No Crunches! A Simple Core Workout With Fitness Expert Kathy Smith

This will keep your lower body strong and straight, with your hips level. Looking in a mirror or getting someone to check your form can also help. Med ball v sit ups (or jack knives) are a challenging core burner that will fire up both your rectus abdominis and your transverse abdominis, along with the hip flexors, adductors, and quads. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) ranks bicycle crunches as the best ab exercise [1]. With no equipment required, they’re well suited to beginners, those working out from home, or a fiery finisher post-workout.

Right Side Plank

• Even when you’re not thinking about it, your abs are helping you brace and protect your spine— especially during your other big compound lifts in the gym.
• Keep your right leg straight and slightly lifted off the floor.
• Repeat with your left foot and alternate sides for 1 minute.
• By building a rock-solid core, we can improve across the board in compound lifts, sports, and day-to-day life.
• Your goal, starting fitness level, and long-term program should help you decide what you need to weave into a unique workout regimen.
• Sit, leaning back at a 45-degree angle, with knees bent upward and feet hovering just above the ground or straight out from the knees.

Try doing these exercises as a circuit, performing as many reps as possible of each exercise for 40 seconds and then resting for 20 seconds before beginning the next exercise. Do each exercise for the designated time, taking 10–15 seconds to transition between moves. Repeat the workout 2 more times, for a total of 3 rounds, resting 20 seconds between each round. You don’t need complicated moves to build core strength from all angles. Try this movement once or twice without a weight, and then start with something light (think 5 pounds) to make sure your shoulders are stable enough to handle weight overhead.

Oblique crunch

Bend your knees upward and raise your feet to hover above the ground. Position your upper body at a 45-degree angle and rotate your torso to the right, touching the ground on your right side. Return to center and repeat on the left side, alternating for 1 minute. When it comes to abdominals, there’s no need to complicate things.

Reverse Ab Crunch

Whether you’re just getting started on your fitness journey or returning to exercise after extended time off, it can be daunting to know where to start. This 20-minute beginner abs workout—which you can do with just your bodyweight—will help you activate all the muscles in your core as one unit, not just individual muscles. That, in turn, can help you build a stronger, more stable torso.

Side plank with rotation

Side planks are a highly effective isometric ab exercise that targets the obliques, transverse abdominis (deep core stabilizers), glutes, and shoulder muscles. This means an effective abdominal workout contains much more than just crunches (which only train your abs using the back and forward flexion of the spine). It challenges the core using varying planes of motion, core engagement, and training styles. As you progress (particularly with free weight exercises), plan out where you pocket your direct core work.

Cable Woodchopper

Begin lying on your back with your feet straight out in front of you. Lift your legs straight up toward the ceiling, engaging your abs. Exhale as you slowly lower your legs toward the mat to a 45-degree angle. This move is similar to the dead bug hold position above but calls for alternating your range of motion, which further activates the core muscles, Orsborn says. To keep your body straight, focus on pulling your belly button towards your spine, and squeeze your glutes and quads.

What is the fastest way to build your core?

Keeping your core strong is an excellent goal for everyday well-being. Strengthening your core can improve movement, power, balance and stability, thereby improving your performance in workouts and sports. If you’re new to working your abs, these exercises are perfect for a beginner ab workout at home. Try doing these as a circuit, performing as many reps as possible of each exercise for 30 seconds and then resting for 20 seconds before beginning the next exercise. Planks, crunches, and bridges all help engage and strengthen the core muscles in different ways. The best core exercise for you will depend on your mobility, exercise proficiency, and current muscular deficiencies.

Popular Workouts

This usually pans out to be about every two or so days, depending on how hard you go. Leg-lowering exercises involve lying on your back with your lower back flat against the ground while lowering one or both legs. Doing all the right things on https://www.fingerlakes1.com/2025/02/24/madmuscles-review-real-results-without-hidden-fees/ the workout mat and in the kitchen, but still can’t see your six-pack? We’ll help you troubleshoot as we break down the reality of rock-hard abs.

What are the best core exercises for beginners?

Activate your core and glute muscles as you lift your hips off the floor. Your body should create a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. When people think about building their core strength, crunches and sit-ups often spring to mind. Beginner ab exercises should be simple, achievable and not too daunting (don’t worry, you won’t find any 5-minute plank holds in this list!), and these exercises definitely fit the bill! Several of them are also on Kayla Itsines’ list of favourite ab exercises.

This Beginner Ab Workout Goes Back to Basics For a Stronger Core

The best core workout typically consists of 3 to 5 exercises, performed in 2 to 4 sets of 10–15 reps each (or 30–45 seconds if timed), and usually done at the end of your main workout. Again, genetics plays a big part in the appearance of your abs! Whilst some people are born with perfectly caved and stacked abs, others may have an uneven and asymmetric core. It’s not uncommon to have staggered abs, where the abs on both sides are the same size, but don’t line up, creating an uneven effect. It’s all down to genes, and unfortunately, there’s no secret ab exercises we can give you to build your abs in a different shape. A six-pack may be the ultimate show of fitness, but unfortunately, some of us can do all the ab exercises in the world and still not get the chiseled stomach we dream of.