Sure, everyone wants sexy six-pack abs, but the core
muscles are responsible for much more than a few appreciative looks at
the beach. The
core
(composed of the oft-mentioned abdominals as well as the side, back,
pelvic, and glutei muscles) provides a muscular framework that protects
internal organs, aids movement, and lends balance and stability to the
whole body. To get a strong core, it's important to switch it up and
keep the muscles guessing. Use the list below—broken down into
bodyweight and gym equipment categories—to train the upper and lower
abdominals, obliques, and work on deep core strength and stability (we
termed this "stability" to keep it simple!). Mix and match the exercises
to work on core strength, whether at the gym or working out at home.
Bodyweight
1. Crunch
Targets: Upper abdominals
Lying flat on the ground with knees bent and hands behind
the head, push lower back into the ground and lift upper back off the
ground and slightly forward.
2. Vertical Leg Crunch
Targets: Upper abdominals
Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the
ground. Put your hands behind your head. Extend your legs straight up in
the air, crossed at the ankles with a slight bend in the knee. Contract
your abdominal muscles by lifting your torso toward your knees. Make
sure to keep your chin off your chest with each contraction. Exhale as
you contract upward; inhale as you return to the starting position.
3. V-Ups
Targets: Upper abdominals
Lie on your back, with your legs and arms extended. Keeping your
knees and elbows locked, simultaneously raise your upper body while
trying to touch your fingers to your toes.
4. Raised Knee-In
Targets: Lower abdominals
Lie on your back, arms close to your sides, palms down, and just
under your lower back and butt. Press the small of the back against the
floor, and extend your legs outward, with your heels about 3 inches
above the floor. Keeping lower back against the floor, lift your left
knee toward your chest. Your right leg should remain hovering above the
floor. Hold, then straighten your left leg to the starting position and
repeat with your right leg.
5. Reverse Crunch
Targets: Lower abdominals
Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground. Put
your hands beside your head or extend them out flat to your sides.
Crossing your feet at the ankles, lift your feet off the ground to the
point where your knees create a 90-degree angle. Once in this position,
press your lower back on the floor as you contract your abdominal
muscles. Your legs will reach toward the ceiling with each contraction.
6. Flutter Kicks
Targets: Lower abdominals
Lie face up on the floor with your legs extended, toes pointed and
hands tucked underneath your glutes to support your lower back. Lift
both legs off the floor a few inches and alternately kick the legs up
and down.
7. Side Plank
Targets: Obliques
Lie on your side with lower arm bent at the elbow. The lower elbow
should be underneath the shoulder joint and the upper hand should be on
your hip. Align ankles, hips, shoulders, and head. Push the length of
your body toward the ceiling, balancing on the edge of your bottom shoe
with one foot directly over the other.
8. Lying Side Crunch
Targets: Obliques
Lie on a mat on your side with your knees bent at a right angle and
twisted to the left. Hold a MB up to your chest. Curl up your upper
body, lifting your shoulders off the floor a few inches. Pause at the
top of the contraction and slowly lower back down.
9. Oblique V-Up
Targets: Obliques
Lie on your side with your body in a straight line. Fold your arms
across your chest. Keeping your legs together, lift them off the floor
as you raise your top elbow toward your hip.
10. Russian Twist
Targets: Obliques
Sit on the floor, knees bent, feet flat. Hold your arms straight out
in front of your chest, with your palms facing down. Lean back so that
your torso is at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Twist to the right as
far as you can, pause, then reverse your movement and twist all the way
back to the left as far as you can.
11. Front Plank
Targets: Stability
Lie prone on the floor with feet together and forearms on ground.
Draw abs in and tighten glutes. Lift entire body off the ground until it
forms a straight line from head to toe, resting on forearms and toes.
Hold. Slowly return body to the ground, keeping chin tucked and black
flat.
12. Bicycle Kicks
Targets: Stability
Lie on your back with your legs extended and your hands placed across
your chest. Pull your right knee in toward your chest while twisting
the left shoulder toward your right knee. Return to the starting
position and repeat with other knee and elbow.
13. Plank Jack
Targets: Stability
Get in a modified plank position, balancing on your forearms (elbows
aligned under shoulders) and toes. Tighten abs so body is straight from
head to heels. Keeping torso tight, hop feet out wide. Hop feet back to
starting position and repeat.
14. In and Out Crunches
Targets: Stability
Lie on your back with your feet together, legs extended, and hands
behind your head and elbows wide. Lift your shoulder blades and feet off
the floor then bend your knees in toward your chest and lift your upper
body in a standard crunch.
15. Scissor Crunches
Targets: Stability
Lie on your back with your feet together, legs extended, and hands
behind your head with elbows wide. Raise your right foot straight up to
the ceiling and keep your left leg extended and your left foot a few
inches from the floor. Perform a standard crunch, then lower your upper
body to about an inch from the floor and switch leg.
16. V-Tuck
Targets: Stability
Lie face up with legs extended and hands on either side of your head.
Raise head a few inches. Lift legs off ground, then slowly sit up,
drawing knees to your elbows directly over hips. Hold, feet off the
ground, then slowly lower torso and extend legs (but keep head and feet
slightly off the ground).
17. Toe Tap
Targets: Stability
Lie on your back and place your hands behind your ears. Lift your
legs until your knees are above your hips and your lower legs are
parallel to the floor. Press your lower back against the floor and
crunch forward until your shoulders are off the floor. With toes pointed
down, lower your right foot as far as you can without lifting your back
off the floor. Return to starting position and repeat with left leg.
18. Superman
Targets: Stability
Lie prone on the floor with arms in front of body, palms toward the
ground. Draw navel in, tighten glutes, and pinch shoulder blades
together. Simultaneously lift arms, chest, and legs off the floor. Hold.
Slowly return to ground, keeping chin tucked.
19. T-Stabilization
Targets: Stability
Get into a pushup position. Shift your weight to your left hand and
rotate your body, feet stacked, raising your right arm into the air so
that your arms and torso form a T. Hold.
20. Bird-Dog
Targets: Stability
Balance on your hands and knees. Lift your right leg and left arm and
extend your leg to the rear and reach to the front with your arm. Hold
position. Repeat with the opposite arm and leg.
21. Plank with Alternating Arm and Leg Raise
Targets: Stability
Get in the standard pushup position. Lift your right arm and your
left leg off the floor at the same time without moving your torso. Hold.
Return to starting position, then repeat, lifting your left leg and
right arm.
Gym Equipment
22. Hanging Knee Raise
Targets: Lower abdominals
Hang fully extended from a chin-up bar, palms facing out and your
hands a little farther than shoulder-width apart. Raise your knees
toward your chest, curling your pelvis upward at the end. Make it
tougher by keeping your legs straight instead of bending your knees.
23. Incline Reverse Crunch
Targets: Lower abdominals
Lie on an incline board with your hips lower than your head. Grab the
bar behind your head for support, or simply grasp the sides of the
bench. Bend your knees slightly and hold your feet together. Raise your
knees to your chest by lifting your hips and crunching them inward.
Pause, and lower your hips back to start.
24. Straight Leg Raise
Targets: Lower abdominals
Lie face-up on a bench with your glutes at its edge. Extend your
legs, keeping them parallel to the floor. Grasp the sides of the bench,
or near your hips. Keeping your legs as straight as possible, raise them
slowly until you're in a jackknife position. Your head and shoulders
shouldn't move. Make sure your abs do all the work. Unfold your body
slowly, lowering your legs back to the start position.
25. Seated Ab Crunch
Targets: Lower abdominals
Sit on the edge of a stable chair or bench. Place your hands in front
of your butt, and grip the sides of the seat. Lean back slightly and
extend your legs down and away, keeping your heels 4 to 6 inches off the
floor. To begin the exercise, bend your knees and slowly raise your
legs toward your chest. At the same time, lean forward with your upper
body, allowing chest to approach your thighs.
26. Oblique Hanging Leg Raise
Targets: Obliques
Grasp a chin-up bar with an overhand grip and hang from it at arm's
length, with your knees bent. Keep your knees bent and lift your right
hip toward your right armpit until your lower legs are nearly parallel
to the floor. Pause, then return to the starting position, and lift your
left hip toward your right armpit.
27. Captain's Chair
Targets: Stability
Stabilize your upper body by gripping the hand holds and pressing
your lower back against the back pad. The starting position begins with
you holding your body up with legs dangling below. Slowly lift your
knees in toward your chest. The motion should be controlled and
deliberate as you bring the knees up and return them back to the
starting position.
28. Stability Ball Crunch
Targets: Upper abdominals
Lie face up on a stability ball, ball under low back, with knees bent
at a 90-degree angle. Cross arms across chest, feet flat on the floor,
shoulder-width apart. Draw navel in, tighten glutes, and slowly crunch
upper body forward, raising shoulders off the ball and tucking chin to
chest. Slowly lower upper body over the ball.
29. Bar Crunch
Targets: Upper abdominals
Hold a body bar, arms shoulder width apart and lie on a bench with
your knees bent and your feet together. Extend your arms so the bar is
directly above your chest. Without bending your elbows, crunch up by
lifting your upper back and shoulders off the bench and extend the bar
to the ceiling. Slowly return to start.
30. Medicine Ball Crunch
Targets: Upper abdominals
Lie face-up with knees bent and feet flat, holding ball between palms
with arms extended on floor behind head. Curl head and shoulders off
floor, raising MB overhead and then in front of you as you sit up.
Return to start position, raising ball overhead as you lower torso to
floor.
31. Standing Cable Crunch
Targets: Upper abdominals
Attach a rope handle to a high cable pulley. Stand with your back to
the weight stack, and hold the ends of the rope behind your head. Crunch
down.
32. Medicine Ball Blast
Targets: Upper abdominals
Set an adjustable ad bench at a 45-degree angle. Lie down on it with
your head toward the floor, and hook your feet under the padded support
bars. Hold a Medicine Ball at your chest as you lower yourself, back
flat on the bench. As you come up, throw the ball straight over your
head. Catch it at the top of the movement, then lower yourself and
repeat.
33. Long Arm Weighted Crunch
Targets: Upper abdominals
Lie on your back with your knees bent. Hold a light dumbbell in each
hand and stretch your arms straight back behind you. Crunch your rib
cage toward your pelvis.
34. Medicine Ball Decline Crunch
Targets: Lower abdominals
Sit on a decline bench with your feet hooked underneath the rollers
and hold a medicine ball at your chest with both hands, elbows close to
your sides. Slowly curl back along the bench, placing one vertebra at a
time on the pad. When your back is fully extended along the bench,
slowly curl up one vertebra at a time to come back to start.
35. Stability Ball Hip Thrust
Targets: Lower abdominals
Lie face-up on the floor with your knees bent and lifted over your
hips, and place a stability ball between your knees. Extend your arms
along your sides. Exhale and tuck your pelvis to engage the lower abs,
curling your knees and ball toward your head and up toward the ceiling.
When your hips are a few inches off the mat, slowly uncurl and return to
start.
36. Stability Ball Knee Raise
Targets: Lower abdominals
Lie face-up on a stability ball, with your hips lower than your
shoulders. Reach back and grab something stable, such as a bench. Lift
and bend your knees so that your feet are off the floor and the lower
parts of your legs point ahead. Using your abs and hip flexors, bring
your knees toward your chest.
37. Cable Rotation
Targets: Obliques
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly flexed, and toes
pointing straight ahead. Hold a cable with both hands directly in front
of chest, arms extended and shoulder blades retracted and depressed.
Draw navel in, tighten glutes, and rotate body away from the weight
stack using abdominals and
glutes.Allow back foot to pivot. Slowly return to start.
38. Stability Ball Upper Body Rotation
Targets: Obliques
Place your feet on the ground shoulder-width apart and lean back on
SB. Place palms together and extend your arms towards the sky. With your
shoulders centered on top of the ball, rotate your torso and arms to
the right, return to center, rotate to the opposite side.
39. Weighted One-Side Crunch
Targets: Obliques
Lie with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold a dumbbell
by your left shoulder with both hands. Curl your torso up and rotate to
the right. Lower yourself; finish the set, then repeat, placing the
dumbbell next to your right shoulder.
40. Standing Torso Rotation
Targets: Obliques
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees soft. Hold dumbbell
with both hands, extending your arms straight out in front of you at
about shoulder height. Contract your abs and twist to you right as far
as comfortably possible, keeping your arms straight as you go. Reverse
the motion by rotating all the way to your left to complete one rep.
41. Bus Driver/Medicine Ball Rotation
Targets: Obliques
Sit with knees bent and together, feet flat, and hold a weighted ball
in front of you. Lean back slightly and rest lightly on heels or lift
feet completely. Rotate from side to side; touching ball to floor each
time (turn your head to look where you're touching).
42. Stability Ball Roll Out
Targets: Stability
Begin by placing your forearms on a ball and balancing your feet on
the ground. This will look and feel like an incline plank. When you've
mastered balancing on the ball, slowly roll the ball away from you by
extending your arms out to a comfortable position. Roll back to starting
position.
43. Stability Ball Pike
Targets: Stability
With your feet down, support your body in a push-up position with
your lower legs on a ball. Raise your hips as high as you can toward the
ceiling as you contract your abs. Hold and then slowly release back to
starting position.
44. Stability Ball Tuck
Targets: Stability
Start in a pushup position, with your palms flat on the floor,
shoulder width apart, and your shins on a stability ball. Pull your
knees toward your chest, keeping your black flat and core engaged, until
only your toes are on the ball. Straighten your legs to roll the ball
back to start.
45. Stability Ball Crunch & Twist
Targets: Stability
Sit on the stability ball facing the wall, then lie back so the
middle to small of your back is resting on the ball. Place your feet
hip-width apart with your knees bent to a 90 degrees; cross your hands
over your chest. Curl up and twist through the waist to the right,
return to center, curl down. Alternate.
Don't forget that nutrition contributes to more than half (possibly
even 80%) of the results. Without eating the right stuff (and maybe
penciling in some cardio, too), those infamous "six-pack abs" won't
happen, regardless of how many medicine ball crunches and pikes get
done.
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