No Crunches! A Simple Core Workout With Fitness Expert Kathy Smith

This video is part of the 30-Day Couch-to-Fit Challenge designed to help you improve strength, cardio, balance and flexibility. Start the challenge here: aarp.org/CouchToFit

This radically simple core workout can build strength and improve your overall fitness and mobility.

Key takeaways

• Strengthen your core safely with Kathy Smith’s expert sequence — no crunches required.
• Improve posture and balance by practicing bridge pose, rolling sit-backs and toe dips regularly.
• Support long-term mobility and injury prevention through controlled, beginner-friendly movements.

Summary

A simple core workout without crunches can transform your strength, posture and mobility at any age. Fitness expert Kathy Smith guides you through three highly effective core exercises — bridge pose, rolling sit-backs and toe dips — that target your midsection while keeping your back and neck safe. These movements focus on controlled engagement rather than fast repetitions, making them accessible for beginners and those looking to avoid traditional crunches.

Building core strength is essential for everything from daily movement to long-term injury prevention. With routines like Kathy Smith’s, you’ll activate your core muscles, improve balance and enjoy greater freedom of movement. Try 10 to 20 repetitions of each move twice a week to start seeing real results in your core stability and overall fitness.

The key takeaways and summary were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Full Transcript:

[00:00:00] Hi, I’m Kathy Smith. And this is a radically simple core workout — no crunches involved.

[00:00:05] I’m going to show you 3 other core exercises that I find most people at any age can do to build core strength,

[00:00:11] which is so critical to your overall fitness and mobility. We’re going to start with the bridge pose.

[00:00:18] Sitting back, what I want is to grab on to the legs and slowly roll down one vertebra at a time. Now, slide your feet toward your buttocks.

[00:00:26] And from here, get those knees together and peel the spine off the floor one vertebra at a time.

[00:00:33] Only go as far as comfortable. And then lower back down. So it’s really up, squeeze in the glutes together

[00:00:41] and slowly one vertebra at a time, lowering it down. One more time, come on up. And after you do about 10 ups and downs,

[00:00:50] what I want is to bring it to the top, hold it here, and now pulse it, pulse it. So what I’m thinking about is I’m squeezing my knees together.

[00:00:59] I’m pulsing and I’m squeezing my glutes. And just hold it there, and now slowly let the back relax.

[00:01:07] The tailbone is the last thing to come down. OK. Let’s go to the second move. So push on up

[00:01:13], and get yourself in a seated position

[00:01:17] nice and tall on top your sit bones, holding on to your thighs. Now, think about elbows to the side

[00:01:23] and start to roll down one vertebra at a time, and then pull yourself back up again.

[00:01:29] So let’s try that again. Roll it down and engaging the core, shoulders relaxed,

[00:01:35] neck’s long, pull yourself up. Now, if you can release one hand. Take your time. See how far,

[00:01:41] see if you can go another inch lower, just another inch, pulling yourself back up. So I’m using my arm, but I’m using the core.

[00:01:48] One more like that. And the most advanced challenge is if you find that you can release both hands rolling down engaging the core,

[00:01:58] neck is long, shoulders relaxed, and then pull yourself up. Brilliant. Now from here, let’s do Dipping the Toe in the Water.

[00:02:06] So what I want to do is 90-degree angles.Everything’s at a 90. Put your hands on your thighs.

[00:02:12] And now, hands to the ground. Dip one toe in the water, and the other. Now, notice, as I’m dipping the toe, two things are happening:

[00:02:21] I’m keeping my 90-degree angle. So I’m not dipping my toe like this.

[00:02:26] I’m dipping my toe like that. The second thing is I’m not allowing my back to arch.

[00:02:31] So I’m not arching up. This is where the core stays engaged. I’m dipping my toe.

[00:02:37] And if you want the most advanced — and this is if you really want a challenge — both toes are going to dip in the water and come back up,

[00:02:44] but I do not release my core. Try each of these exercises about 10 times and work up to 20 repetitions, doing them about twice a week.

[00:02:52] If you keep it up, you’re really going to start to notice a stronger core.