10-Minute Arms and Abs With Denise Austin

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Fitness guru Denise Austin leads this easy arm and abdominal workout to sculpt your muscles inside or outside your home (weights optional).

Key takeaways

• Sculpt muscle at home with Denise Austin’s quick arms and abs routine — no gym needed.
• Boost core stability and posture using simple moves like bicep curls and standing twists.
• See real results in just 10 minutes a day with Denise’s motivating, beginner-friendly workouts.

Summary

Strengthening your abs and arms at home is one of the fastest ways to sculpt muscle and boost core stability — no gym required. Fitness expert Denise Austin guides you through a quick arms and abs workout routine that uses simple moves like bicep curls, triceps extensions and standing twists, all designed to build strength and endurance. Whether you have dumbbells or are working with just your body weight, you’ll target your core, back and upper body for a balanced toning session.

Adding an arms and abs workout to your routine helps improve posture, enhance core support and create lean muscle definition. Denise Austin’s signature blend of encouragement and effective techniques makes these routines accessible to all fitness levels, so you can progress at your own pace and see real results. With just 10 minutes a day, you can boost your energy, strengthen your muscles and feel more confident from the inside out.

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:

[00:00:06] Hi, I’m Denise Austin, and welcome to your abs and arms workout. Let’s get moving from home.

[00:00:12] If you’ve got a set of weights, we’ll need them to really firm up those arm muscles. But if you don’t have any, don’t worry,

[00:00:19] you can do the whole workout without. So to begin, let’s place the weights right down on the mat and stretch it out.

[00:00:27] Getting a good warm-up is important. Stretching your arms, your legs, your waistline.

[00:00:34] Thinking about your whole body right now warms your body up. That’s it. Your core muscles are the center of your whole body.

[00:00:43] We’ll be working on those abs to strengthen the core muscles: your abs, the sides of the waistline, as well as your back.

[00:00:52] Your spine is your lifeline. Keep it healthy. Keep it strong. Got 2 more. Beautiful.

[00:00:59] Now, just a light twist to warm up through the back for the waistline.

[00:01:04] That’s it. The oblique muscles. You can do it. Really stretch it out.

[00:01:11] Feel the reach. That’s it. 2 more just like that. And now a little slight twist. Just twist for the waist. The waistline

[00:01:21] workout. Twist. Think about pulling the belly button in. That’s it. And release.

[00:01:29] Let’s warm up the spine. Placing your hands on your thighs, really reach your low back up.

[00:01:36] Pull up and in those abs, and release. Good. Pull your abs up and in.

[00:01:43] That’s it. Stretching the low spine and release. Feeling that stretch.

[00:01:49] It’s so good to warm up that back. We got 2 more. And it also works the lower tummy too.

[00:01:57] Last one. Lift up and roll all the way up. Beautiful. Now let’s grab our weights.

[00:02:06] And let’s begin. Standing up nice and tall, thinking about good posture. Begin with your weights right here.

[00:02:13] Take it all the way down. And back up. That’s it. Take it down and lift up.

[00:02:21] Thinking about pulling your abs in. Zip up those abs. So right now we’re also firming up those ab muscles by strengthening

[00:02:30] the muscles of the back. That’s it. Just pull your elbows down and back up.

[00:02:37] If you’ve got 3-pound weights, 5 pounds, 8 pounds, whatever you can do, that’s it.

[00:02:44] Remember, this workout is for you right there in the privacy

[00:02:49] and convenience of your own home. We got 2 more of these. Last one. Shapes your arm

[00:02:55] muscles. Great for the shoulders too. Lift and lower. Lift 1 and lower.

[00:03:02] Always keep good posture. That’s a key to those strong abdominals.

[00:03:08] That’s it. We got 2 more. Last one, and release. Now it’s time to target the triceps, the back of your arms.

[00:03:18] Lift up your elbows high. Bring the elbows down. And lift back up. Notice that the upper arms stay nice and straight.

[00:03:29] That’s it. In a straight line. We’re not flinging. It’s not coming down like this. It’s lift, stay there and release.

[00:03:37] This is a great way to work on the back of those arms. No more jigglies. That’s it. This will help firm up the triceps.

[00:03:46] That’s it. One of the most underused muscles of the body. Firm it now. Strengthen it.

[00:03:53] Good. You got 2 more. Notice your back. Is it nice and straight? Notice you’re pulling in your abs.

[00:04:03] Nothing droops or sags. We’re always focusing on the abdominals, the core muscle.

[00:04:09] The center. Your powerhouse. Now hold it up there. Now place the weights towards the ceiling and baby lifts up.

[00:04:17] That’s it. Lift up. Good. Good posture now. Back is strong and straight. That’s it. You can do it.

[00:04:26] We got 2 more. Hold it up there. Last one. Beautiful. Now it’s time to target tone the front of your arms, your biceps.

[00:04:36] You’re gonna bring your biceps towards you by curling. That’s it. A bicep curl.

[00:04:42] Curl it up and down. Extend it. If you like to move your legs, this is what I like to do to kind of get the movement in.

[00:04:51] That’s it. Moving from home. You can do it. I’m proud of you. Just keep moving. That’s the whole idea.

[00:05:00] OK? Think about your strength and your abdominals. Now focus on the abs, pulling the abdominals up and in.

[00:05:08] That’s it. Good posture. That’s great. Quality over quantity. I wanna make sure you’re doing it correct with proper form.

[00:05:19] That’s it. We’ve got 2 more. Last one. Beautiful. Now it’s time to strengthen the front of the arms and your

[00:05:28] shoulders to improve your posture. OK. Think about keeping your knees bent to protect the spine. Pull in your tummy.

[00:05:39] You almost wanna do a little pelvic tilt in the tummy, the lower tummy, and just go shoulder level.

[00:05:46] OK. Just shoulder level. That’s it. Extend the arms. Your back is strong and straight. You’re doing it.

[00:05:55] I’m proud of you. We got 2 more. We got 1 more. Beautiful. Now it’s time to place your weights down on the floor and thinking about our abs.

[00:06:08] So standing up nice and tall, lift your knees towards you. This is now working the lower section of your rectus abdominis muscle.

[00:06:18] Just do the best you can. One leg, then the other. You wanna make sure you’re kind of engaging your abdominal muscles, your

[00:06:27] core, and think about good posture. That’s the key to that flat belly. That’s it.

[00:06:33] We’ve got 2 more of these. I’d like you to take it to the next level. Placing your hands behind you.

[00:06:41] These are standing ab exercises. Your knees don’t have to come up this high. All you have to do is go like that and you’re engaging those abs.

[00:06:51] So just lift high. That’s it. 2 more. Last one, and let’s do a twist here.

[00:06:58] Now twist for the waistline. Can you twist like a — twist? This is now working your oblique muscles and your waistline.

[00:07:06] Take your time. One leg at a time. That’s it. Great twist.

[00:07:14] Great for the waistline. We got 2 more of those. Last one. Beautiful. Let’s now come down onto your mat.

[00:07:26] I want you to go onto your hands and knees. Make sure your shoulders are in line with your wrists and your knees.

[00:07:34] And line with your hips. Now what I want you to do is an ab exercise as well as the back. Lift

[00:07:40] one leg up. Hold it up. Now pull in your tummy right here. Abdominal strength. And reach your arms out, just the opposite arm out.

[00:07:52] So you’re holding, you’re strengthening your muscles. Pull up and in your tummy.

[00:07:59] It’s all about the waistline. It’s all about the abs here. Good. And release.

[00:08:05] And the other leg comes up. Hold it up. Tighten up your abs, and reach that arm forward.

[00:08:12] Hold it. Pull in your abs. Your neck is long. Squeeze your buttocks, extend your legs, and focus your attention to

[00:08:22] your abdominals, your core muscles. This is an excellent exercise. And release.

[00:08:29] Beautiful. Now you’re going to curl your toes under and you’re gonna do a little plank, but an easier plank.

[00:08:37] Notice my knees just came off the floor. Lift your knees off the floor. Just an inch.

[00:08:44] Just an inch. Hold it tight, tight, tight. Tighten up your abs. Back is strong and straight. Hold it.

[00:08:51] 2 more seconds. Hold it. Hold it. And release. There you have it. Good. Now we’d like to do a side crunch.

[00:09:00] Extend the leg, reach your arm, and pull, and reach. And cinch in the waistline.

[00:09:07] That’s it. Do the best you can now. Even if you do a couple, you’re doing something great for the core

[00:09:15] muscles, the entire center of your body, which we all need to strengthen.

[00:09:22] Strong abdominals equal a back that is healthy, and you can move and feel good.

[00:09:29] Last one. Crunch. Let’s go to the other side. Thinking about good posture

[00:09:35] now. Reach out. Hold it, and pull in. Cinch at the waist. That’s it.

[00:09:42] Cinch it in. You can do it. I’m proud of you. This is now working those oblique muscles, the sides of your waistline.

[00:09:52] But we all need to go in. We got 2 more here. Last one.

[00:09:59] Beautiful. OK, come on your backs now everybody. One vertebrae at a time.

[00:10:07] Roll down. Relax your neck muscles. And now all we’re doing is lifting your hip slightly up off the floor.

[00:10:17] Tighten up the tushy. Tighten up your abs. You’re now working the lower part of your tummy. That’s it. Lift

[00:10:23] it up, up, up, up, up, up. And release. One more time. Lift up, squeeze it, squeeze it.

[00:10:30] Tighten the tushy. Tighten up the lower abs, and relax. And now slowly bring your knees towards your chest and do baby taps.

[00:10:40] But notice my neck is relaxed. It’s all the action is in the lower tummy

[00:10:46] here. You can do it. That’s it. 2 more of these. 1 more. OK. Now slowly roll up. Let me see your beautiful smiling face, and little crunches. If you

[00:11:01] would like to protect your neck, place your elbows behind you like this and do little lifts. That’s it.

[00:11:09] You only got a couple more. Last one. And slowly roll all the way up, taking a nice deep cleansing breath together.

[00:11:19] Inhale up and exhale out. Give yourself a big hand. You did it.

[00:11:25] Arms and abs.