25 Best Lower Ab Workouts to Make Your Six-Pack Pop

1. Bicycle Crunch

Why It Works

Bicycle crunches engage your core to challenge the rectus abdominis, obliques, and hip flexors.How to Do It

1. Lie on your back and extend your legs. Lift your upper back off the floor and balance on your butt, to start. 
2. With hands behind your head, rotate your torso clockwise as you pull your right knee back to touch your left elbow. That's one rep.
3. Pause briefly, then twist your body to touch your right elbow to your left knee. Continue alternating on each rep.

Pro Tips

• Rather than blast through the movement for speed using momentum, move from your abs.
• Don't place any pressure on your neck. Your fingers should lightly touch your head. 
• To make this harder, try a banded bicycle crunch and loop a small resistance band around your feet.

2. Alligator Walk

Why It Works

Adding forward motion to a plank puts your abs and glutes into overdrive to stay balanced, while your deltoids (top of the shoulders) get some extra attention, too. How to Do It

1. Start in a high plank with hands shoulder-width and feet touching, ankles flexed, to start. You can do this exercise wearing socks on a hardwood or tiled floor, or place toes (with or without sneakers) on sliders.
2. Walk hands forward while maintaining a perfectly straight line from head to toe. 
3.  Your feet should drag in a straight line, not zig-zag back and forth. Start with three sets of 20 steps before increasing difficulty or reps. 

Pro Tips

• Fight the urge to sway your hips. That’s a red flag for a loose core.
• When you’re ready to add intensity, try the alligator crawl in reverse or intersperse some pushups as you go.  

3. Body Saw

Why It Works

This is an excellent exercise to engage your anterior core muscles, including the external and internal obliques, rectus abdominis, and transversus abdominis. It also improves flexibility through your calves.How to Do It

1. Place sliders underneath each foot and get into a plank position with forearms planted on the floor at shoulder-width, to start. 
2. Brace your core and pull your elbows in so your body moves forward, then move your body backward as if it were a saw. That's one rep.

Pro Tips

• Initiate the movement from your abs and core, not from pushing your feet on the sliders. 
• Keep your hips in line with your torso.

4. Kneeling Cable Crunch

Why It Works

While there's nothing wrong with a weighted crunch, holding a plate on your chest or behind your head can be uncomfortable and awkward. And the stronger you get, the harder it is to add weight without crushing your ribs or straining your neck. Kneeling cable crunches allow you to add weight with the pull of a pin. The constant tension challenges your abs at every point in the exercise's range of motion.How to Do It

1. Attach a rope handle to the pulley of a cable station and get down on your knees a few feet in front of the station, to start. 
2. Keeping your weight on your knees and shins, let the cable pull on your arms and torso so you feel a light stretch in your abdominal muscles. 
3. Crunch your body, bringing your forearms down to your knees and your head to the floor. 
4. Slowly return to the starting position. That's one rep.

Pro Tips

• Go slow and use your abs and core to initiate the movement. It’s not about pulling with your arms or bending your neck.
•  Keep your chin tucked throughout the exercise.
• Don't rest on your heels. Keep your glutes and hamstrings engaged throughout. 

5. TRX Prone Pikes

Why It Works

This doesn't just blast your core; you work your arms, back, and shoulders with the push motion; and gain flexibility through the hips with the hinge pattern of the pike. There's a ton of stabilizing taking place throughout.

How to Do It

Get into a pushup position with your feet in the TRX straps and tuck your pelvis. While keeping your knees straight, pull your hips as high as you can while dropping your head between your arms.

1. Set TRX straps to mid-length and get into a plank position with feet in the foot cradles and hands directly under shoulders, to start.
2. Tuck your pelvis slightly, engage your core, and push through your hands as you hinge at your hips to drive your butt up toward the ceiling.
3. Stop once your torso is nearly straight (perpendicular to the ground), then lower back down to a plank position. That's one rep.

Pro Tips

• Use your hips and core to power the pike. If you’re driving off the TRX straps, you’re cheating the abs.
• Move slowly and with control to encourage greater time under tension.
• For more of a challenge, walk your feet away from the anchor point.

6. Dip Bar Leg Raise

Why It Works

Aside from cooking your core, doing leg raises on a dip bar challenges your shoulder and back strength and stability.

How to Do It

1. Suspend yourself over the parallel bars at a dip station, to start. 
2. Engage your core and use it to raise your legs in front of you until they’re parallel to the floor.
3. Slowly lower down. That's one rep.

Pro Tips

Don't swing your legs to build momentum. You’re working your abs, not practicing gymnastics.

7. Flutter Kick

Why It Works

Flutter kicks help target the lower rectus abdominal muscles, as well as your hip flexors. Because you're moving quickly, it can also get your heart-rate up and serve as low-impact cardio.How to Do It

1. Lie on your back with legs straight and extend and arms by your sides, to start. 
2. Lift your head and heels about 6 inches off the floor, then rapidly kick your feet up and down in a quick, scissor-like motion.
3. Do these for time (starting with 30-second bouts), instead of reps, as you'll do high reps with the velocity. 

Pro Tips

• Initiate the movement from your abs and core. Don’t think of it as kicking, but as if your feet are along for the ride. 
• For a greater challenge, add ankle weights. 

8. Front Squat

Why It Works

This is a sneaky core exercise. Because the barbell is racked across your chest, your core is bracing to control and stabilize throughout the entire range of motion.How to Do It

1. Set a barbell on a power rack at shoulder height (if you don’t have a rack, clean it to your shoulders). Grasp the bar with hands at shoulder width and raise your elbows until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, to start. 
2. Take the bar out of the rack and let it rest on your fingertips—as long as your elbows stay up, you’ll be able to balance the bar. 
3. Step back and set your feet shoulder-width apart with toes turned out slightly.
4. Squat as low as you can without losing the arch in your lower back. Stop once thighs are parallel to the ground. 
5. Push through heels to rise. That's one rep.

Pro Tips

• Before you initiate the squat, inhale deep into your belly and brace your core before you lower, then exhale as you rise.
• When you rise, push through your hips to the standing position but make sure not to hyperextend your spine.

9. Leg Raise

Why It Works

Leg raises target the upper and lower abdominal muscles, improve overall core strength, and even strengthen the pelvic floor, which is essential for men looking to maximize erections, prevent urinary issues, and even prevent premature ejaculation.How to Do It

1. Lie on the floor and hold onto a bench or the legs of a heavy chair behind your head for support with your legs extended straight, to start. 
2. Engage your core, then exhale as you raise your legs until they’re vertical and perpendicular to the ground. 
3. As you slowly lower your legs, inhale and maintain contact between your low back and floor. Stop a couple inches off the floor to keep tension on your abs. That's one rep.

Pro Tips

• Activate your transverse abdominis at the start of the movement by pulling your belly button in as if pushing your lower back into the ground.
• Go slow in both directions. Avoid letting momentum take over and taking tension off your abs.

10. Hanging Leg Raise

Why It Works

The hanging leg raise primarily targets the lower ab muscles, but also works the hip flexors and stabilizes the lower back.How to Do It

1. Hang from a pullup bar with hands slightly wider than shoulder width and palms facing forward, to start.
2. Set your lats (pull your shoulder blades down your back) and engage your core to raise your knees to your chest. Or, to make it harder, keep your legs straight out in front of you as you raise them (pictured). 
3. Lower with control to the hanging position.

Pro Tip

Fight momentum and use just your core to lift and lower.

11. Swiss Ball Pike to Superman

Why It Works

Your core both powers and stabilizes each phase of this exercise, effectively exhausting your abs.How to Do It

1. Get into pushup position with your toes on a Swiss ball, to start. 
2. Hinge at your hips and engage your core to roll the ball toward you as you lift your hips up into a pike. 
3. Lower your torso so you're back in a plank position, then roll the ball up your legs so it can support more of your body weight as you extend your arms wide but with hands still on the floor. You should look like Superman flying downward. That’s one rep. 
4. Pull with your lats to return to the plank position and begin the next rep.

Pro Tip

Don’t let your hips sag. This keeps the focus on your abs and prevents your lower body from doing too much of the work.

12. TRX Mountain Climber

Why It Works

Because the TRX suspends your legs off the ground, it challenges your lower abs to constantly stabilize as you draw your legs in.How to Do It

1. Place your feet in the foot cradles of the suspension trainer and get into pushup position with hands on the floor. 
2. Drive one knee to your chest while the other leg remains extended, then drive the opposite leg to your chest while you extend the other back. That's one rep.
3. Continue alternating.

Pro Tip

• Keep your belly button in and your head in line with your body, facing down.
• Move slowly, rather than letting momentum take over.

13. Band Reverse Crunch

Why It Works

Changing up movement patterns emphasize different muscles. Traditional crunches work your upper abs, while the banded reverse crunch targets the lower abdominals. Plus, the added resistance forces you to work for every rep.How to Do It

1. Lie on your back, wrap a light resistance band around the arches of your feet, cross it to make an “X” across your midline, and grasp the other end of the loop, to start.  
2. Bend your hips and knees so your knees are near your chest, then crunch your torso off the floor. 
3. Extend your legs while you raise your arms overhead, keeping your shoulder blades off the floor. That’s one rep. 
4. Pause at the top, then lower back down.  

Pro Tip

Don't allow your lower back to arch and lose contact with the floor.

14. Medicine Ball V-Up

Why It Works

The V-up is already a challenging core exercise, but adding weight with the medicine ball further strengthens your rectus abdominis and the deeper transversus abdominis. The V-Up keeps you from putting unnecessary torque on your neck and using momentum to complete the crunch.How to Do It

1. Lie on your back with legs extended, holding a medicine ball with both hands at your chest, to start. 
2. Brace your abs, then raise your legs as you simultaneously reach for your toes with the ball. Your body should form a V shape at the top.
3. Lower back down. That's one rep.

Pro Tip

Exhale as you lift your legs and crunch, then inhale as you return to the starting position. 

15. Swiss Ball V-Up and Pass

Why It Works

Another way to level up the bodyweight V-up, this two-part Swiss ball exercise forces your abs to contract in both phases, which boosts muscle endurance. How to Do It

1. Lie on your back and hold a Swiss ball between your ankles off the ground, with arms behind your head, to start. 
2. Sit up as you raise your legs—without bending your knees!—to pass the ball from your feet to your hands. 
3. Lower your arms and legs toward the ground. That's one rep. 
4. On the next rep, crunch up to pass the ball from your hands to your feet. 

Pro Tip

Exhale as you lift your legs and crunch, then inhale as you return to the starting position.

16. Straight-Leg Barbell Situp

Why It Works

Weighted situps light up the entire abdominal region, but this variation primarily hits the rectus abdominis. By keeping your legs straight, you also work the hip flexors. How to Do It

1. Lie on the floor holding an empty or lightly loaded bar over your chest, to start. Your legs should be extended on the floor in front of you. 
2. Perform a situp, raising your torso until it’s vertical, while keeping the bar over your head. It should drift back to an overhead press position at the top of the situp.
3. Use your core to lower back down under control. That's one rep.

Pro Tip

Start with a light weight or just the bar to concentrate on form. You’ll move up in weight quickly.

17. Star Plank

Why It Works

By widening your stance, you take away the direct line of support of your upper and lower body, putting more of the strain on your abs to stabilize. How to Do It

1. Get into pushup position with hands under shoulders, to start.
2. Walk your feet and hands out as wide as possible. Your body should resemble a star shape. 
3. Hold the position with your torso straight and abs braced for 30 seconds.

Pro Tip

Keep your core engaged, pelvis slightly tucked, and your head in line with your spine.

18. Med Ball Situp and Throw

Why It Works

Weighted situps strengthen your abdominals more effectively than bodyweight crunches. When you add in a throw, either against a wall or to a partner, your core has the added challenge of bracing and stabilizing to catch then lower and repeat. How to Do It

1. Hold a medicine ball with both hands in front of your chest and anchor your feet under something sturdy for support, like two dumbbells. Lie back on the floor a few feet away from a brick or concrete wall, to start. 
2. Explosively sit up and throw the ball into the wall, then catch it on the rebound. If you have a partner, you can throw the ball to them.
3. Catch the med ball, then slowly lower with control. That's one rep. This eccentric lowering will place greater time under tension on your abs.

Pro Tip

Initiate the movement from the core. Don’t use the momentum of the throw as an excuse for bad form.

19. Medicine Ball Seated Knee Tuck

Why It Works

Aside from working core stability, this move also helps with glute activation and ankle mobility.How to Do It

1. Sit on a bench and squeeze a medicine ball between your feet, to start. 
2. Extend your legs out in front of you, then lean your torso back so your body forms a straight line. Hold on to the bench for support. 
3. Crunch your torso forward and bring your knees to your chest to perform a tuck. Lower with control back to the start. That's one rep.

Pro Tip

Squeeze your glutes to keep pressure on the ball.

20. Explosive TRX Pushup

Why It Works

Feet-elevated planks and pushups primarily hit your pecs, but your abs kick in to help stabilize the movement at each stage of this dynamic variation. How to Do It

1. Get into pushup position with your feet in the cradles of a suspension trainer, hands directly under shoulders, to start.
2.  Bend at your elbows to lower down into the bottom of a pushup, then explode up so your hands leave the floor and you can clap midair (if you're not getting enough height, just raise hands off floor).
3. Softly land

Pro Tip

Keep your body in line from head to ankles throughout the movement. Don’t let your midline sag.

21. Pullup to Knee Raise

Why It Works

The hanging knee raise is particularly good at targeting the rectus abdominis and external obliques. Adding in a pullup is a great way to add in some additional core, as it further works your rectus abdominis. Your core is constantly counterbalancing from the bottom hang to the pull up. You have to move your legs and hips in front of the bar to clear your head, so you briefly assume a hollow hold before transitioning to the knee raise.How to Do it

1. Hang from a pullup bar with hands outside shoulder-width and palms facing away from you, to start. 
2. Pull yourself up, moving your legs forward without swinging to clear your head and chin over the bar.
3. Raise your knees to your chest in the top position. Hold for a beat, then slowly lower. That's one rep.

Pro Tip

This should be a slow, continuous motion. Don’t swing; keep the focus on the abs.

22. Medicine Ball Mountain Climber

Why It Works

Because you have to balance on a relatively small, unstable surface, your core is consistently counterbalancing as you drive your knees back and forth.How to Do It

1. Hold the medicine ball with both hands and get into pushup position, to start. 
2. Drive one knee up toward your chest, then quickly drive it back while you raise the opposite knee. That's one rep.
3. You can do this for time, as opposed to reps.

Pro Tip

Keep your hips down for the entire motion. Like a mountain climber working a wall, you use the abs and hip flexors to “climb.”

23. Horizontal Cable Woodchop

Why It Works

The twisting motion of a woodchop works the transverse abdominis and obliques.How to Do It

1. Set an adjustable cable pulley to shoulder level (or attach a band to a sturdy object) and grasp the handle with both hands, to start.
2. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, perpendicular to the anchor point, and arms extended, far enough away from the machine so there’s tension on the cable. 
3. Twist away from the machine using your core, as if you were chopping into a tree. Keep your feet stationary. Resist the weight on the return, rather than letting it snap back. That's one rep. 

Pro Tip

Power this move from your midsection. Your arms are just along for the ride.

24. Swiss Ball Crunch

Why It Works

For an exercise that lights up your entire core, it's hard to beat a Swiss ball crunch. It really works the rectus and transverse abdominis.How to Do It

1. Lie back on the Swiss ball with feet shoulder-width apart on the floor, to start.
2. Adjust yourself so your low back is supported by the ball, then place your hands behind your ears and tuck your chin. 
3. Curl your body up off the ball and perform a crunch until you're sitting up. Lower back down under control. That's one rep. 

Pro Tip

This move is all about the detail work. Touch your shoulders, back, and glutes to the ball to stretch your abs on the lower phase. When you rise, roll your hips and chest up, crunching from the top of your torso.

25. Ab Wheel Roll Out

Why It Works

Rollouts build up and strengthen the rectus and transverse abdominis. It's equally as taxing in both the roll out and in.How to Do It

1. Kneel on the floor and hold an ab wheel directly beneath your shoulders, to start. 
2. Brace your abs, glutes, and lats, then roll the wheel forward until you feel you’re about to lose tension in your core and your hips might sag. 
3. Pause briefly, then roll yourself back to start. That's one rep.

Pro Tip

Keep your belly button in and shoulders pushed away from the ab wheel.