10 Best Bodyweight Core Exercises for Stronger Abs

Here's how you perform this exercise:

1. Begin on your left side on the floor, resting your left forearm on the ground and the elbow under your shoulder.
2. Keep your shoulders and legs in a straight line by pushing up off your elbow.
3. Your hips, just the side of the left leg, and the elbow should be above the ground.
4. Hold the side plank posture for the desired number of times.

"The side plank tests your balance while using your shoulder and hip muscles to maintain stability. Because it is a unilateral exercise (it exercises only one side of the torso at a time), the side plank may also assist in fixing muscular imbalances."

- Sal Nakhlawi, Certified Functional Strength Coach

3. Reverse Crunch

The reverse crunch is a tough core exercise that primarily targets the rectus abdominis, the abdominal muscle that makes your "six-pack."

Here's how you do it with good form:

1. Lie face up on a rug or other soft surface, knees bent at 90°, and the right and left leg flat on the floor before you. Keep your arms close to your sides, palms down.
2. Exhale and tighten your abs. Lift yourself off the floor and elevate your thighs to a vertical position. Throughout the action, maintain your knees bent at 90°.
3. Tuck your knees toward the face as far as possible without raising your mid-back off the mat. Lift the lower back and hips off the ground.
4. Hold briefly, then slowly drop your right and left foot back to the starting position.
5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

The side plank crunch is an exercise I recommend to my intermediate and elite clients.

By incorporating it into their routines, I've noticed it's a great way to engage those hard-to-reach oblique muscles, offering a more comprehensive core workout than traditional crunches alone.

Here's how to perform them:

1. Begin in a side plank position, having your left elbow precisely under your left shoulder, your right and left feet stacked, and your hips lifted. Engage the core.
2. Raise your right leg and place the right hand behind the head.
3. Crunch the right knee to the right elbow.
4. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Read More: Planks vs Crunches: Muscles Worked

5. Squat With Rotation

Here's how to perform this exercise:

1. Begin standing with both feet shoulder-width apart and both hands behind the head and elbows out. This is your starting position.
2. Lower into a squat position by sending your hips back and knees bent. Maintain a high chest.
3. To stand, press through the heels, then twist your body to the right while pulling the right leg to your left elbow.
4. Get back to your starting position before performing another squat.
5. Stand up and twist your body to the left, pulling your left leg near your right elbow.
6. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

This dynamic variation of the plan will put your core to the test.

To perform this exercise with good form:

1. Place your forearms on the ground, elbows below shoulders, and hands parallel to your torso at about shoulder width. You might also have your arms extended instead of your forearms.
2. Have your feet hip-width apart.
3. Maintain a neutral spine. Keep the hips up, and don't allow them to sink to the floor while you hold.
4. Lift the leg off the ground, then return to the starting position; lift the right leg off the ground and return it to the starting point. Continue alternating in this manner for the allocated period.
5. Maintain a strong core and compress your glutes and legs at all times. Concentrate on maintaining everything tight.

7. Mountain Climbers

How to perform mountain climbers with good form:

1. Put both hands on the floor in a regular plank position. Ensure your weight is equally distributed between the hands and toes. Arms should be shoulder-width apart and exactly beneath the holders. Your abs must be engaged, your back flat, the vertebrae neutral, and the back of the head or neck should parallel your back.
2. Bring the left knee as close to your chest as possible. Bring the right knee to the chest as you return to the starting position.
3. Alternate for the duration or amount of reps required.

What I love about this exercise is that it will test and work your core stability, strength, and spinal alignment.

To perform it:

1. Start on all fours with your knees and hand on the floor. Arms should be under your shoulders, and knees should be under your hips.
2. Activate the core and extend the right arm in front of you, followed by the left leg straight back, parallel to the floor. Hold for a while before moving your right arm and left knee to the center and attempting to make contact. Slowly squeeze and move.
3. Resume the starting position, extend the left arm before you, and straighten your right leg. Hold for a while before moving your left arm and right knee to the center and attempting to make contact. Slowly squeeze and move.
4. Revert to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side.
5. Keep alternating sides for the duration or number of reps specified.

9. Bicycle Crunch

The introduction of bicycle crunches into my routine has transformed my approach to core strength, especially with their ability to simultaneously work multiple muscle groups for a comprehensive abdominal workout.

Here's how you do them:

1. Lie down on your back.
2. Place both hands behind your head, tense your abs, pull your knee to the chest, and raise your shoulders off the surface while rotating the right elbow to the left knee.
3. Touch the elbow to the knee, then return to the starting position.
4. As you lower yourself, switch sides — left elbow to right knee.
5. Alternate for the duration of the set repetitions or time.

Learn More: Do Crunches Reduce Belly Fat

Plank shoulder taps are a plank variant with an extra compound action.

Here's how you do them:

1. Begin in a plank posture, with wrists beneath shoulders and feet hip-width apart.
2. Touch the right shoulder with your left hand, then return it to the starting position.
3. Contact the left shoulder with the right hand and return it to the starting.
4. Continue alternating your hands until the set is completed.

"With the addition of the shoulder tap, you successfully activate the obliques while increasing the strain on the smaller muscles (stabilizers) to prevent your body from twisting excessively."

- Teddy Savage, Certified Personal Trainer