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Exercises

Ab exercises at home, with or without equipment

Published October 19, 2026

The best ab exercises at home are the crunch and reverse crunch for the six-pack muscle, the dead bug, plank and ab wheel rollout for bracing, the side plank and woodchop for the obliques, and the hanging knee raise if you own a pull-up bar. You need no equipment to start: pick three or four moves, do 2 to 4 sets of each two or three times a week, and stop each set 1 to 2 reps short of failure. Make it harder by adding reps, slowing down or moving to a harder version.

  1. Crunch Abs
  2. Reverse Crunch Abs
  3. Dead Bug Abs
  4. Plank Abs
  5. Side Plank Abs
  6. Hanging Knee Raise Abs
  7. Ab Wheel Rollout Abs
  8. Dumbbell Woodchop Abs

Crunches for the six-pack muscle

The rectus abdominis, the six-pack muscle, works hardest when your spine curls. A crunch curls it from the top down and a reverse crunch from the bottom up. Both need only floor space, which makes them the base of any home ab session.

Upper abs, the base move

Crunch

Abs

A short curl of the upper back trains the six-pack directly and needs nothing but a mat. Taken close to failure with a slow return, it is a real muscle builder, not a warm-up.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat and fingertips lightly at your temples.
  2. Breathe out and curl your head and shoulders up until the shoulder blades clear the mat, ribs moving toward your hips.
  3. Pause for a second when your shoulder blades are just off the floor.
  4. Uncurl slowly until your shoulders touch down, then start the next rep.

Cues

  • Ribs to hips
  • Exhale up
  • Chin off chest

Common mistakes

  • Pulling on your head: the hands only rest there, your abs do the lifting.
  • Bouncing off the floor: lower under control so every rep starts from rest.

Swap for: Decline Crunch, Cable Crunch

Build a session with Crunch

Lower abs, from the hips up

Reverse Crunch

Abs

Curling the hips up makes the lower end of the abs do the work, and it is kinder to the neck than a crunch. It is the floor move to learn before any hanging raise.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up, hands by your sides, knees bent and feet lifted.
  2. Pull your knees toward your chest and keep going until your hips peel off the floor.
  3. Lower your hips one vertebra at a time, then let your feet drift back to just above the floor.

Cues

  • Hips peel up
  • Slow way down
  • No swinging

Common mistakes

  • Throwing the legs back for momentum: the hips should curl up, not get flung.
  • Stopping when the knees reach the chest: the rep counts once the hips lift.

Swap for: Lying Knee Raise, Hanging Knee Raise

Build a session with Reverse Crunch

Knee and leg raises for the lower abs

Raises bring the pelvis toward the ribs, the part of the range people call lower abs. Start lying on the floor; a doorway pull-up bar lets you hang, which loads the same action with your whole leg weight.

Lower abs, easiest version

Lying Knee Raise

Abs

Lying flat with your back supported, you bring bent knees in toward your chest. It suits beginners and anyone whose hip flexors cramp on straight-leg raises.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up on a mat or bench, legs long, hands beside you.
  2. Bend your knees and pull them in toward your chest.
  3. Straighten your legs back out and stop with your heels just above the floor.

Cues

  • Low back down
  • Knees in
  • Heels hover

Common mistakes

  • Arching your lower back as the legs go out: shorten the range until you can keep it flat.
  • Dropping your heels to rest between reps.

Swap for: Reverse Crunch, Captain's Chair Knee Raise

Build a session with Lying Knee Raise

Lower abs, one leg at a time

Alternating Leg Raise

Abs

Raising one straight leg while the other hovers gives your abs a long lever to resist without the full load of both legs. It bridges the knee raise and the full leg raise.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your back, legs straight, hands under or beside your hips.
  2. Lift one straight leg toward the ceiling while the other stays just off the floor.
  3. Lower it as the other one comes up, switching legs in a smooth scissor.

Cues

  • Back stays flat
  • Long legs
  • Slow switch

Common mistakes

  • Letting the lower back lift off the mat: keep the bottom leg higher until it stays down.
  • Rushing the switch so the legs swing rather than lift.

Swap for: Lying Knee Raise, Hanging Leg Raise

Build a session with Alternating Leg Raise

Lower abs, with a pull-up bar

Hanging Knee Raise

Abs

Hanging puts your whole leg weight on your abs and stretches them at the bottom. If you have a doorway bar, it is the hardest lower-ab move most people can do with good form.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar with straight arms and your legs together.
  2. Draw your knees up toward your chest and curl your pelvis up at the top.
  3. Lower your legs slowly until they hang straight and still.

Cues

  • Curl the pelvis
  • Stop the swing
  • Slow down

Common mistakes

  • Swinging into each rep: pause at the bottom until you are still.
  • Lifting the knees only to hip height, which works the hip flexors more than the abs.

Swap for: Captain's Chair Knee Raise, Reverse Crunch

Build a session with Hanging Knee Raise

Lower abs, advanced

Hanging Leg Raise

Abs

Straight legs double the lever of the knee raise. Use it once you can do 15 controlled hanging knee raises.

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

Planks, dead bugs and the ab wheel

These train your abs to stop your lower back from arching, which is what they do when you lift, run or carry. The dead bug teaches it, the plank holds it, and an ab wheel is the cheapest way to make it very hard at home.

Bracing, the one to learn first

Dead Bug

Abs

Moving your arms and legs while the lower back stays on the floor is the core skill behind every plank and rollout. It also shows you which side of your trunk is weaker.

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

Bracing, the hold

Plank

Abs

A plank holds your trunk straight against gravity. Lifting one limb at a time makes a plain plank harder without any gear once 60 seconds is easy.

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; for the harder version lift one arm or leg off the floor and switch.

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

Bracing, the hardest home move

Ab Wheel Rollout

Abs

Rolling out stretches the abs under heavy load, and a wheel costs less than a pair of dumbbells. Most people start from the knees and roll a short distance.

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

Side ab exercises for the obliques

The obliques bend and turn your trunk and stop it from tipping sideways. A side plank covers them with no gear; one dumbbell adds the woodchop for rotation and the suitcase carry for holding yourself level under load.

Obliques, no equipment

Side Plank

Abs

Holding your body up on one side trains the obliques and the deep muscles that keep your spine from bending sideways. It needs nothing and scales easily: start from the knees.

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

Obliques, rotation

Russian Twist

Abs

Leaning back and turning side to side works the obliques through rotation. It is popular in home workouts; keep it slow so the abs turn you, not your arms.

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

Obliques, with one dumbbell

Dumbbell Woodchop

Abs

A diagonal chop from high to low trains your trunk to turn under load. Kneeling keeps your hips out of it, so the abs drive the movement.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on one knee and hold one dumbbell with both hands up past the shoulder of your front leg's opposite side.
  2. Chop it diagonally down and across to the outside of the other hip, turning your ribs with it.
  3. Return along the same line and finish all reps before switching sides.

Cues

  • Chest turns
  • Hips square
  • Diagonal line

Common mistakes

  • Bending the elbows to move the weight instead of turning the trunk.
  • Going too heavy to control the way back up.

Swap for: Med Ball Woodchop, Cable Woodchop

Build a session with Dumbbell Woodchop

Obliques, the loaded walk

Dumbbell Suitcase Carry

Abs, Quads

Walking with a heavy dumbbell in one hand forces the opposite side of your trunk to keep you level. It is the most useful core exercise for everyday carrying.

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

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. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

No equipment, a mat and 20 minutes

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

You train in a living room with no gear and want a short ab session you can repeat.

Without weights, the crunch, reverse crunch, dead bug and twist give you every direction the abs work in, and none needs anything but a mat. Bodyweight sets are cheap to recover from, so you can do this three times a week, 12 hard sets each time. Reps run high because there is no load to add: stop each set with 1 rep left, and keep the dead bug at 2 RIR so its form stays clean.

Floor Abs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
A1 CrunchPause at the top. 3 × 12–25 1 30 s
A2 Reverse CrunchHips off the floor. 3 × 10–20 1 1 min
Dead BugPer side. 3 × 8–12 2 45 s
Russian TwistPer side, slow. 3 × 10–20 1 45 s
How to run it
Do the session three times a week on non-consecutive days. Pair the crunch with the reverse crunch and rest after both.
How to progress
Add reps until every set hits the top of the range, then slow the lowering to three seconds or pause at the top.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

A doorway pull-up bar and an ab wheel

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets16 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentPull-Up Bar, Ab Wheel

You own a pull-up bar and an ab wheel and want your abs stronger, not just tired.

The bar and wheel add load bodyweight floor work cannot: hanging raises lift the full weight of your legs and rollouts stretch the abs at long range. Because they are harder, sets drop to 8 to 15 reps and you do two sessions a week instead of three. Keep the rollout at 2 RIR, since its last reps are when the back sags; the raises go to 1 RIR.

Abs A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Hanging Knee RaiseDead stop at the bottom. 3 × 8–15 1 75 s
Ab Wheel RolloutFrom the knees. 3 × 6–12 2 90 s
Crunch 2 × 12–20 1 45 s

Open Abs A in the session builder

Abs B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Hanging Leg Raise 3 × 6–12 1 90 s
Ab Wheel RolloutA little farther than A. 3 × 6–12 2 90 s
Side PlankSeconds per side. 2 × 20–45 1 45 s

Open Abs B in the session builder

How to run it
Alternate Abs A and Abs B, two sessions a week. Do them after upper-body training or on their own.
How to progress
Raise the reps to 15 on each move, then go to the harder version: knee raise to leg raise, kneeling rollout to a longer roll.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

One dumbbell, abs after full-body training

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets20 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells

You already lift at home with dumbbells and want a 12-minute ab block at the end of your sessions.

Lifting already braces your trunk, so this block adds what lifting leaves out: rotation with the woodchop, side bending resisted by the carry, and the curling motion of the reverse crunch. A single dumbbell is enough for all of it. Three moves at 2 to 3 sets keep it short enough to do twice a week after training, with the carries at 1 RIR on grip and the chops at 2 RIR so the trunk does the work.

Ab Finisher
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Dumbbell WoodchopPer side. 3 × 8–12 2 45 s
Dumbbell Suitcase CarrySteps per hand. 3 × 20–40 1 1 min
Reverse Crunch 2 × 10–20 1 45 s
Dead BugPer side. 2 × 8–12 2 45 s
How to run it
Add it to the end of two lifting sessions a week. Rest only as long as needed to switch sides.
How to progress
Use a heavier dumbbell for the carry first; add reps to the chop and crunch until the top of the range, then go heavier.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What are the best ab exercises to do at home?

The reverse crunch, the dead bug, the side plank and the ab wheel rollout. Together they train the abs to curl the trunk, keep the back from arching and keep the body from tipping sideways. Add hanging knee raises if you have a pull-up bar.

Can I get abs at home without equipment?

You can build your abs with bodyweight moves taken close to failure; crunches, reverse crunches, leg raises and planks all work without gear. Whether they show depends on how lean you are, which comes from your diet more than from ab training.

Can I get a six-pack in 2 weeks?

Only if you are already lean enough that the outline is nearly there. For most people it takes months of steady fat loss. Two weeks of ab training will make your abs stronger, but it will not change much what you see.

Is a 30 minute ab workout enough?

It is more than enough. Ten to twenty minutes of hard sets two or three times a week trains the abs fully; past about 10 hard sets in one session, extra work adds fatigue more than results.

What are the top 3 core exercises?

A crunch or reverse crunch, a plank or rollout, and a side plank. One curls the spine, one stops it from arching and one stops it from bending sideways, which covers the main jobs of the abs.

How often should I do ab exercises at home?

Two or three times a week with a day off between sessions. Abs recover like any other muscle, so daily sessions only make sense if each one is short and easy.