Best Ab Workouts for Women: Core Strengthening (Must-Try)

1. Lie on any flat surface with enough width to fit your whole back, hips, and leg muscles.
2. Bend your knees for about 90 degrees so your hips, knees, and ankles create a starting bent position, such as in the regular crunch exercise.
3. Keep your arms extended overhead at the beginning of the exercise and ensure your lumbar spine isn’t too far from the floor.
4. Start the exercise by adducting your arms and simultaneously performing the crunch with your upper body.
5. Touch your heels with both your hands and return to the starting position.
6. Repeat for 15 heel touches, rest for as little as possible, and perform three more sets.

Related: How To Do Heel Touches

3. Crunch and Reach

Crunch and reach is an excellent lower and upper body core exercise.

It entails lower body isometric contraction from your hip flexors and builds superior concentric and eccentric strength in the upper body flexing motion.

Here's how to do the crunch and reach with good form:

1. Start in the lying position with your knees fully extended and hips bent for exactly 90 degrees so your feet look directly to the ceiling above you.
2. Keep your lumbar spine fixed on the ground and avoid rounding or extending your back during any position in the whole movement.
3. Start the exercise by raising your arms with your torso and touching yours with your fingers.
4. When you reach the top position, slowly reverse the motion by controlling the lowering portion of the movement with your abdominal muscles.
5. Repeat for 12 reps, four sets, and rest for 90 seconds between the sets.

The bicycle crunch is more of a dynamic core exercise that is excellent for building a strong core and burning extra calories.

Here's how you do it:

1. Start by lying with your hands behind your head and your legs slightly bent at your knees and hips.
2. At the same time, pull your left elbow towards the right leg or knee while rotating the right arm and extending your left foot or leg.
3. Always switch between the left arm and right arm and change the legs extended.
4. Perform alternating 30 repetitions before resting for 45 seconds.
5. Repeat for five sets in total.

5. Forearm Plank

I've found that the forearm plank is a fundamental core strengthening exercise that has many variations and is among the best forearm exercises.

You can always switch between the forearm and arms straight plank. In addition, changing the position of your feet from dorsiflexion to making your feet flat in plantarflexion is also an option.

Here's how to perform this exercise:

1. Start in the front plank position with elbows placed against the ground and feet in slight dorsal flexion to create better stability.
2. Keep your abs muscles contracted throughout the movement and don’t sag your buttocks or extend your lumbar spine excessively.
3. Hold the forearm front plank position for about 45 seconds and repeat for as many sets as you like, but rest for as little as possible between the sets.

Also Read: Best Forearm Dumbbell Exercises

The one-leg plank is one of the best ab exercises because it will challenge your stabilizer muscles and core strength.

Here's how to do it with good form:

1. Start in the regular push-up position and then transition to your elbows, like in the forearm plank exercise.
2. Keep your upper body flat, legs straight, and knees bent or fully extended according to your preferences (it is better to keep them fully extended).
3. Start the exercise by lifting your left leg off the floor while keeping your hips fully neutral without shifting to the other side.
4. Switch the legs on every couple of seconds and repeat on time for 30 seconds straight.
5. Repeat for a couple of sets and rest for a minute between each set.

7. Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are my go-to calorie-burning exercise at home.

They're an excellent dynamic core exercise that will build a lot of core strength and endurance.

Here's how you can do them:

1. Start in the push-up position with your knees extended, hips neutral, back flat, and elbows extended under your shoulders.
2. Start the exercise by lifting your right knee towards the chest and quickly returning it.
3. When your right knee returns to the starting position, immediately bring your left leg forward with the same principles.
4. Repeat this alternate knee-raising movement for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, and perform 2–3 more sets.

The starfish crunch is an interesting core exercise that will challenge your obliques and rectus abdominis.

Here's how you can do it:

1. Start by lying in the “starfish” position with your hands abducted for more than 90 degrees and your legs for about 45 degrees each.
2. Start the exercise by raising your trunk and connecting your right hand and left leg.
3. Return to the starting position and repeat the same with the left hand and right leg.
4. Repeat for 10 reps on each side, four sets, and rest for 90 seconds between the sets.

9. Russian Twists

Russian twists are great for building rotational trunk strength and endurance and exercising your obliques.

Here's how to do them correctly:

1. Pick a medicine ball of appropriate weight to perform at least 15 twists on each side without pausing.
2. Start in the crunch position by sitting on the floor with your trunk slightly flexed back and your hips and knees bent to have a firm grip on the ground.
3. Lift the feet from the floor and start with twists on each side.
4. Ensure the medicine ball almost touches the floor on each rep to maximize the rotation you create and tension in your obliques.
5. Repeat for 15 reps on each side, three sets, and rest for as little as possible between the sets.

"Many of the conversations surrounding the abs can be oddly polarizing. Some prefer to think of them as wasted training time, others like to overemphasize their core with near obsessive volume. The truth, of course, is that optimal abdominal training lies somewhere in between, but understanding the how and why of effective core training is what ensures a proper return on your investment."

- Eric Bugera, Certified Personal Trainer

The dead bug is a great exercise for beginners unless you perform it with small dumbbells, which significantly increases the difficulty of this core exercise.

Here's how you do the dead bug:

1. Start by lying on the floor with your arms near your body and your legs straight.
2. Place your arms in an extended position towards the ceiling by bending your shoulders and extending your elbows.
3. Bend your hips 90 degrees and create a 90-degree angle between your hamstrings and calves.
4. Start the exercise by extending your right hand above your head and lowering the left leg simultaneously.
5. Reverse the motion by lifting the right hand and leg back to the starting position of the exercise.
6. Repeat the same motion with the left hand and right leg down and up to complete one rep.
7. Repeat this for 15 reps, three sets, and rest for 90 seconds between the sets.