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Exercises

Ab exercises for women: upper abs, lower abs and obliques

Published October 19, 2026

The best ab exercises for women are the crunch, cable crunch and decline crunch for your upper abs, the reverse crunch, lying knee raise and hanging knee raise for your lower abs, and the Russian twist, dumbbell side bend and cable woodchop for your obliques. Toned abs come from training them like any other muscle: 2 to 4 sets per exercise, 8 to 20 reps, ending 0 to 2 reps short of failure, and adding weight or a harder version as you get stronger. Whether they show depends on body fat, which comes down with diet, not ab work.

  1. Crunch Abs
  2. Reverse Crunch Abs
  3. Cable Crunch Abs
  4. Lying Knee Raise Abs
  5. Hanging Knee Raise Abs
  6. Russian Twist Abs
  7. Dumbbell Side Bend Abs
  8. Cable Woodchop Abs
  9. Plate Hollow Hold Abs

Ab exercises for your upper abs

Curling your ribs down toward your hips works the six-pack muscle hardest at its top half. Start with the floor crunch, then load it: the cable crunch lets you add weight a few pounds at a time, and the decline bench makes your body weight heavier.

Upper abs, the starting point

Crunch

Abs

The crunch is short and simple, and it works your abs through the part of the movement that only they control. Curl up only until your shoulder blades leave the floor; going higher just hands the work to your hip muscles.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up, knees up and soles on the floor.
  2. Rest your fingertips lightly beside your head.
  3. Breathe out and curl your ribs toward your hips until your shoulder blades lift.
  4. Pause, then lower slowly.

Cues

  • Ribs to hips
  • Breathe out up
  • Small and slow

Common mistakes

  • Pulling on your head with your hands.
  • Sitting all the way up and using your hip flexors.

Swap for: Cable Crunch, Toe Touch Crunch

Build a session with Crunch

Upper abs, loaded

Cable Crunch

Abs

A cable lets you add weight to a crunch in small steps, so your abs get the same kind of progressive overload your legs do. This is the exercise to build visible ab muscle once floor crunches stop being hard.

How to do it

  1. Attach a rope to a high pulley and hold it behind your head.
  2. Stand with your back to the machine, a step forward, with a slight bend in your knees.
  3. Round your back and curl your elbows down toward your thighs.
  4. Return under control until your back is straight again.

Cues

  • Round, don't bow
  • Elbows to thighs
  • Hips stay put

Common mistakes

  • Bending at the hips and pulling with your arms.
  • Using so much weight you can't curl your spine.

Swap for: Machine Crunch, Decline Crunch

Build a session with Cable Crunch

Upper abs, on a bench

Decline Crunch

Abs

Lying head-down on a decline bench makes your upper body heavier to lift, so you get more out of every rep. Raise the angle to make it harder, or hold a plate on your chest.

How to do it

  1. Hook your feet under the pads of a decline bench and lie back.
  2. Cross your arms over your chest.
  3. Curl up, ribs first, until your back leaves the pad.
  4. Lower slowly back down.

Cues

  • Curl up
  • Chin tucked
  • Slow down

Common mistakes

  • Arching up with a flat back instead of curling.
  • Dropping back to the pad.

Swap for: Crunch, Cable Crunch

Build a session with Decline Crunch

Ab exercises for your lower abs

Your six-pack is one muscle, but curling your pelvis up toward your ribs shifts the work toward its lower half and is what most people mean by lower abs. The reverse crunch and lying knee raise do it on the floor; the hanging versions add your whole lower body as weight.

Lower abs, on the floor

Reverse Crunch

Abs

Instead of bringing your shoulders up, you curl your hips up off the floor. That puts the lower part of your abs to work and is easier on your neck than a crunch.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up with your hands by your sides and your knees bent up over your hips.
  2. Breathe out and roll your hips up, knees moving toward your chest.
  3. Pause when your hips are up.
  4. Uncurl slowly until your hips touch down.

Cues

  • Curl, don't swing
  • Hips leave the floor
  • Lower in three

Common mistakes

  • Throwing your legs to get your hips up.
  • Kicking your legs out between reps.

Swap for: Lying Knee Raise, Hanging Knee Raise

Build a session with Reverse Crunch

Lower abs, easiest version

Lying Knee Raise

Abs

Your legs start straight and you pull your knees in, so your abs and hip flexors work together without any swinging. It is the step before the reverse crunch and the hanging raises.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up on a mat or flat bench, legs straight and hands holding the floor or the bench.
  2. Press your lower back down.
  3. Bend your knees and pull them toward your chest.
  4. Straighten your legs again, heels hovering above the floor.

Cues

  • Back stays flat
  • Knees to chest
  • Heels hover

Common mistakes

  • Letting your back arch as your legs go out.
  • Resting your heels on the floor between reps.

Swap for: Reverse Crunch, Alternating Leg Raise

Build a session with Lying Knee Raise

Lower abs, from a bar

Hanging Knee Raise

Abs

Hanging makes your legs the weight, so this is a big step up from the floor. Curl your pelvis up at the top, not just your knees, to keep the work in your abs.

How to do it

  1. Grab a pull-up bar and hang, arms straight and legs together.
  2. Pull your knees up toward your chest.
  3. At the top, tilt your hips up so your lower back rounds.
  4. Lower slowly without swinging.

Cues

  • No swing
  • Tilt the hips
  • Slow down

Common mistakes

  • Swinging to get your knees up.
  • Stopping at hip height without curling the pelvis.

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

Build a session with Hanging Knee Raise

Lower abs, the advanced version

Hanging Leg Raise

Abs

Keeping your legs straight makes them a much longer lever than bent knees. Use it once you can do 12 clean hanging knee raises.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar with straight arms.
  2. Keep your legs straight and raise them in front of you.
  3. Lift at least to hip height, higher if you can curl your hips under.
  4. Lower slowly until you hang straight.

Cues

  • Straight legs
  • Control the drop
  • Still body

Common mistakes

  • Swinging into the next rep.
  • Bending the knees halfway through the set without noticing.

Swap for: Hanging Knee Raise, Captain's Chair Knee Raise

Build a session with Hanging Leg Raise

Ab exercises for your obliques

The obliques run down your sides and twist and bend your trunk. Train them with one bending move and one twisting move; both build muscle at your waist rather than widening it, the way any trained muscle firms up.

Obliques, twisting

Russian Twist

Abs

Sitting leaned back and rotating side to side works your obliques and keeps your abs braced the whole set. Hold a dumbbell or plate once your bodyweight is easy.

How to do it

  1. Sit on the floor, knees bent, and lean back until your abs switch on.
  2. Clasp your hands or hold a weight at your chest.
  3. Turn your shoulders to one side, then the other.
  4. Keep your chest up and your back long the whole time.

Cues

  • Turn the shoulders
  • Chest tall
  • Controlled

Common mistakes

  • Only moving your arms while your torso stays still.
  • Rounding into a slump.

Swap for: Cable Woodchop, Landmine Twist

Build a session with Russian Twist

Obliques, bending

Dumbbell Side Bend

Abs

Holding one dumbbell and bending to the side makes the opposite oblique lift the weight. You can go heavy and you get a strong side and a firm waist.

How to do it

  1. Stand tall with a dumbbell in one hand.
  2. Bend sideways toward the weight, sliding it down your leg.
  3. Pull yourself back to upright using the opposite side of your waist.
  4. Do all your reps, then switch hands.

Cues

  • Straight sideways
  • Pull up from the side
  • No twisting

Common mistakes

  • Leaning forward or twisting as you bend.
  • Holding a weight in each hand, which cancels the exercise out.

Swap for: Plate Side Bend, Dumbbell Suitcase Carry

Build a session with Dumbbell Side Bend

Obliques, standing rotation

Cable Woodchop

Abs

Pulling a cable diagonally across your body trains your obliques as rotators, the way you use them to throw or swing. Set the pulley high or low to change the angle.

How to do it

  1. Set a handle at shoulder height or higher, standing side-on to the machine.
  2. Hold it with both hands, arms long.
  3. Rotate your chest and draw the handle diagonally to your far hip, letting your back foot pivot.
  4. Return slowly, finish the set and switch sides.

Cues

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

Common mistakes

  • Pulling with your arms instead of turning.
  • Going so heavy the cable yanks you back.

Swap for: Dumbbell Woodchop, Pallof Press

Build a session with Cable Woodchop

A hold for the whole front

The hollow hold keeps your whole abdominal wall tight at once, with a plate held overhead to make it heavier. It is a good finisher after crunching moves.

Whole front, a finisher

Plate Hollow Hold

Abs

Your lower back stays pressed down while your arms and legs hover, so the full length of your abs works at once. A plate in your hands overhead adds load.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up holding a light plate with straight arms above your chest.
  2. Press your lower back into the floor.
  3. Lift your shoulders and straight legs, taking the plate back over your head.
  4. Hold the shape without letting your back lift.

Cues

  • Back flat
  • Long and tight
  • Breathe shallow

Common mistakes

  • Letting the lower back peel up.
  • Starting with legs too low: raise them to make it easier.

Swap for: Dead Bug, Landmine Hollow Hold

Build a session with Plate Hollow Hold

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

Home, mat only, 3 times a week

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets27 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You want to tone your abs at home with no equipment and have about 15 minutes a few times a week.

With bodyweight only, the way to keep progressing is reps and slower lowering, so the sets run 12 to 20 and end at 1 RIR. Each session has one upper-ab, one lower-ab and one oblique move, which covers the whole front of your stomach. Nine sets per session, three sessions, adds up to enough for the abs to respond.

Abs A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
CrunchPause at the top. 3 × 12–20 1 45 s
Lying Knee Raise 3 × 10–20 1 45 s
Russian TwistPer side. 3 × 10–16 1 45 s

Open Abs A in the session builder

Abs B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Reverse CrunchThree seconds down. 3 × 10–20 1 45 s
Crunch 3 × 12–20 1 45 s
Russian TwistPer side. 3 × 10–16 0 45 s

Open Abs B in the session builder

How to run it
Alternate Abs A and Abs B through the week. Rest 45 seconds between sets.
How to progress
When all sets hit the top of the range, lower every rep over three seconds. When that tops out too, move to the next exercise in the section: lying knee raise to reverse crunch, crunch to cable crunch.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Dumbbells and a pull-up bar at home

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets22 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentPull-Up Bar, Dumbbells, Barbells

You have a dumbbell or two and a doorway pull-up bar, and floor crunches have stopped being hard.

A weight changes everything: the side bend and Russian twist can go heavier each week, and the hanging knee raise turns your legs into the load. Reps drop to 8 to 15 because the exercises are harder, and sets end at 1 to 2 RIR since form slips on loaded ab work before the muscle gives out. The hollow hold finishes with a held plate or dumbbell.

Weighted Abs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
A1 Hanging Knee Raise 3 × 8–15 2 30 s
A2 Dumbbell Side BendPer side. 3 × 10–15 1 1 min
Russian TwistPer side. Hold the dumbbell. 3 × 8–12 1 1 min
Plate Hollow HoldSeconds. 2 × 15–30 2 1 min
How to run it
Do this twice a week. Superset the side bend with the hanging knee raise.
How to progress
Add reps to the top of the range, then pick the next dumbbell up. Move from the knee raise to the straight-leg hanging leg raise once 12 clean reps feel easy.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Gym, building visible abs

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets17 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentAdjustable Cable, Pull-Up Bar, Decline Bench, Dumbbells

You train at a gym and want your abs to grow, the same way you train your glutes.

Cables and benches let you load every part of your abs heavily: the cable crunch and decline crunch for the upper half, the hanging leg raise for the lower half, the woodchop for your obliques. These are the muscle-building exercises, so the reps sit at 8 to 15 and the sets go to 0 to 1 RIR, with two sessions a week giving about 20 hard ab sets.

Gym Abs A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Cable CrunchRound the spine. 3 × 10–15 1 1 min
Hanging Leg Raise 3 × 6–12 1 75 s
Cable WoodchopPer side. 3 × 10–15 1 45 s

Open Gym Abs A in the session builder

Gym Abs B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Decline CrunchPlate on chest when easy. 3 × 8–15 0 1 min
Hanging Knee RaiseTilt the hips. 3 × 10–15 0 1 min
Dumbbell Side BendPer side. 2 × 10–15 1 45 s

Open Gym Abs B in the session builder

How to run it
Do Gym Abs A and B at the end of two different workouts each week.
How to progress
Add one rep per session until you reach the top of the range, then increase the cable weight or the bench angle.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

How often should women do ab workouts?

Two or three times a week is enough. Abs recover quickly, but they are a muscle like any other: 8 to 15 hard sets spread across the week builds them, and doing more every day mostly adds fatigue.

Can I get a six-pack in 2 weeks?

No. Two weeks of training makes your abs stronger, but visible lines depend on your body fat, which takes months to lower. If you are already lean, you may see more definition as the muscle grows over a few months.

Which is the best ab exercise?

For building the muscle, the cable crunch, because you can keep adding weight to it. Without a gym, the reverse crunch, since it is hard to cheat and works the lower half most people struggle with.

How do I get toned abs as a woman?

Train your abs with weight, two or three times a week, in the 8 to 20 rep range close to failure, and lower your body fat through diet and activity. Toned is muscle you can see, so you need both the muscle and less fat over it.

Do ab exercises burn belly fat?

No exercise burns fat from one spot. Ab exercises build the muscle under your belly; your overall diet decides how much fat covers it.

Are ab exercises different for women?

No. Abs work the same way in everyone, so the exercises, sets and reps are the same. What differs is goals, and that is why these plans focus on toned, defined abs rather than maximum strength.