Home Ab Workouts
Home ab workouts, there are so many of them that you can do with little or no equipment. Most of these, I just do on the rug.
Here are some great ab workouts.
Ab Workouts That Don't Require Any Equipment
We will start with some effective ab workouts that you can do without any equipment.
Plank
This is one of my favorite home ab workouts and so incredibly effective! Lay down on your stomach. Now rest on your arms with your hands and elbows on the floor parallel and close to your chest.
Now you can do this from your knees (easier) or from your toes. Lift up your body so that your head to your feet are a straight plank. If you've never done this before and you're new to ab workouts, 30 secons is probably a good starting point.
For the first 5-10 seconds, you'll wonder what's so hard about this, and then after a few more seconds, you'll know! I've been doing this once or twice a week for a few months and I can barely hold i a minute.
Side Plank
With this one you workout your obliques.
Start by laying on your right side. Then prop yourself on your right arm and raise your body so that your body is like a plank with your feet touching the floor and your head raised towards the ceiling. So the plank is at an angle, but your body is like a board, in that there is a smooth line from your head to your toes.
Now raise your left hand towards the ceiling. Again try to hold this starting with 30 seconds and then increase your time to a minute after you've been doing it for a while.
To make this one easier you can keep your right knee on the ground to help support you.
Now switch and do this laying on your left side.
Crunch
A good ab workout is to do two sets of say, thirty crunches each. Then for the third set, don't even count. Just go until you can't go anymore, for a full burn out. When you are convinced you can't do one more, do three more. And then do one more.
Crunch Variations
Half Crunch
With the half crunch, you don't come up all the way, come up just enough that you can feel it in your abs. You can do a lot more of these in a lot less time.
Full Crunch / Half Crunch
Go back and forth between a full crunch and a half crunch.
Reverse Crunch
Lay with your back on the ground and your arms to the side of you. Bring your feet up to a 90 degree angle so your feet are pointing towards the ceiling. Squeeze your abs and butt and pick your hips off the floor. Repeat this 10-30 times.
Advanced Crunch
These are great intense home ab workouts.
Start out doing regular crunches with your feet flat on the ground. Do that for about a minute. Then put your feet in the table top position and keep doing crunches. Do that for another minute. Finally put your feet straight up towards the ceiling and finish with as many crunches as you can do in this position.
To really make it a great ab workout, end by bringining your shoulders and head up to a halfway crunch, keep your feet up and out pointing towards the ceiling in a 45 degree angle and pump your hands like you're doing the pilates 100.
Pilates 100
Pilates in general is great for home ab workouts as well as cross training workout for runners. You can find a video of how to do the pilates 100 as well as some other great pilates workouts for runenrs in this Runners World article.
Bicycle Abs
These are my favorite home ab workouts for working the obliques.
It's called bicycle abs because your feet go in a motion like your riding a bicycle. At the same time you are doing a crunch, but up and to each side to workout your obliques. It takes a second to get the hang of it, but once you get it, it's just like riding a bike. ;-)
Lay on your back and bring your feet to a table top position. Put your hands behind your ears and come up like you're doing a crunch but to the side. Bring your right elbow towards your left knee and stick your left foot out so that your toes are pointing towards the wall. Now switch, bringing your left elbow towards your right knee and sticking your left foot out. Keep repeating this on each side.
Scissors
Bring your feet out and off the ground so theire at about a 45 degree angle. Now bring one foot in towards your head and grab it with both hands behind he knee. Switch feet. Keep repeating.
Feet up and Out
Bring your legs up to a 90 degree angle so that your feet are pointing towards the ceiling. Then lower your legs to a 45 degree angle. Keep repeating.
Feet Up and Table Top
A variation of the above workout that I find to be a little easier is to bring your legs to a 90 degree angle, then lower to a 45 degree angle, then bend your knees into a table top position, then bring them back up to a 90 degree angle and keep this going for about a minute.
Home Ab Workouts that Require Some Equipment
Here are some really effective ab workouts that are worth doing if you have access to a gym or if you can buy one or more of these items for your home.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Home Ab Workouts
For some really great home ab workouts, I like to incorporate abs into my calisthenic workout. This way I work up a sweat so I get in a good cardio workout while I'm at it.
