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Exercises

What core training on Apple Watch is, with the exercises and sessions to log

Published November 3, 2026

Core Training is the Apple Watch workout type for a session of ab and trunk work: planks, crunches, leg raises, rotations and carries. To keep the numbers, log the session in RIRLift on the Watch: holds as seconds, every other set as reps, weight and reps in reserve, with the rest timer on your wrist. RIRLift logs core work as lifting, so the session is saved to Apple Health as Traditional Strength Training, with each exercise as its own segment.

  1. Plank Abs
  2. Dead Bug Abs
  3. Cable Crunch Abs
  4. Pallof Press Abs
  5. Hanging Leg Raise Abs
  6. Ab Wheel Rollout Abs

Holds

Your trunk stays still while the clock runs. Start and stop the hold on the Watch and it logs the seconds for you.

Abs, front hold

Plank

Abs

The base hold. Once 45 seconds is easy, make it harder with the reach in the last step rather than holding longer.

How to do it

  1. Set your forearms under your shoulders and your feet behind you, body in a straight line.
  2. Squeeze your glutes and pull your ribs down toward your hips.
  3. Hold, breathing normally, without letting your hips sag or rise.
  4. For the harder version, reach one arm forward and lift the opposite foot, hold, then switch sides.

Cues

  • Ribs down
  • Glutes tight
  • Straight line

Common mistakes

  • Hips sagging toward the floor: that hangs on your lower back.
  • Holding for minutes at an easy level: make it harder instead.

Swap for: Long Lever Plank, Plank Shoulder Tap

Build a session with Plank
Log it in RIRLift

Obliques, side hold

Side Plank

Abs

Works the sides of your trunk that a front plank misses. Hold each side for the same time.

How to do it

  1. Lie on one side with your elbow under your shoulder and your legs stacked.
  2. Lift your hips until your body is straight from head to feet.
  3. Hold, then switch sides.

Cues

  • Hips high
  • Stacked feet
  • Elbow under shoulder

Common mistakes

  • Letting the hips drop toward the floor as the hold goes on.
  • Rolling the chest forward or back.

Swap for: Dumbbell Side Plank, Copenhagen Plank

Build a session with Side Plank
Log it in RIRLift

Floor work, no equipment

Slow reps on a mat. Count them and log how many more you could have done, the same as any lift.

Deep abs, anti-extension

Dead Bug

Abs

Your lower back stays down while your arms and legs move. Slow reps teach the brace every other core move needs.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up, arms pointing up and knees bent at right angles over your hips.
  2. Press your lower back into the floor.
  3. Reach one arm overhead and the opposite leg out long, both hovering above the floor.
  4. Bring them back and repeat with the other pair.

Cues

  • Back glued down
  • Breathe out as you reach
  • Opposite arm and leg

Common mistakes

  • Letting the back arch when the leg goes long: reach less far.
  • Going fast: each rep should take about three seconds.

Swap for: Plank, Alternating Leg Raise

Build a session with Dead Bug
Log it in RIRLift

Obliques, rotation

Russian Twist

Abs

Turning your ribs side to side. Slow is harder than fast here.

How to do it

  1. Sit with knees bent and heels on the floor, then lean back until your trunk is at an angle.
  2. Clasp your hands together at chest height.
  3. Turn your shoulders to one side, come back through the middle and turn to the other.

Cues

  • Turn the ribs
  • Chest tall
  • Slow

Common mistakes

  • Swinging only the arms while the chest faces forward.
  • Rounding your back to get lower.

Swap for: Dumbbell Woodchop, Windshield Wipers

Build a session with Russian Twist
Log it in RIRLift

Cables and the pull-up bar

Core work you can load in small steps. A cable stack lets you add weight a plate at a time, so these progress like any other lift.

Abs, loaded flexion

Cable Crunch

Abs

The easiest core move to load: add a plate on the stack when every set tops the range.

How to do it

  1. Attach a rope to a high pulley, turn your back to the stack and hold the ends behind your head.
  2. Step forward so the weight lifts, then brace your hips in place and curl your ribs down toward your pelvis.
  3. Pause when your trunk is fully curled, then let the rope pull you back up slowly.

Cues

  • Ribs to pelvis
  • Hips still
  • Round, don't hinge

Common mistakes

  • Hinging at the hips so the body weight pulls the stack down.
  • Pulling the rope with the arms instead of keeping the hands at the head.

Swap for: Machine Crunch, Decline Crunch

Build a session with Cable Crunch
Log it in RIRLift

Obliques, anti-rotation

Pallof Press

Abs

The cable pulls you sideways and you refuse to turn. Hold each press out for two seconds.

How to do it

  1. Set a cable at chest height, stand side-on to it and grip the handle two-handed at your chest.
  2. Step away until the cable pulls, feet hip-width.
  3. Press the handle straight out, hold for two seconds without turning, then bring it back.

Cues

  • Hands on the midline
  • Don't turn
  • Hold it out

Common mistakes

  • Standing too close, so the cable barely pulls.
  • Letting the arms drift toward the stack.

Swap for: Cable Woodchop, Landmine Twist

Build a session with Pallof Press
Log it in RIRLift

Obliques, rotation

Cable Woodchop

Abs

A loaded diagonal chop. Finish one side, then the other, at the same weight.

How to do it

  1. Set a cable high, stand side-on and grip the handle two-handed above the near shoulder.
  2. Chop it on a diagonal to the far hip, turning your chest as your back heel lifts and spins.
  3. Let it return along the same line under control. Finish one side, then switch.

Cues

  • Turn the chest
  • Arms long
  • Pivot the back foot

Common mistakes

  • Pulling with the arms rather than turning the trunk.
  • Going so heavy the stack drags you back on the return.

Swap for: Dumbbell Woodchop, Pallof Press

Build a session with Cable Woodchop
Log it in RIRLift

Lower abs and hip flexors

Hanging Leg Raise

Abs

A bodyweight lift on the pull-up bar. Progress by reps until your feet reach the bar.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar, legs long and pressed together.
  2. Lift your legs, keeping your knees straight, until your feet reach at least hip height.
  3. Tilt your pelvis up at the top, then lower under control.

Cues

  • Legs locked
  • Pelvis tilts
  • No kip

Common mistakes

  • Bending the knees as you tire: switch to knee raises for the rest of the set.
  • Using a swing to get the legs up.

Swap for: Hanging Knee Raise, Lying Knee Raise

Build a session with Hanging Leg Raise
Log it in RIRLift

Ab wheel and carries

The hardest anti-extension move and the simplest loaded one. Log the rollouts as reps and each carry as one rep per length.

Abs, anti-extension

Ab Wheel Rollout

Abs

The hardest move on this page. Roll only as far as you can pull back with your abs.

How to do it

  1. Kneel with the wheel under your shoulders and your arms straight.
  2. Brace and roll forward, letting your hips follow, until just before your back starts to sag.
  3. Pull the wheel back to your knees using your abs, not your hips.

Cues

  • Tuck the pelvis
  • Roll only as far as you own
  • Arms straight

Common mistakes

  • Letting the lower back cave at the far end.
  • Sitting the hips back first on the return instead of pulling with the abs.

Swap for: Stability Ball Body Saw, Plank

Build a session with Ab Wheel Rollout
Log it in RIRLift

Obliques and grip, loaded carry

Dumbbell Suitcase Carry

Abs, Quads

One heavy dumbbell and a walk. Staying upright is the whole exercise.

How to do it

  1. Pick up one heavy dumbbell and stand tall with it at your side.
  2. Walk with short, steady steps without leaning toward or away from it.
  3. Set it down, switch hands and walk back.

Cues

  • Shoulders level
  • Tall walk
  • Grip hard

Common mistakes

  • Leaning away from the weight to balance it.
  • Picking a dumbbell so light that nothing has to work.

Swap for: Farmer's Walk, Dumbbell Single-Arm Overhead Carry

Build a session with Dumbbell Suitcase Carry
Log it in RIRLift

Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in.

Session 1

Gym, at the end of a lifting day

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentAdjustable Cable, Pull-Up Bar

You lift three or four days a week and want core work you can add to the end of two of them, at the cable stack and the pull-up bar.

Three loaded moves, 9 sets: flexion, anti-rotation and a hanging raise. All three progress by weight or reps, so the core gets stronger like your other lifts.

Cable core
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Cable Crunch 3 × 10–15 2 1 min
Pallof PressReps per side. 3 × 10–12 2 45 s
Hanging Leg Raise 3 × 6–10 2 1 min
How to run it
Add it to the end of two lifting routines in RIRLift. Log each set on the Watch as you finish it; the cable crunch and Pallof press keep their own weights.
How to progress
Cable crunch 50 lb for 15 / 15 / 15 at 2 left tops the 10 to 15 range: next time it is 60 lb for 10. Hanging leg raises go up a rep at a time; at 10 clean reps every set, hold a light dumbbell between your feet.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Living-room floor, no equipment

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets36 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You train at home with a mat and nothing else, and you want a short core session on the days you do not lift.

Two holds and two slow floor moves, run as a circuit with a minute of rest after each round. Steady work for the front, sides and deep muscles of your trunk.

Floor core
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
A1 Plank 3 × 30–45 s 2 1 min
A2 Dead BugReps per side. 3 × 8–12 2 1 min
A3 Side PlankPer side. 3 × 20–40 s 2 1 min
A4 Russian TwistReps per side. 3 × 10–16 2 1 min
How to run it
Run it as a circuit on the Watch: one set of each, then the next round. Start each hold on the wrist and stop it when your form goes; the seconds are logged for you.
How to progress
Add 5 seconds to each hold once all three rounds reach the top of the range. On dead bugs and twists, add a rep per side each week until the top of the range, then slow the reps down.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Ab wheel, woodchops and a heavy carry

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentAb Wheel, Adjustable Cable, Dumbbells

Your core work has outgrown planks. You have an ab wheel, a cable stack and a pair of heavy dumbbells, and you want a short session that is hard.

The ab wheel for anti-extension, the woodchop for rotation and a one-hand carry that pulls you sideways. Nine hard sets, done in well under half an hour.

Loaded core
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Ab Wheel Rollout 3 × 6–10 2 90 s
Cable WoodchopReps per side. 3 × 10–12 2 1 min
Dumbbell Suitcase Carry1 rep = one 20-yard length, switch hands each length. 3 × 2–4 2 90 s
How to run it
Do it once or twice a week. Log the carry as one rep per 20-yard length at the dumbbell's weight, and switch hands each length.
How to progress
Rollouts progress by reps: when every set reaches 10 from the knees, roll a little further out. Carry a 60 lb dumbbell for 3 lengths; when every set reaches 4, go to the 65.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What is core training on Apple Watch?

One of the workout types in the Watch's workout list, meant for sessions of ab and trunk work like planks, crunches and leg raises.

What type does RIRLift save a core session as?

Traditional Strength Training. RIRLift logs core exercises like lifts, with reps, weight and reps in reserve or the seconds of a hold, and saves each exercise as its own segment.

How many core exercises should I do?

Start with two or three at the end of two lifting days, 3 sets each, like the gym session above. Heavy squats and deadlifts already work your trunk, so add a dedicated core day only if core strength is your goal.

How do I log a plank on Apple Watch?

In RIRLift, start the hold on the Watch and stop it when your form goes; the seconds are logged as the set. Other core moves are logged as reps with a tap, prefilled from last time.