10 Best Bodyweight Ab Exercises (At-Home Without Equipment)

You don’t need fancy machines or an expensive gym membership to get a flat stomach with rock-hard abs… with these bodyweight ab exercises you can get the same (if not better) results right at home.

Getting abs and defined core muscles seems to be as elusive as finding Bigfoot. And most people waste their time by doing thousands of sit-ups without any results to show for it.

But all you need are bodyweight ab exercises that are actually effective for delivering real results. Most bodyweight ab workouts and exercises are outdated and don’t even challenge your core muscles enough.

In my 20 years as a personal trainer I’ve found the most effective ab exercises using only bodyweight. Here you’ll find the the top 10 ab exercises without equipment that even a beginner can use to get fast results.

Can You Get Abs With Bodyweight Exercises?

How to get abs with bodyweight exercises and without using weights is more than possible. It’s just a matter of building your abdominal muscles while lowering your body fat.

With the best bodyweight ab exercises below, you’ll maximize how effectively you’re training your core. These ab exercises challenge your abdominal muscles as much as possible without using weight training.

But if you have too much body fat in your abdominal area, then it’ll be nearly impossible to build six-pack abs. This is because you’ll have too much fat on top of your ab muscles and won’t be able to see them.

There’s a saying, “Abs are made in the kitchen.”

And it’s true it’ll be nearly impossible to lose a lot of belly fat without dieting better. But doing these bodyweight exercises for your abs will also help “reveal them.”

Naturally skinny guys have abs because their body fat is so low. Everyone has abs underneath fat, so even without training, their abs are visible even though they’re not strong or developed.

How Long It Takes to Get Abs With Bodyweight Exercise

How long it takes you to get ripped abs using bodyweight exercises like these will depend on a couple of factors. One how much abdominal fat you have to lose. And the second is how much muscle you need to build on your abs for them to show.

If you’re already naturally thin then you could quickly start seeing your abs in 30-90 days. You’ll need to use these ab exercises and implement them into a progressive overload training program.¹

To get results, you’ll need to use progressive overload to continually challenge your ab muscles. This is what forces your abs to grow stronger and look more defined.

Progressive overload basically means pushing the exercise and workouts beyond the comfort zone. Gradually increasing the challenge is needed to keep getting results.

This is because your body adapts and grows stronger… so it needs continually elevated stimulus to keep getting results.

Some ways to use progressive overload:

• Increased resistance
• Do more reps
• Add more sets
• Reduce rest time
• Slow down movements (to increase time under tension)
• Try harder variations

If you still have belly fat to lose, then you should also focus on your diet. Six-pack abs usually start to become visible for men at 10-12% body fat. And for women, 16-20% body fat.

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If you don’t know your body fat percentage, then you can hire a personal trainer to measure if for you. Or you could also use a Smart Scale that can calculate it for you.

What Are the Best Bodyweight Ab Exercises?

Ideally, the best ab exercises using only your bodyweight will have high muscle activation. This means that your ab muscles will be working harder during the exercise.

This is critical when picking the best abdominal exercises because when the muscles are more activated, they’ll be:

• More engaged
• More stimulated
• More developed

You really need an Electromyography (EMG) to track muscle activation accurately. Higher EMG readings determine how well the exercise targets specific muscles. Better muscle activation helps maximize muscle growth and strength gains.

But the less scientific way is to go by feeling and how well the exercise works your abdominal muscles (the Mind-Muscle Connection).² The more you feel how well your abs are stretching and contracting then the better “burn” you’ll feel in your abs.

So, the best abdominal exercises using only body weight will have the highest muscle activation, allow progressive overload, and allow you to maintain proper form. Below are the best abdominal bodyweight exercises that fit this criteria…

Bicycle & Rotates

One study has the Bicycle & Rotates crunch exercise as having the highest EMG activation in the abs. So, this is quite possibly the scientifically single best ab exercise you can do.

1. Start off laying on your back with your hands behind your head.
2. Slowly bring your left knee toward your chest while simultaneously bringing your right elbow to meet your left knee.
3. Then quickly alternate to the other side, bringing your left elbow to meet your right knee.
4. Try to keep your abs tight throughout this movement, and your pill is tilted up as well. Make sure you do not on your neck and keep your elbows back.

Scissor Kick Crunches

1. This exercise is great for the lower abs. Start off playing on your back with your hands behind your head and your legs up in the air.
2. Then, slowly lower your right leg towards the floor while simultaneously bringing your right elbow up to meet your left knee.
3. Next, slowly alternate this movement side to side while keeping your appetite.
4. Make sure you keep your elbows back and try not to pull on your neck but rather just use your hands to support your head.

Plank-To-Pushups

1. Start off in the push-up position with your hands underneath your shoulders, your body straight, and your abs tight.
2. Next, slowly begin to lower one elbow to the ground, followed by the other one, until you’re in the plank position.
3. Then, just bring yourself back up to the starting plank position.
4. Make sure you keep your appetite throughout this movement, and don’t let your hips dip down to below.

V-Ups

1. Start laying on your back with your hands extended behind your head and your leg straight.
2. Then, quickly bring yourself up in the city position, trying to bring your feet to meet your hands at the top.
3. This exercise requires a little bit of balance and coordination. Once your hands and feet knee at the top so bring yourself back down to the starting position with minimal rest at the bottom.

Knee Grap Sit-ups

1. Start off playing on your back with your arms extended back behind your head and your leg straight.
2. Then quickly bring yourself up in the city position as you bring your knees toward your chest and also grab them with your hands.
3. Pause for a quick second at the top before bringing yourself back down to the starting position, resting only minimally at the bottom.

Double Crunches

1. Get in the start position by first laying on your back with your arms extended back behind your head and your leg straight.
2. Then, slowly bring both your knees toward your chest while also simultaneously bringing your elbows up to meet them.
3. Be sure to squeeze your abs at the top of this movement before slowly returning to the starting position, resting minimally at the bottom.

Hollow Holds

This is one of my favorite bodyweight core exercises. It really challenges your lower ab muscles hard and a killer exercise using only your body weight.

1. Get in the starting position by laying on your back and keep your knees bent at a 90° angle from your body. Extend your arms out in the 45° angle.
2. Next, straighten your legs out so there also at a 45° angle.
3. Then, slowly lower your legs towards the floor until you really feel it in your abs. This is usually when your legs are parallel with your arms.
4. Make sure you keep your chin tucked into your chest throughout the movement. Hold this position until you’re done.

Elevated Planks

This is a progression from a traditional plank. By elevating your feet you’ll be able to increase the resistance on your ab muscles. This is a great way to increase progressive overload.

1. Find a small platform to place your feet onto. You could even use a step in your stairway for this exercise. Get in the starting position by placing your feet on top of the step and straighten your body out while resting your elbows underneath your shoulders.
2. Lift yourself up off the ground until your body is straight.
3. Your shoulder blades together and tighten your abs throughout the movement and make sure you keep breathing.
4. Hold until you’re done with the exercise. Be sure not to let your hips dip below your shoulder blades.

Elevated Mountain Climbers

This is a progression from traditional Mountain Climbers. Adding a step is a great way to increase the resistance to boost progressive overload.

1. Get in the starting position by placing your feet on top of a small step or the bottom step in a stairway. Place your hands underneath your shoulders and lift yourself up off the ground until you’re in the push-up position.
2. Then, slowly begin to bring one knee to your chest before rapidly switching over to the other foot.
3. Keep this movement up throughout the exercise while keeping your body straight, abs tight, and shoulder blades together.

Knee Tucks

1. For this ab exercise, you can use a pair of towels on a wooden floor, or you could use Valslides discs on your carpet.
2. Start by placing your feet on top of the towels and bring yourself into a push-up position.
3. Then, begin to bring your knees toward your chest, and once they reach her chest, bring them back out until you’re in the starting position.
4. Make sure you keep your abs tight throughout this movement, and don’t allow your hips to dip below your shoulders.

How to: Workout with These Bodyweight Ab Exercises

A simple workout using these ab exercises is to set a timer for 30 seconds per exercise and make it through all 10 exercises 2-3 times.

If you’re a beginner, then even doing just half the exercises one time through will be a good start.

You can get a killer abs workout in just 7-10 minutes. It all depends on how effectively and hard you’re working out your abs.

If you’re more efficient with your time, intensity, and exercise selection, then you don’t even need 20 or more minutes to work out.

You can rest in between exercises for up to 30 seconds. But preferably, you’ll keep the rest time to a minimum to hit your abs the hardest.

I try to keep the rest period between 10-15 seconds between sets. But go off how you feel too; if it’s too hard, then give yourself more time to recover between sets.

To maximize belly fat loss, combine these bodyweight abdominal exercises with High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT). This way, you’ll be able to maximize fat loss while gaining lean muscle.

In The Flat Belly Formula program, you can find HIIT + MRT workouts laid out for you in a step-by-step blueprint along with the best diet for getting rid of your belly fat.

Summary

• Best Bodyweight Ab Exercises for Maximum Results: These exercises are designed to efficiently engage and challenge your ab muscles without needing equipment, helping you build strong and defined abs. These exercises are chosen based on EMG readings and the mind-muscle connection.
• The Key to Visible Abs – Fat Loss and Progressive Overload: Abs won’t show unless body fat is low enough (10-12% for men, 16-20% for women). Using progressive overload—by increasing reps, intensity, or variations—ensures continued core muscle growth. But you’ll also need to improve your diet and use other training methods to burn body fat.
• Ab Training Workout Plan: A simple 7-10 minute workout using these exercises, performed in circuits with minimal rest, will give you great results. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) help burn fat faster. Combine the above exercises for abdominal muscles with HIIT and MRT to maximize your results.
• “Abs are made in the kitchen, but exercise reveals them.” Dieting helps burn off belly fat on top of your abdominal muscles. You need to reduce belly fat and use these abdominal exercises to “reveal” your abs by building up the muscle group.