying on your back, bend your knees and plant your feet flat on the floor, aligned with your hips. Cross your arms across your chest, and while exhaling lift your upper body as far as you can, then lower and repeat. Don’t try to reach your elbows to your knees – this will take some time.
Bicycle Crunch
This is a good exercise for obliques and deep abs. Lying face-up on your mat with your hands behind your head, bring your knees towards your chest and lift your shoulders off the floor. Rotate to your left, bringing your right elbow towards your left knee while straightening the other leg. This is an arm and leg pedalling movement. Switch sides and alternate with the pedalling motion.
Vertical Leg Crunch
This one is similar to a classic crunch but with your legs up, adding intensity to the exercise.
While lying on the floor, extend the legs straight up at an angle of 90 degrees to your chest. With your arms straight, crunch up and reach for your toes. Lift your shoulder blades off the floor while “reaching” your chest towards your feet. The goal is to keep your legs in a fixed position. Lower your shoulders back to the floor and repeat.
Reverse Crunch
This exercise is great for your lower abs. While lying down with arms on your side, raise your legs above you with knees above hips and bent at 90°. Slowly contract your abs to bring your knees into your chest and raise your hips, hold for a second and then slowly lower your legs back. You should move in a slow and controlled way to make this efficient.
As you get more proficient with this movement, you can straighten your legs during the movement. Your feet will rest just above the floor and you will then pull your knees from that fully extended position back into your chest. With this added difficulty please protect your back. You should ensure that you engage your core throughout the movement so there is not extra strain on your lower back.
Now that we have a list of ab crunches, we can combine them into 5-minute fat burner workouts centered on crunches:
Basic crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Bicycle crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Vertical leg crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Reverse crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Repeat again basic crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Planks
Plank exercises are good for core strength, abs and balance in general. Here is a good combination that you can use. Here are some exercises you can use to keep building out your 5-minute fat burner workouts without any equipment.
Classic Plank
This basic exercise is great for overall core strength. The stronger you get, the longer you will be able to hold this move.
To start with, 30 seconds is a good time to try to hold this position. The classic plank is done on your elbows, with palms flat to the ground. The key is to keep your back and butt in a straight line to engage the abs. Often, as the movement gets difficult, people will raise their butt toward the ceiling. This will move the tension from your abs and defeat the purpose of the movement. Keep your butt down.
Side Plank
This variation of the classic plank is great to work your obliques. Put one of your elbows on the ground and turn your body to that side, feet stacked on top of each other. As you push your body up into a straight line your shoulder should be stacked directly above elbow. Alternate sides. As a start, try to hold this movement for 30 seconds.
Plank-Up:
Start in a high plank (rather than on your elbows, start on your hands) on your exercise mat. Bend one arm to bring one elbow and forearm to the floor, then do the same with the second arm so you are in a forearm plank. Then push back to the start position by placing each hand where your elbows were.
Ideally, you want to alternate which side you lower first with each rep. Try to avoid twisting as you lower onto your forearm and raise back into the high plank. Keep yourself solid throughout the your core throughout the entire movement.
Rotating Plank (also called T rotation plank):
Start in high plank with your feet aligned hip width apart. Rotate the body to the side with your left shoulder above your left wrist. Your feet simply rotate along with your body and stack one on top of the other. Extend your right arm to the ceiling, your hip should rise as well. Return to center position and repeat on the other side. Keep your hips high during this movement. Avoid allowing your hips to drop to the floor as you rotate up onto one hand.
Mountain Climber (also called running planks)
Mountain climbers are good for overall strength, abs and more. Much like the burpees below, they will elevate your heart rate and help burn body fat without the need for lifting weights.
From your high plank position, with your body in a straight line, bend one knee and draw it to your chest, then straighten it back behind you. Repeat with the other leg without stopping and keep alternating.
You can use a combination of these exercises for a 5-minute workout at home, focused on planks. An example could look like this:
Steady plank for 30 secs, 15 seconds rest, then side plank on each side for 30 seconds with 15 seconds rest in between.
Plank up for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Mountain climber for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Rotating plank for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Other Good General Exercises For Abs
Crunches and planks are not the only way to go to tone your abs. Some of the classic bodyweight exercises will help you gain core strength and give several muscles a workout, including your abs.
Jumping Jacks
A good general exercise, jumping jacks are also good for increasing calorie burn and cardio capacity. This is a really simple exercise: stand with your legs together and arms on your sides. Jump up and open your legs hip-width apart while joining arms up above your head. Jump again and go back to starting position.
A lot of us have done these as kids. But, they aren’t just for kids. Adding some high volume jumping jacks is an easy way to structure your fat burner workouts.
Burpees
This is another full-body exercise that will also work your abs and improve your bodyweight strength training.
Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, start by pushing your hips back, bending your knees and jumping back into a high push-up position.
Lower your chest to the ground. From there you reverse the movement.
Try to pop yourself back up through driving your hips into the ground. As you “pop” yourself back up you should pull your feet forward into a low squat position
Stand and jump up into the air, before returning to start position. That is one rep.
5-minute Fat Burner Workouts to do at Home
Now that we have discussed various types of abs exercises you can use, you can combine the above to create your workout.
Below are some combination ideas that you can try. By alternating those, you will give your abs a good 5 minute workout every day and build your muscles.
Monday
Jumping jacks 15 reps
Basic crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Steady plank for 30 secs, 15 seconds rest, then side plank on each side for 30 secs with 15 seconds rest
Tuesday
Burpees 15 reps
Bicycle crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Plank up for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Vertical leg crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Wednesday
Jumping jacks 15 reps
Vertical leg crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Mountain climber for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Plank up for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Thursday
Burpees 15 reps
Reverse crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Rotating plank for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Plank up for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Friday
Jumping jacks 15 reps
Burpees 15 reps
Bicycle crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Mountain climber for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Saturday
Burpees 15 reps
Vertical leg crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Bicycle crunch for 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Steady plank for 30 secs, 15 seconds rest, then side plank on each side for 30 seconds with 15 seconds rest in between.
Sunday…rest!
Of course, you can make your workout longer or try other exercises to spice it up! Similarly to a lot of training, the key to losing weight and building strentgth is consistency. If you dedicate 5 minutes every day to your ab workout, you will see results soon enough!
Ready to step up your ab workout to 10 minutes? Check out this article on Alexis Ren and her awesome 10-Minute Ab workout.