Ab Exercises You Can Do At Home

Working out at a gym is certainly time-consuming and not very cost effective for people that are budget conscious. Whereas doing exercises at home not only saves you time but is also cost effective. And the comfort you get at home is always an added advantage. There are several ab exercises or hard core workouts that you can do at home. The good thing is that for most of these exercises you need minimum to almost no equipment. It’s useful to keep a fitness mat for exercising and sometimes a Kettlebell for certain specific exercises.

Exercise Essentials

• A good quality fitness/yoga mat for exercising
• Comfortable clothes for smooth body movement during abs workout
• Kettlebell for certain specific exercises.
• A dry towel
• Comfortable pair of shoes

5 Effective Ab Exercises You Can Do At Home

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First, lie down on the ground or mat, keep your hands below your hips and your legs straight extended, lifted a bit above the ground. Now start moving your legs in walking motion going up and down in sync. This exercise mainly targets the abdominal muscles. It is quite effective in working on the lower abs. Your middle and upper abs will also feel stimulation from this exercise and you will get a great overall workout by including this movement into your overall abdominal training routine. This movement is also an excellent workout for your hip flexors, as a good amount of effect is felt while doing repetitions.

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You need a Kettlebell for this ab exercise. Sit on the ground and position the kettlebell above your thighs. Ensure that you are holding the kettlebell with both hands. Now raise your legs off the mat/ground and twist around while moving the kettlebell to one side and touching it to the ground. Now repeat this twist with the other side too.

This is one of the best ab exercises you can do at home and it can work wonders with the upper abs & obliques.

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It’s a crunch, so it requires you to be in a crunch exercise position. For this, lie down on your fitness mat with your knees bend. Now lift your knees and bring them towards your abdomen. Thereafter, extend them straight, but ensure that the extended legs stay 5-6 inches above the ground level. Now fold the knees back, bring them towards your abdomen (with knees touching the chest) and repeat the motion.

This is one of the most uncomplicated, yet still very effective abs workout you can do at home. It works excellently on the abdominal muscles, obliques, lower back and hip flexor.

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Start with lying down on the mat and your legs straight up in the air. It should straight up in 90-degree angle with your hips. It’s not necessary to bend them backward towards your chest. Now raise your arms from the ground, bringing them parallel to the raised legs. Now using your core start crunching up as high as you possibly can. Ensure that during this motion and repetitions, your hands should always be pointing towards your toes. You can also try to touch your toes while doing this abs workout. But don’t exert yourself for that. Bringing them even closer is good enough. It is an excellent ab exercise you can do easily at home.

This exercise helps a lot in strengthening your core. It works great on major abdominal muscles and muscles at the front of your abdominal torso. It is a slightly difficult exercise to perform in terms of stamina required.

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Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Now fold your arms behind your head and keep one leg crossed over the other. This position will ensure that your ankle rests on the bent knee. Start doing a cross crunch with lifting your upper body and moving it cross (rotating) towards the leg bent on the floor. Do the required repetitions and then change sides for another set of repetitions for the other side of the body. This is another amazing abs exercise you can do at home. It is a very effective exercise for toning up your abs muscles. It is considered one of the best ab exercises for obliques. It works effectively for both internal and external obliques.
Also, Breathing in while lifting the body and breathing out when lowering it down is very important. Always remember to consult a trainer or physician, before you carry out any of these exercises at home. Working on abs is not an easy task and you may sustain a muscle pull, cramp or a possible injury if:

• Exercise is not done properly
• While exercising, you over exert yourself
• You are not in a good physical condition to perform these exercises

You may also want to energize your body with certain pre-workout supplements that may help to boost your performance, especially when engaging in a higher number of repetitions for ab exercises.

So, stay fit, workout sensibly, and keep crunching!

Want to know about any other ab exercises you can do at home? Or have any other workout supplement related questions or query? Please go to our Q&A section. You can also drop your comments in the comments section at the end of this blog. We would love to hear from you.