Speed Hanging Side Twist Obliques

Content Type: Article

The twist-and-lift of this hanging exercise makes you use your obliques to fight gravity as you bring your knees and feet upward in opposing directions.

Stability Ball Rollout

Content Type: Article

Tired of crunches? Do them upside down. Just roll a stability ball slowly away and then back toward you for a great abs workout.

Medicine Ball Situps on Stability Ball

Content Type: Article

The addition of the medicine ball to the stability ball sit-up ups the ante by adding additional weight that your abs need to lift.

Hand to Feet Stability Ball Pass

Content Type: Article

This Pilates-based exercise will help strengthen your core and train your balance and coordination.

Knee Tucks

Content Type: Article

Knee tucks are more than an abs cruncher. The use of the stability ball trains your abs to have a greater degree of stability and control, while also improving your shoulder stability and endurance.

Stability Ball Skiers

Content Type: Article

Keep your movement controlled through this ab exercise and you'll see results.

Stability ball crunches

Content Type: Article

Doing crunches on the stability ball allows you to work your abs with a wider range of motion.

Stability ball center and oblique situps

Content Type: Article

These center and oblique situps are staples of stability ball abs workouts, providing excellent muscle isolation

Saxon Bends

Content Type: Article

Working your abs requires stretching them—here you contract one side as you stretch the other.

Leg Swings

Content Type: Article

This classic floor exercise gives a tough workout to your abdominal muscles, with a particular focus on your lower abs.

Speed Stability Ball Knee Tucks

Content Type: Article

For this variation on this challenging abs cruncher, you'll do the knee tucks with controlled speed, increasing the difficulty level.

Speed Hand-to-Feet Stability Ball Pass

Content Type: Article

This Pilates-based exercise will help strengthen your core and train your balance and coordination. Add speed to the mix for increased difficulty.

Alternate Power Stability Ball Pike and Knee Tucks

Content Type: Article

Pikes and knees over a stability ball target the entire abdominal muscle, both low and high.

Real Hanging Alternate Twisting Knee Tucks

Content Type: Article

Add a tough twist to your abs routine with twisting knee tucks. You'll hang from your hands and swinging your bent legs from side to side, using your abs to lift.

High Bar Alternate Knee Cross-ups

Content Type: Article

Give your oblique abdominals an intense workout as you lift up from a hanging position and touch your knees to your elbows.

Power Hang Knee Tucks

Content Type: Article

You'll need all the strength in your abs and upper body to do hang knee tucks. For this variation, you'll lift with power and speed.

Hang Knee Tucks

Content Type: Article

Hang knee tucks are tough. You'll need all the strength in your upper body to bring your knees up over your head in a tuck, and even more to lower them back down.

V Situps with Heels on Wall and Legs Straight

Content Type: Article

For a power abdominal workout, try a V Sit-up. With a wall to provide leg support, you can reach higher and push your abs harder.

Hanging Leg Raises

Content Type: Article

Hanging leg raises isolate and work your lower abs mercilessly. Focus on form to keep the work down low where it belongs.

Cable Russian Twists

Content Type: Article

Strengthen your core with a series of diagonal and horizontal chops, all resisted by a cable or tubes.

Stability Ball Elbow Rollouts

Content Type: Article

Stability ball elbow rollouts are not only about how far you can move the stability ball; instead, they test your ability to control that rolling motion, and reverse its direction, without falling off the ball or grabbing with your legs.

Weighted Stability Ball Crunches

Content Type: Article

Doing crunches on the stability ball works your abs with a wider range of motion; adding a weight plate behind your head increases intensity across that wider range of motion.

Knee Tuck Floor Crunch

Content Type: Article

Knee crunches work your upper and lower abdominals together, developing them in balance.

Drywater Freestyle Kicks on Back

Content Type: Article

For this great abs exercise, you'll hold your shoulders and legs off the floor while you do flutter kicks for 60 seconds.

Speed Leg Swings

Content Type: Article

For this variation on the classic lower abs exercise, you'll focus on controlled speed and power as you lift and lower your legs.

Medicine Ball V-Hold Crossover

Content Type: Article

Train your abs and entire core as you move the weight of a medicine ball from side to side while holding your body piked in a core-busting 45-degree V position.

Flat Bench Leg Lifts

Content Type: Article

The flat bench leg lifts exercise hits the lower abdominals directly for an excellent isolated workout.

Single Dumbbell Toe Tap Abs

Content Type: Article

A variation on the standard toe tap, this version adds the weight of the dumbbell to further challenge your abs.

Full Situps (With or Without Dumbbells)

Content Type: Article

The popularity of the crunch has meant the death of the full situp in many workout routines. The truth of the matter is that the full situp is a significantly harder exercise than the crunch.

Decline Bench Slow Roll-up Abs

Content Type: Article

Decline abs work against gravity, with a vengeance. Not only is your head lower than your hips for this exercise, but you'll also have to go slowly on the up and the down.

Decline Situps

Content Type: Article

Decline sit-ups intensify the battle between your abs and gravity by putting your shoulders below the horizontal.

BOSU Single-Leg Taps

Content Type: Article

This variation of the single leg tap abs exercise uses the BOSU ball to add additional levels of stomach-crunching difficulty.

BOSU Obliques

Content Type: Article

Use the BOSU ball to elevate your upper body as you do an oblique side crunch.

Landmines

Content Type: Article

Landmines offer a full body workout that tests your obliques, legs, and shoulder muscles.

Single Medicine Ball On the Shelf Crunches

Content Type: Article

To do these crunches, you alternate holding the ball in your hands and with your legs to push both your upper and lower abs to the limit.

Seated V Hold (Feet off Floor) with Twisting Medicine Ball Floor Bounces

Content Type: Article

Rather than lifting your legs or shoulders, this abs exercise keeps your center still while you add the weight of a medicine ball and a turning motion to build core strength.

Flat-Leg Medicine Ball Sit-up

Content Type: Article

Medicine ball sit-ups ensure your abs work doubly hard, as they lift not just the weight of your upper body but the weight of the ball.

Speed Full Situps

Content Type: Article

The full situp is a great workout for the upper abdominals. For this variation on the standard, you'll focus on controlled power and speed throughout the entire set.

Flip Turn Abs with Jumps

Content Type: Article

This explosive exercise works you in every direction, combining an abs-crunching reverse tuck to squatted tuck with an explosive vertical jump for leg speed and power.

On-Side V Toe Tap Obliques

Content Type: Article

For this oblique buster, you'll lift your legs up to meet your arms in a V while lying on your side.

Hold Plank with Cross-Kick Under

Content Type: Article

This core-busting exercise starts with a basic plank position and then attacks it from both ends by asking you to bring your foot up to meet your opposite hand.

Side Pillar Hip Lifts

Content Type: Article

Many people neglect the obliques in their quest for strong center abdominals. Side pillar hip lifts address that by working out your right and left sides individually.

Floor crunches

Content Type: Article

A well-executed crunch works the center abs muscles and lower abs muscles in particular; a poorly executed crunch strains the neck and does little for the abs.

Floor Crunch

Content Type: Article

The crunch is the classic abdominal exercise—and it really works, but only if you do it correctly.

Floor leg raises

Content Type: Article

The floor leg raise is one of the great abs exercises, isolating the lower abs in a slow torture fest that builds great abdominal strength.

Stability Ball Push-ups and Knee Tucks

Content Type: Article

The stability ball push-up and knee tucks is a two-in-one workout that focuses on your chest and abs while simultaneously improving overall core muscle strength, balance, and concentration.

Hold Plank with Single Dumbbell Kickbacks

Content Type: Article

By maintaining a plank position, you'll strengthen your abs and at the same time work your triceps.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Squats

Content Type: Article

For the single-arm dumbbell squat, you'll train your major leg muscle groups but also your abdominal obliques as you engage them to counterbalance the weight held in one hand and keep you upright as you descend into the squat.

Boxing: Full Sit-Ups with Dumbbells and Alternate Cross Punches

Content Type: Article

The combination sit-up and cross punch exercise works the abs and the shoulders.