Ab exercises for the gym and home

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These are the 14 ab exercises in our library. Each one includes the correct technique, the muscles it works and alternatives if you lack the equipment. You can generate a free routine that includes them based on your level and goal.

Muscles you work when training your abs

The core includes the rectus abdominis (trunk flexion), the obliques (rotation and lateral flexion) and the transversus, which acts as a deep stabiliser. It is trained both with movement (crunches, leg raises) and with anti-movement: the plank and its variations resist extension, and the Pallof press resists rotation. Both approaches are complementary.

How to train your abs: sets, reps and frequency

For muscle growth, the meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger (2017), covering 15 studies, found a dose-response relationship: more weekly sets per muscle lead to more hypertrophy, and the practical benchmark usually drawn from it is around 10 or more sets a week. Splitting them over two sessions works better than doing them in one (Schoenfeld and colleagues, 2016), and light or heavy loads give similar hypertrophy when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld and colleagues, 2017).

Combine exercises with movement (crunches, leg raises) and stability work (planks, Pallof press). Whether they show depends mostly on body fat, not on how many sets you do. If you are starting out, stay at the low end of the sets and build up gradually. We explain it in how many sets per muscle you need.

What ab exercises do and do not do

Vispute and colleagues (2011) had 24 sedentary people do seven ab exercises five days a week for six weeks, without changing their calories, against a group that did nothing. Body weight, body fat percentage, abdominal fat and waist size did not change; only abdominal muscular endurance improved.

Ab exercises strengthen the trunk; belly fat goes with a calorie deficit. For more stimulus, the long-lever plank with a posterior pelvic tilt activated the abs more than the classic plank in the electromyography study by Schoenfeld and colleagues (2014).

Blog guides: Abs

• How to get visible abs: the truth about the six-pack — How to get visible abs: the body fat range where a six-pack shows, the diet that gets you there and the ab training that actually matters, based on science.
• How Long to Hold a Plank: Technique and Variations — How long to hold a plank for your level, correct technique, common mistakes and the plank variations that activate your abs most according to studies.
• How to lose belly fat: what actually works — How to lose belly fat according to science: why spot reduction doesn't exist, what really reduces abdominal fat and the plan that actually works.

The 14 ab exercises

Compound exercises (3)

Isolation exercises (11)

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