I don't know about you, but I'm tired of working out in my living room. I want the bright lights of the gym, the wall-to-wall mirrors, the endless dumbbells. But once I get back to the gym, I'm a little lost. Now that the equipment is well stocked, I went to YouTube in search of inspiration to find a new workout to try, and found Caroline Girvan and her 15-minute dumbbell abs workout video. At the time of publication, it had over 1.3 million views. I decided to give it a try.

Of course, you don't have to do it in a gym. All you really need are dumbbells (if you're looking for dumbbells to add to your home gym, I've handpicked the best adjustable dumbbells here) and an exercise mat (yes, I found the best yoga mat too). I chose 5kg dumbbells at my gym, but you want a weight that feels challenging enough to give you a good workout, but not too heavy to injure you.

The workout itself is easy and Girvan does not give verbal instructions, so you can watch on mute and play your own podcast or playlist. The workout consists of 15 different exercises, each lasting 50 seconds, with a 10-second break between each. My core was on fire for several hours after I left the gym. My core was on fire for several hours after I left the gym.

If you would like to read about the workout before you begin, click here. For beginners, there are also some suggested modifications in her workout description on YouTube.

50-Second Straight Arm Crunch: Lie on your back, arms and legs extended, and clutch the dumbbells in your hands behind your head. Engage your core and raise your head, neck, and torso while keeping your arms extended.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second toe reach crunch: With hips pressed to the floor and hands and feet on the table, hold dumbbells with outstretched arms and crunch torso with the image of touching dumbbells to toes.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second crunch pulse: Lie on your back, press your feet to the floor, engage your torso, hold dumbbells in both hands, and crunch upward.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second butterfly crunch: Same as before, but now bring the soles of your feet together and bend your knees sideways like a frog. Lower the dumbbells between your knees as you crunch up.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second side reach crunch (left) With knees bent and back on floor, hold dumbbells in each hand and extend arms straight. Crunch upward while lifting your torso, head, and neck off the floor, simultaneously dropping the dumbbells to the floor on the left.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second side reach crunch (right) With knees bent and back on floor, hold dumbbells in each hand and extend arms straight. Crunch upward while lifting your torso, head, and neck off the floor, simultaneously dropping the dumbbells to the floor on the right.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second tuck to hollow: In this exercise, go from a tuck position with knees folded up to chest and arms over calves to a hollow hold position with back pressed to floor and arms and legs extended.

10 sec rest

50 sec tuck to v-sit: knees to chest, elbows bent, dumbbells in front of chest.

10 sec rest:

50 sec leg wiper over dumbbells: be warned, this is hard. With your weight on your elbows, hips on the floor, and dumbbells standing upward between your legs, extend your legs and drop a few inches off the ground on the left, then lift your legs with your torso, over the dumbbells, and drop them to the right. Repeat.

Rest 10 seconds

Pass 50 seconds: another tricky discipline: from V-sit position, extend one leg and pass a dumbbell under the bent leg.

10-second rest

50-second slow sit-up: knees bent, feet on floor, dumbbells between hands, arms extended behind head. Perform a slow sit-up, keeping the entire movement slow and controlled.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second Sit-Ups to Alt Woodchopper: In this exercise, perform a sit-up with your legs straight out in front of you. When you reach the top of the sit-up, bring the dumbbells down to the side. On the next sit-up, bring them down on the opposite side. Repeat alternating sides.

Rest 10 seconds

50 seconds opposite hand to left leg: For this exercise, begin with legs extended and hips on the floor. Raise the left leg and extend the right arm holding a dumbbell to touch the left leg. Return arms and legs to starting position and repeat.

Rest 10 seconds

50 seconds Extend right leg from opposite hand: perform the same exercise on the opposite side.

Rest 10 seconds

50-second reverse crunch to hollow: This is the final exercise. Perform a reverse crunch to strengthen your core and raise your hips off the ground. Then, lower your hips and extend your arms and legs away from your body.

One of my favorite things about YouTube workouts is engaging with my new instructor. She is a perfectionist. From her excellent form to matching her gym kit to her title card, her videos are expertly produced and fun to follow. As mentioned, there are no verbal instructions during the workout. I am now hooked on the real-life podcast and was able to keep listening to it while I was at the gym.

I had hoped that the addition of dumbbells would enhance the ab workout, and it really did. In a previous workout review, I had mentioned that I suffered from sciatica from a horseback riding accident when I was a teenager. I soon realized that my ego was winning out and that some exercises required me to swap to lighter dumbbells to get my form right. Heavier weights don't always mean faster progress.

I often opt for workouts that get my heart rate up and burn more calories, but this workout definitely did not fall into that category. With many of the exercises, the goal was to move slowly, keep control of the exercise, and use the core fully for 50 seconds. It was a challenge, but by the end of the 15 minutes, there was a deep inner tremor that let me know that I had worked my core muscles deeply. I would definitely do it again if my core would let me.

If you're looking for an abdominal workout to add to your routine, I tried some of the most popular workouts on YouTube. See what happened when I tried the Lily Sabri 7-Day Ab Challenge, the Brettman Rock Ab-Solute Workout, and the Pamela Reif 6-Pack Abs Workout.