Although many would like to exercise and build the strength of their abdominal muscles, few have the specialized equipment that many have in a gym or home exercise area, especially when first beginning an exercise regiment. Luckily, there are many exercises that a person can do with no equipment to begin and diversify their at-home ab workout regimen.
1. The Bicycle
Start laying flat on your back with your hands behind your head. Bring the knees to the chest and lift the shoulders off the ground. Straighten one leg while simultaneously twisting the upper body in the opposite direction (for example, lifting the right leg and twisting to the left). Switch sides in a constant pedaling motion.
Number of repetitions: 12-20
Focus: rectus abdominis, obliques
Remember: Don’t put strain on your neck when lifting shoulders off the ground. Engage your core muscles!
2. The Plank
Get your body in pushup position on the floor. Bend the elbows to ninety agrees, allowing the elbows to fall directly beneath the shoulders. Rest your weight on your forearms. Hold for as long as possible.
Number of repetitions: maximum of two minutes
Focus: abs, arms, shoulders, glutes
Remember: The elbows must be in line with the shoulder, otherwise you will cause pain and not get the full extent of this work-out. Also, work up to two minutes by gradually increasing your goals.
3. Long-Arm Crunches
Lying on your back, lift your arms over your head and point the knees to the ceiling at a ninety degree angle. Lift your shoulders off the floor by contracting your abs.
Number of repetitions: 12-20
Focus: obliques, rectus abdominis
Remember: Don’t put pressure on your neck to get off the ground. Also, make sure that your arms are moving with your torso. They are there to provide extra resistance!
4. Straight-Leg Crunches
Similar to Long-Arm Crunches, you lie on your back, but instead of putting your hands over your head, you lift the legs to as close to ninety degrees from the floor as possible with a slight bend in the knee (to avoid hyperextension). Raise the shoulders off the ground by contracting the abs.
Number of repetitions: 12-20
Focus: obliques, rectus abdominis
Remember: Keep your legs in a fixed position and don’t hyperextend them!
5. The Sit-up
Lying on your back with your knees pointed towards the ceiling at a ninety-degree angle, raise your arms off the floor so that they are parallel to the body and pointing towards your feet. Raise the torso off the ground and towards your knees in a smooth motion, keeping the butt and feet on the floor. Lower body back to the ground in the same smooth motion.
Repetitions: 12-20
Focus: Abdominals
Remember: Don’t put pressure on your neck! This exercise is especially prone to individuals lifting themselves by putting their hands behind their heads. Don’t fall into this trap! Also, it’s okay if your lower back comes off the ground since you are adding height to a traditional crunch.
6. Reverse Crunch
Lie on the floor and bring knees to chest until they are bent at a ninety degree angle. Keep the feet together and contract the abs to bring the hips off the floor, forcing legs upwards. Lower the hips in a smooth motion.
Repetitions: 12-20
Focus: Lower abs
Remember: This is a small movement, so focus on isolating the abs to do the work instead of creating momentum that will lessen your muscular involvement.
7. Traditional Crunch
Lie on the floor and bend knees at a ninety degree angle, keeping the fit on the floor. Raise shoulders by contracting the abs. Lower shoulders.
Repetitions: 12-20
Focus: Upper abs
Remember: Don’t lift the lower back off the ground. Also, this exercise goes straight down the middle of your body; don’t waver from one side to the other!
8. Side Crunch
Lie on the floor with your knees pointed towards the ceiling at a ninety degree angle with your feet on the ground. Lower both knees to the right, keeping the upper back on the floor. Extend the right arm straight out from the body along the floor and put the left arm under the head. Contract the abs to lift the shoulders straight off the ground. Lower the body. Once one set is done, reverse positions of knees and arms to focus on the other side of the body.
Repetitions: 12-20
Focus: Sides of abdominals.
Remember: Don’t let your crunch direction waver towards the side that your knees are facing. The crunch should still be straight up and down. The twist in the back provides a great stretch and a way to target muscles in a unique way.
9. Slow Crunch
Lie as if you were going to do a Traditional Crunch. Lift the chest off the ground by contracting the abdominal muscles. Once the torso is lifted, hold the torso off the ground for a slow count of two. Lower the torso to the ground.
Repetions: 5-10
Focus: Abdominals
Remember: Don’t put on the strain on the neck. Hold your body up with your core muscles, not with your neck muscles!
10. Knee Change-ups
Lie as if your were going to do a Traditional Crunch. Lift the chest off the ground by contracting the abs while simultaneously lifting one knee towards the chest while keeping the other foot flat on the floor. Lower the knee and chest. Alternate which knee is lifted every other crunch.
Repetitions: 12-20
Focus: Sides of abdominals.
Remember: Don’t force the knee to go further than it can. As always, remember to focus on the abdominals and not momentum.
11. Leg Lifts
Lie flat on the back and lift the legs to ninety degrees from the hips, feet flexed towards the ceiling. Slowly lower the legs towards the ground over the course of ten seconds. Don’t allow the heels to touch the ground. At the end of ten seconds (the feet hovering six inches off the ground), lift the legs back to ninety degrees on another ten seconds.
Repetitions: 5 for 10 seconds apiece
Focus: Abdominals
Remember: Don’t allow the feet to touch the ground. This exercise can be made more difficult by adding seconds to the time it takes to raise and lower the legs.
12. Leg Drops
Lie on the back and lift the legs to ninety degrees from the hips. Put the heels together and allow the feet to fall outwards. Lower the legs at a steady pace towards the ground. When the feet are six inches from the ground, pull the knees into the chest and extend the legs straight back to the beginning position.
Repetitions: 10-15
Focus: Abdominals.
Remember: Breathe during this exercise. Don’t allow the feet to touch the ground!
These are some of the many ways in which to exercise your essential abdominal muscles. You don’t have to use every exercise during every work-out, but having such a variety (that requires no equipment!) allows you to customize your workouts to focus on your goals and to alleviate the boredom from doing the same thing everyday.
If you like these exercises, look into acquiring a captain’s chair or exercise ball to further expand your range of ab exercises!
Works Cited
Ab Exercises – Workouts.” Men’s Fitness – Sports, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Style and Sex. Men’s Fitness, 2009. Web. 15 July 2009. .
“Top 10 Most Effective Ab Exercises.” Exercise. About.com, 3 Apr. 2009. Web. 15 July 2009. .
