18 Abs Exercises At Home Without Equipment

There are plenty of Abs exercises that you can do at home to get the six-pack of your dreams. Home is a great place to carve up your core—after all, a six-pack is mostly made in the kitchen. A six-pack is a sign of overall well-being and complete physical fitness, a healthy lifestyle, and a nutrient-rich diet.

Whatever your fitness level, it’s always better to do an abs workout than to do nothing. If you find yourself without your regular exercise equipment, you will still be able to do these ab exercises at home.

Some of these abs exercises may be challenging for beginners, while others may be interesting for intermediate and advanced exercisers.

This blog contains detailed descriptions of all the major best abs exercises that you can do at home and that focus on the core muscles, including rectus abdominis and Obliques.

Know About Your ABS Muscles

Your waist is made up of two muscle groups: the rectus abdominis (known as your “six-pack” muscles) in the front and the obliques on each side.

Rectus Abdominis

The rectus abdominis is a paired muscle running vertically down the front of the abdomen. It is commonly referred to as the “six-pack” muscle.

The two rectus abdominis muscles (one on each side) are encased in a sheath of fascia that forms the central dividing line down the middle of the abs.

Abs and Obliques Muscles

External And Internal Obliques

The external and internal obliques are located on the sides of the abdomen.

  • The external oblique is the outer visible layer that passes run diagonally on each side of the rectus abdominis.
  • The internal oblique muscles lie under the external obliques and run into the lower back or erector spinae.
  • The oblique muscles play a crucial role in torso rotation and lateral flexion, aiding in activities like twisting and bending sideways.

Transverse Abdominis

The transverse abdominis is the deepest layer of the abdominal muscles, running horizontally across the abdomen.

It acts as a natural corset, providing stability and support to the spine.

Core

The core comprises not only the abdominal muscles but also the muscles of the lower back, hips, and pelvis, working together to stabilize and support the spine.

The abdominal muscles work in synergy with other core muscles to provide stability, transfer force, and maintain proper posture.

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How To Train Complete Abs At Home Without Equipment

Do you want to lose that belly fat and finally achieve a rock-hard abs? Then you must try these abs exercises during your next home workout.

As long as gravity exists, your own bodyweight can provide a vigorous home workout that is, fat loss, improving strength and endurance, building muscle mass, and six-pack abs.

Training your complete abs at the home requires a comprehensive approach that targets the different areas of your abdominal muscles from various angles.

Target, hitting the different areas of your abs from every angle. Some exercise concentrates on your upper abs, some focus on the lower abs, and some works the often neglected side abs – or obliques – along with your deeper core muscles.

With exercises that work the upper abs, lower abs, obliques, and deeper core muscles, you can get a well-rounded and defined midsection.

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Upper Abs Workout At Home

The rectus abdominis’ main jobs are flexion of the torso, which means forward bending (bringing your chest toward your hips), and flexion of the hips, which essentially means to bring your pelvic bone/hips upward.

Your upper abs, will be the most activated during movements that bring your upper body toward your hips/legs (spinal flexion)

For example, the following exercises will target your upper abs

  • Crunches
  • Sit-Up
  • Vertical Leg Crunch
Upper ab, Lower ab and oblique exercises

Lower Abs Workout At Home

When it comes to targeting the lower abs at the home, it’s important to focus on exercises that bring your thighs toward your chest.

Through these specific movements, you will be able to effectively isolate and strengthen the lower abs muscles.

Here are some exercises that are known to work the lower abs.

  • Leg raises,
  • Reverse crunches and
  • Mountain Climbers

At Home Oblique Workout

The obliques work together to help you to bend side-to-siderotate your torso from left to right, and assist with spinal flexion.

For example, the following home exercises will target your oblique

  • Side Bend
  • Twists 
  • Side Plank
Know More: Best Abs Exercises: Upper Abs, Lower Abs, Obliques

18 Best Abs Exercises At Home

 Easy-to-follow core exercises for beginners, which don’t require any equipment.

1. Bicycle Crunch

Back in 2001 ACE sponsored a study to find out exactly what the best abs exercise was, comparing 13 of the most common moves. In that study, the bicycle crunch was found to be the most effective.

Compared with the standard crunch, the bicycle crunch was found to produce 148% more mean activity in the abs and 190% more mean activity in the obliques. The bicycle crunch is a great abs exercise that you should add to your home workout routines.

To make it beginner-friendly or easier to do the exercise you can make the angle that your knees make smaller and to make the exercise harder you can make the angle between your legs bigger.

Bicycle Crunch

How To Do

  1. Lie on the floor with your legs straight and low back are flat on the floor.
  2. Place your hands behind your head and raise your feet and upper back a little off the floor.
  3. Slowly start raising your knees at about a 45-degree angle.
  4. Go through a bicycle peddling motion with your legs as you alternately touch your elbows to the opposite knees, twisting back and forth.

Tips

  • Keep your neck neutral and your lower back pressed against the floor.
  • Make sure that you don’t pull your neck with your hands, else you can get a neck strain.

2. Crunch

Crunches are one of the all-time favourite ab exercises that you can do at home, but they have been linked to some risks if done with improper form.

The crunch motion occurs in the upper spine, and your shoulders rise a few inches off the floor. Your lower back remains in contact with the floor, and there is no motion at the hips. This is In contrast to the sit-up, where the movement occurs at the waist and hips.

You may position your hands at your sides or across your chest, or you may interlock them behind your head.

Crunches abs Exercises

How To Do

  1. Lie on the floor with your knees bent, feet and low back are flat on the floor.
  2. Place your hands behind your head, contract through your abs to lift your shoulders and upper back off the floor.
  3. Hold this position for a second before slowly lowering back to the starting position.
  4. Repeat the desired number of reps.

Tips

  • Keep the movement slow and controlled. Don’t use momentum.
  • Don’t pull on your neck with your hands, this will strain the neck.
  • Breathe out as you crunch, maintain your core muscles tight and engaged.

3. V-Up

The V-Up also known as a jackknife is a great abs exercise to add to your home workout routine. It is a full-body move that works your core, legs, back, and shoulders.

The exercise works the upper abs and lower abs muscles simultaneously. If you want to do this at home, sit on the floor or a mat and position your body in a V shape.

It requires you to lift the weight of both your arms and legs by using your abdominal muscles.

V – Up
V-Up

How To Do

  1. Lie down on the floor on your back with your arms extended straight back behind your head. Your legs should also be extended.
  2. Exhale and bend at your waist while raising your legs and arms to meet in a jackknife movement.
  3. Try to hold the contracted position. Squeeze the abs.
  4. Lower your arms and legs back to the starting position.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Tips

  1. Keep the movement slow and controlled.
  2. Try to keep your back as straight as you can during the V sit up.

4. Mountain Climber

Mountain climbers is an explosive bodyweight exercise that engages multiple muscle groups at once, helping to improve your balance, coordination, strength, flexibility. It is a great way to improve cardiovascular endurance and burn calories to get six pack abs.

As you perform the move, your shoulders, arms, and chest work to stabilize your upper body while your core stabilizes the rest of your body. It’s particularly effective for strengthening your core muscles, including the abs, transverse abdominis, and obliques.

Mountain climbers are a great choice for home workouts because they can be done anywhere without any equipment.

Mountain Climber

How To Do

  1. Start in the push-up position with your arms completely straight and directly beneath your shoulders.
  2. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
  3. Squeeze your abs, lift one foot off the floor and bring your knee up towards your chest while keeping your body in as straight of a line as possible.
  4. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement with your opposite leg.

Tips

  • Don’t round your lower back.
  • Don’t lift your hips too high. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.

5. Frog Crunch

Frog Crunch is an abdominal exercise that strengthens the rectus abdominus and helps flatten your abs.

Like other crunch variations, this leg position hits the muscle from a different angle, shocking the ab muscle and giving it a better shape.

When you keep your legs relaxed in the frog position, you reduce the extent to which your hip-flexing muscles. This helps you to isolate your abs and obliques.

Frog crunch

How To Do

  1. Lying on your back, bring the soles of your feet together.
  2. Place hands either lightly behind your head, touching your temple, crossed over your chest.
  3. Using the muscles of your upper abs, raise your shoulders and upper back off the floor.
  4. Hold this position for a count of two.
  5. Then lower your shoulders to the starting position, lightly touching the floor. Repeat.

Tips

  • Keep your lower back pressed against the floor.
  • Keep the movement slow and under control. Avoid using momentum

7. Russian Twist

The Russian twist is a great way to do your abs exercises at home more interesting. It engages your core and strengthens your abdominal muscles as well as your lower back.

This exercise helps to tone and tighten your abs and obliques and to trim your waist. It also helps to improve your balance, stability, and posture.

A more advanced way of performing the Russian twist is to raise your feet a little off the floor and a weighted Russian twist.

Russian Twist oblique

How To Do

  1. Lie down with your knee bent at the knees and feet flat on the ground.
  2. Elevate your upper body so that it creates a V shape with your thighs.
  3. Begin to twist side to side while maintaining balance on your buttocks.
  4. Repeat this movement until the set is complete.

Tips

  • Keep your back straight at all times and twist your torso only from the ribs up.
  • Don’t move your head side to side.
  • Use a slow, controlled motion to target the muscles. 

8. Lying Straight Leg Raise

If you are looking for an effective exercise for targeting the lower abs, lying straight leg raises are a great option. They are safe and easy to do, and they can be done at home or at the gym.

Lying leg raises can also help alleviate low back pain since they improve the strength and stabilization of your core.

It also strengthens the muscles of the upper thigh, the quadriceps, without placing any stress on the knee joint.

Lying Straight Leg Raise abs Exercises

How To Do

  1. Lie face up on the floor/bench with your entire body straight and your hands at your sides to stabilize your torso.
  2. Hold your legs a few inches off the floor.
  3. Raise your legs up toward the ceiling until they are just short of perpendicular to the floor.
  4. Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position.

Tips

  • Keep your lower back pressed against the bench or mat.
  • Move slow and with control, making sure not to arch your back at any point in the move.

9. Reverse Crunch

The reverse crunch is a challenging core exercise that primarily hits your lower abs. This is one of the most challenging ab exercises that you can incorporate into your home workout regimen.

The reverse crunch is an intermediate-level abs exercise. It is a variation of the crunch, but it is done in the opposite direction.

  • In a crunch, you curl your upper body up towards your knees.
  • In a reverse crunch, you curl your lower body up towards your chest.
Reverse Crunch abs Exercises

How To Do

  1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground.
  2. Slowly bring your knees toward your chest, lifting your hips and glutes off the floor.
  3. Try to maintain the bend in your knees throughout the movement.
  4. Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position under control motion.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tips

  • Keep the movement slow and controlled. Do not use momentum.
  • To make this exercise more difficult, perform it on a decline bench with your head on the high end.

10. Oblique Crunches

The oblique crunch is a bodyweight exercise that targets your core muscles—specifically the obliques on the sides of your abdomen.

It is a beginner’s friendly core exercise that strengthens your abs, obliques as well as the other muscles of the core, including your transverse abdominus and medial glute.

Oblique Crunches

How To Do

  1. Lie on the floor on your right side with your hips and knees bent.
  2. Place your left hand behind your head and place your right hand across your body and on the obliques.
  3. Placing your hand on your obliques can help you feel the muscles contract and enhance the mind-muscle connection.
  4. Contract your obliques to lift your shoulder off the floor.
  5. Hold this position for a second, contracting your obliques as hard as possible.
  6.  Then return to the start position.
  7. Complete all reps on the left side and then repeat on the right side.

Tips

  • To make this exercise more difficult, hold a weight plate on your chest.
  • Perform this exercise slow and steadily to work the obliques.
  • Your torso crunches 30 to 45 degrees upward from the floor.

11. Plank

The plank, or planking, is an isometric core strength exercise that involves maintaining a position similar to a push-up.

It is an exercise that works your core muscles and improves your strength, balance and endurance. The front plank is one of the best home workouts that you can do.

Crunches and sit-ups only work the muscles on the front side of the core, so it’s necessary to do back strengthening exercises as well. However, planks work the entire core, as well as many other muscles in the body.

Plank

How To Do

  1. Start to get in a push up position, bend your elbows and rest your weight on your forearms.
  2. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
  3. Brace your core by contracting your abs as if you were about to be punched in the gut.
  4. Hold this position for 20-60 sec.

Tips

  • Do not let your lower back sag or your butt rise. Ensure your body is straight and rigid.
  • Keep your abs and core muscles contracted.
  • Your neck should be in line with your body, not tilted up, which could strain the neck.
Know More: Plank Exercise: Benefits, Variations, Muscles Worked, Tips

12. Side Plank

The side plank is one of the best abs exercises for strengthening the oblique muscles, which don’t get worked as much during abs exercises such as crunches. Strong obliques are quite useful as core stabilization muscles.

  • If you’re new to planking, you should master the basic forearm plank before moving on to the side plank variation.
  • If you find it hard to hold a side plank, that’s OK. You can try knee side plank instead of forearm side plank.
Side Plank

How To Do

  1. Lie on your side with your legs extended and feet stacked on top of each other.
  2. Your elbow should be directly under your shoulder, forearm flat on the ground, and your other hand resting on your hip.
  3. Raise your body by placing your right forearm flat on the floor so that it’s perpendicular to your torso.
  4. Tighten your core muscles, pulling your belly button towards your spine.
  5. Hold the position for as long as you can.
  6. Repeat on the other side

Tips

  • Keep your legs and body straight.
  • Avoid letting your hips sag during the exercise
  • Squeeze your abs and glutes throughout the movement for stability.
Know More: Side Plank: Benefits, Variations, Muscles Used, Tips

13. Side Plank with Hip Abduction

The side plank hip abduction is an advanced variation of the side plank exercise that you can do to target the obliques and outer thighs.

The hip abductors move the legs away from the body and rotate them at the hip joint, so this plays an important role in keeping your knee and hip joints stable.

Side Plank with Hip Abduction

How To Do

  1. Lie on the floor, on your left side, side with your elbow directly beneath your shoulder and legs stacked.
  2. Place your free hand on your hip.
  3. Straighten your body and legs. Your feet should be together, and your hip should be resting on the floor.
  4. Brace your abs and lift your hips off the floor until you’re balancing on your forearm and feet and your body forms a diagonal line.
  5. Lift your right leg at least 6 inches. Slowly bring your feet back together and lower your hip to the floor.
  6. Repeat on your right side.

Tips

  • Do not let your hips or shoulder sag, do not let your body rotate.
  • keep your core tight, so that your upper body remains stable, maintain your top leg straight.
  • Breathe out as you lift your top leg and squeeze the outer thigh.

14. Side Jackknife

The side jackknife is a highly effective exercise that simultaneously trains both the obliques and abs. It is a moderate-level ab exercise that only requires the use of a mat.

Once you master the basic oblique V-up, you can increase the difficulty of the exercise by raising both legs off the ground.

The double side jackknife follows all the same steps as the side jackknife, except that you bring both your feet up while you raise your upper body.

Side Jackknife

How To Do

  1. Lie on your left hip, legs together and right leg on top of your left.
  2. Place your right hand behind your head and your left elbow stays close to your body for support.
  3. Use your oblique muscles to raise your top leg while simultaneously raising your torso to meet it.
  4. Lower in a controlled motion and repeat, until you complete your set. Then switch sides and repeat.

Tips

  • Don’t rest your leg and your torso at the bottom of the movement.
  • Make sure you get your upper body off the floor. Don’t move just your head.
  • Hold a total contraction at the top of the movement for a count of two.

15. Lying Bent-Knee Oblique Twist

Lying Bent Knee twist is a beginner-friendly bodyweight exercise that builds muscle and strength in the obliques. This is a great moderate move and when done correctly, it can effectively target your core and abs.

You can do the weighted version of the exercise with a ball in between your legs.

Lying Bent-Knee Oblique Twist

How To Do

  1. Lie on your back on the floor or mat with arms extended out to the sides to keep your body stable during the exercise.
  2. Raise bent legs bend your legs at a 90-degree angle, so thighs are vertical and lower legs are horizontal.
  3. Keep your shoulders in contact with the floor and slowly lower your legs to one side until you feel a mild stretch in your lower back.
  4. Now, rotate your legs all the way to the right. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Tips

  • Maintain knee position throughout movement.
  • Exhale as your legs rise, and inhale as they descend.
  • Keep your core tight during the movement to activate your obliques against resistance.

16. Cross Body Mountain Climber

This variation emphasizes the oblique muscles more than the standard mountain climber, that enhanced waistline. It involves moving your knees towards the opposite elbow in a diagonal motion.

The exercise works all the muscles in the body, including the abs, shoulders, chest, and legs. It’s a complete workout for everyone.

Cross body mountain climbers increase your heart rate, making them a great addition to a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) routine.

Cross Body Mountain Climber

How To Do

  1. Start in the push-up position with your arms completely straight and directly beneath your shoulders.
  2. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
  3. Squeeze your abs, lift one foot off the floor and bring your left knee towards your right elbow. Keep your body in as straight of a line as possible.
  4. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement with your opposite leg.

Tips

  • Don’t round your lower back.
  • Don’t lift your hips too high. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.

17. Bird Dog

A study has found that dead bug exercise was more efficient in improving core strength, endurance, and flexibility and may be used as an alternative to abdominal crunch exercise.

It is a bodyweight exercise that strengthens the core—more specifically, the abs, oblique muscles, lower back, glutes, and thighs.

The bird dog is a real stability exercise that ensures a stable trunk. It owes its name to the position, which alternates between sitting on hands and knees (dog) and stretching the arms and legs (bird).

Bird dog

How To Do

  1. Get on your knees and place your hands on the floor in front of your body at shoulder width.
  2.  Keep your spine in a neutral position and contract your abs and lift one hand and the opposite knee slightly off the floor.
  3. Now extend your arm and leg all the way out. Try to form a straight plane from your hand to your foot.
  4. Hold this position for about 10 seconds and then return to the starting position.
  5. Repeat the exercise with the other side. Repeat the exercise alternately.

Tips

  • Don’t raise your leg and arm higher than your back.
  • Keep your spine neutral and engage your core to prevent your back from sagging.
  • Keep your hips level and don’t rotate your pelvis.

18. Alternate Heel Touches

Alternate heel touches also known as lying oblique reach is an at-home workout exercise that targets the oblique and also involves abs.

It is one of the great side abs (oblique) exercises that can be done easily by a beginner to activate and grow their midsection.

The exercise mimics other oblique exercises such as the dumbbell side bend and oblique crunch.

Alternate Heel Touches

How To Do

  1. Lie down flat on the floor, your back, and hips touch the ground.
  2. Bend your knees and place your hands extended along your torso.
  3. Now, contract your abs by pulling your belly button towards your spine and crunch your torso to the right until you can touch your right heel with your right hand.
  4. Pause for a second and feel the stretching in your abdominal muscles.
  5. Come back to the starting position, touch your left hand to the left heel.
  6. Do the recommended number of repetitions every time with alternate hand side.

Tips

  • Be sure not to strain your neck when doing any ab crunch work.
  • Don’t jerk from side to side, focus on oblique muscles while during doing touching exercises
  • Remain in constant motion during this exercise.

How To Incorporate Ab Workouts Into Home Routine?

Bodyweight home workouts help strengthen your abs and core in a more dynamic way.

Crunch, planks, Russian twist and mountain climber, allow you to work your abs for improved muscular endurance. They also help burn abdominal fat.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to incorporating ab workouts into your home routine:

1. Choose the Right Exercises

Select a variety of effective ab exercises that target different areas of your core, including upper, lower, and oblique muscles. Some great choices include crunches, planks, leg raises, Russian twists, bicycle crunches, and mountain climbers.

2. Create a Routine

Decide how often you want to work on your abs. You can start with a few days per week, such as 2-3 days, and gradually increase if desired. Consistency is key.

3. Allocate Time

Dedicate a specific time slot in your daily or weekly schedule for bodyweight workouts. This could be in the morning, during a break, or in the evening. Try to work out your abs for at least 15-20 minutes.

4. Start with Warm-Up

Begin each session with a brief warm-up to prepare your muscles. Do some light cardio, such as jogging in place or jumping jacks, followed by gentle dynamic stretches to loosen up your muscles.

5. Progressive Overload

As you become stronger, gradually increase the intensity of your home ab workouts. You can do this by adding more reps, holding positions longer, or doing advanced variations of the exercises.

6. Cool Down

After completing your ab exercises, finish with a gentle cool-down routine. Focus on stretching the muscles you worked and take a few minutes to relax.

At Home Training Program For The ABS

The abs need to be trained with adequate volume and frequency, and with considered exercise selection and progressive overload, just like any other muscle group. 

You could train abs twice per week, one session using an abs exercise and the other using an oblique exercise, and achieve adequate volume throughout the whole area.

Abs Workout Plan Without Equipment

Now you can take them into consideration when planning your workouts. You could use them as a finisher, picking two or three moves and cycling between them with minimal rest in between, or you could separately train your core.

Below are some sample workout plans to train your core, abs, and obliques separately without equipment.

1. At Home Abs Workout Plan

ExercisesSetsReps
Crunch310-15
Russian Twist3-412-15
Knee Raise38-12
Plank38-12

2. At Home Side Abs Workout Plan

ExercisesSetsReps
Side Bend310-15
Side Plank3-46-8
Side Jackknife48-12
Oblique Twists310-15

Of course, you don’t have to only do bodyweight exercises for your ab workouts.

In fact, you probably should mix it up with:

If you want a well-rounded abs and oblique and core workout, then you must add variation to your workout.

We strongly suggest adding Planks and leg raises to your routine once you have achieved sufficient core strength to perform them safely and correctly.

FAQ

Hardest Ab Exercises At Home

  1. V-ups
  2. Bicycle crunches with legs elevated
  3. Hollow Body Hold
  4. Scissors
  5. Windshield Wipers
  6. Dragon Flag
  7. Plank Toe Taps
  8. Weighted Russian twists

Are ab exercises enough to get a six-pack?

No abs exercises is not enough to get sex pack abs. Ab workouts are crucial for strengthening and toning the muscles. To achieve a visible six-pack also requires reducing body fat through a combination of a nutritious diet, cardio workouts, and muscle-building workouts.

Can I do ab exercises every day?

No, it’s not recommended to do ab exercises every day. The abdominal muscles need at least 2 full days of rest between workout sessions to recover and repair themselves.

Overtraining the abs without rest can lead to muscle fatigue, overuse injuries, and reduced results. Aim for ab workouts 3-4 times per week, allowing your abs a rest day in between sessions.

How can I make ab exercises more challenging at home?

To make ab exercises more challenging, you can increase the number of reps, add variations (e.g., side planks, cross-body mountain climbers).

Other ways to increase the difficulty of the ab workout include adding weights, increasing reps, holding an exercise position longer, minimizing rest time between sets, doing slow eccentric motions, incorporating oblique rotations, and doing exercises on an uneven surface.

What’s the best time to do ab exercises: morning or evening?

The best time depends on your personal preference and schedule. Some people prefer morning workouts to kickstart their day, while others enjoy evening workouts to de-stress. Choose a time that fits your routine and helps you stay consistent.

Conclusion

For anyone, who is interested in building abs muscles and gaining strength, these abs exercises are highly recommended adding to your home workout regime.

It not only allows for targeted abs muscle development, but also provides overall strength to abs muscle.

It is easy to do and requires no more scientific details. If done these best Abs exercises At Home consistently, the results will speak for themselves.

Thanks for reading, enjoy your abs workout

Stay Fit, Life a Happy and Healthy Life

References:

  • Chioma Ikele: Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Abdominal Crunch Exercise and Dead Bug Exercise on Core Stability of Young Adults. Nigerian Journal of Medicine 29 (December 2020).
  • C Juan-Recio, A López-Vivancos, M Moya, J M Sarabia: Short-term effect of crunch exercise frequency on abdominal muscle endurance. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2015 Apr.

BEST AT-HOME ABS WORKOUT: MUST-DO AB EXERCISES

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