15 Best At Home 6 Pack Abs Exercises (With Workout Routine)

There are plenty of Abs exercises and workouts that you can do at home to get the 6 pack of your dreams. Home is a great place to work on your core because a 6 pack is mostly made in the kitchen.

It’s not necessary to have expensive gym memberships to get great six-pack Abs. A few square feet of floor space is the only real piece of kit that you need.

Many different types of 6-pack abs workouts can be done at home, including a 22-day home ABS workout, a beginner-friendly six-pack ABS workout, and more.

But remember that thereโ€™s no such thing as spot-reduction of tummy fat. A six-pack is indicative of overall health and whole-body fitness, a healthy lifestyle, and a nutrition-rich diet.

Let’s look at how this six-pack workout will be structured and some of the best exercises based on science and experience you can add to your workout routine.

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How To Get 6-Pack Abs At Home

To get chiseled six-pack abs, you need more than just an abs workout. To make your abs muscles visible, you need to build lean muscles.ย Combine your six-pack exercise routine withย strength training, cardiovascular exercises, and weight-loss-oriented yoga postures to achieve this.

Nutrition is also important for fat loss and muscle building. To get a six-pack, eat more protein and fiber, drink enough water, and avoid eating too much sugar.

Here, we focus on the best exercises for training different areas of your abdominal muscles from various angles.

Some exercises concentrate on your upper abs, some focus on your lower abs, and some work the often neglected side absโ€”or obliquesโ€”along with your deeper core muscles.

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10 Best 6 Pack Abs Home Workouts

Do this six-pack abs home workout to sculpt lean definition across your midsection. It consists of abdominal exercises carefully chosen to target both the upper and lower ab muscles. Use it to get a ripped core.

Are you ready to develop your core and abs? Letโ€™s get started with the first workout session.

1. High Knee

High Knee is an excellent cardiovascular exercise popular worldwide. Although it might look easy to perform, it is a challenging move that targets multiple muscle groups in the body.

It recruits the abs and core muscles greatly. You don’t require any special tools or equipment to perform it, making it the best six-pack home workout.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

High Knees

How To Do

  1. Start standing with feet hip-distance apart.
  2. Lift the right knee as high as it will go, raise the opposite arm, and switch quickly so the left knee is up before the right foot lands.
  3. Continue pulling knees up quirky for as long as desired.
  4. Make sure to keep breathing.
  5. It is a great warm-up or full-body exercise that prepares your body for harder core exercises.

2. Russian Twist

The Russian twist is a great addition to your 6 Pack Abs exercises, which you can do at home without equipment. It engages your core and strengthens your abdominal and lower back muscles.

This exercise helps to tone and tighten your abs and obliques and trim your waist. The Russian twist also improves your balance, stability, and posture.

A more advanced way of performing the Russian twist is to raise your feet a little off the floor and a weighted Russian twist.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

Russian Twist

How To Do

  1. Lie down with your knee bent at the knees and feet flat on the ground.
  2. Elevate your upper body to create a V shape with your thighs.
  3. Begin to twist side to side while maintaining balance on your buttocks, keeping constant tension on the abs.
  4. Repeat this movement until the set is complete
  5. Pace yourself. If you can go fast, challenge yourself, go for it.
  6. If you can only go slow, take it easy and chill.
  7. Eventually, you’re gonna get a lot better at this.
  8. The most important thing is to ensure your form is on point and everything else will progress.
  9. We’re on our way to 6 pack abs. Keep those cores tight.
Related : Best Abs Exercises: Upper Abs, Lower Abs, Obliques

3. Leg Raise

Lying leg raises are touted as killer 6 pack abs exercises for home. But your hip flexors actually reap some major benefits of this move. So donโ€™t be surprised if your hips feel a bit of a burn during this one.

Leg raises can also help alleviate lower back pain by improving the overall strength and stabilization of the core.

The straight leg raise exerciseย strengthens the quadriceps muscles of the upper thigh without stressing the knee joint.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

Lying Straight Leg Raise

How To Do

  1. Lie face up on the floor with your entire body straight and your hands at your sides to stabilize your torso.
  2. Hold your legs a few inches off the floor.
  3. Raise your legs up toward the ceiling until they are just short of perpendicular to the floor.
  4. Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position.
  5. Make sure you’re going all the way up and down.

4. Lying Hip Raise

Many traditional ab exercises, such as crunches or hanging leg raises, can place stress on the lumbar spine, especially if performed with poor form. The lying hip raise minimizes this risk by allowing for a neutral spine position throughout the movement.ย 

The Lying Hip Raise helps balance your core muscles by working those deep, hard-to-reach lower abs muscles.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

Lying Hip Raise

How To Do

  1. Lie faceup on the floor or bench.
  2. Feet are up and thighs are perpendicular to the floor (your hips and knees should form a 90-degree angle).
  3. Slowly bring your knees toward your chest, lifting your hips and glutes off the floor.
  4. Try to maintain the bend in your knees throughout the movement.
  5. Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position under control motion. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
  6. Keep the movement slow and controlled. Do not use momentum.
  7. To make this exercise more difficult, perform it on a decline bench with your head on the high end.

5. Flutter kick

Flutter kicks are an exercise that works the core muscles, specifically the lower abs and hip flexors. Theyย reshape and tone the lower body.

They help you to shed some extra inches from the belly, hips, and thigh area. Tighten your abs for better strength. This is one of those magnificent moves that targets that lower abs.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

Flutter kick

How To Do

  1. Lie on your back. Keep legs straight and core tight from this position.
  2. Lift your shoulders and upper torso off the ground.
  3. Raise your legs a few inches off the ground, and flutter kick your feet.
  4. If your back comes off the ground or you feel any strain, raise your legs a couple more inches.
  5. This is an excellent move for tightening that core, strengthening that core and also burning that fat.

6. Plank

The plank is a brilliant bodyweight exercise that isometrically trains the core muscles and helps you develop theย strength and stability of your core.

The plank is more of a strength-building exercise than a cardio exercise. Engaging a range of muscles can also help boost your calorie burn.

The plank, or planking, is an isometric core strength exercise that involves maintaining a position similar to a push-up.

Forearm Plank

How To Do

  1. Lie face down on an exercise mat with your elbows to your sides, your head facing forward, and palms flat on the floor.
  2. Start by getting into a push-up position. Bend your elbows and rest your weight on your forearms instead of on your hands.
  3. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
  4. Brace your core by contracting your abs like you were about to be punched in the gut.
  5. Hold this position for a set amount of time.
  6. Then do 3-4 more sets.

7. Vertical Leg Crunch

The Vertical Leg Crunch recruits your lower abs and obliques more effectively than traditional crunches.

With your legs up in the air, you’re working against your own body weight differently than traditional crunches. This means more intensity and potentially faster results.

In oneย study, the vertical leg crunch produced 29% more mean activity in the rectus abdominis and 116% more mean activity in the obliques than the regular crunch.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)]

Vertical Leg Crunch

How To Do

  1. Lie down on the floor on your back, arms extended straight back behind your head.
  2. Raise your arms and legs straight up into the air. Extend your arms and reach toward your toes when you perform the crunch.
  3. Hold the contracted position for a count of two, and slowly return to the starting position.
  4. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
  5. From this position, you want to keep your legs up so that way you’re automatically engaging that core.
  6. Activate that core, keep that core tight. Keep these feet up.
  7. Reach as far as you can without rounding your shoulders and upper back.
Related: Best Upper Abs Exercises To Get Perfect Abs

8. Seated In and Outs

Seated Knee ups are also known asย seated in and out,ย and they are an essential part of any six-pack home workout routine. If you want to build six-pack abs or simply increase your core strength, seated knee tucks are for you!ย 

Knee-ups are veryย important for athletesย involved in running, jumping, and kicking. They involve bringing the legs forward and upward and raising the legs whenever performing various stunts in a fitness competition, on gymnastics apparatus, or in dance.

For the most effective execution,ย keep the trunk stable and bring the knees as close to the chest as possible. This produces greater shortening and stronger abdominal muscle contractions.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

How To Do

  1. Keep that core tense and bring right back in.
  2. Lean backward and raise your legs a little off the floor, keeping them straight and together.
  3. Raise your knees up toward your chest, keeping your legs together.
  4. Lower your legs back down until your heels almost touch the floor.
  5. Keep your back straight and your feet off the floor.
  6. That’s also just as important as working out because you’re only as good as yo

9. Plank Knee To Elbow

The Plank Knee-to-Elbow is an explosive bodyweight exercise that engages multiple muscle groups at once, helping toย improve balance, agility, coordination, strength, flexibility, and blood circulationโ€”almost like getting a total-body workout with just one exercise.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

Plank Knee To Elbow

How To Do

  1. Get down into the push-up position.
  2. Point your toes while you place your hands beneath your shoulders.
  3. Push yourself up into the plank position.
  4. Bring your left knee to your right elbow to maintain a tight core and flat back.
  5. Pause and slowly return each to the starting point.
  6. Repeat with the other side and keep alternating.
  7. Keep that core tight the whole time. Don’t ever loosen it.

10. Jumping Jack

Jumping jacks are an efficient total-body workout that you can do almost anywhere. This exercise is part of whatโ€™s called plyometrics or jump training. Jumping jacks also involve your abdominal and shoulder muscles.

Jumping Jacks are a great full-body exercise that enhances aerobic fitness, strengthens the body, and promotes relaxation. This exercise alsoย improves muscle endurance,ย increases the bodyโ€™s metabolic rate,ย and helps with weight loss and six-pack abs.

Duration: 45 Sec ON and 30 Sec Off (Rest)

Jumping Jacks

How To Do

  1. Stand straight with your feet together and hands by your sides.
  2. Jump up, spread your feet and bring both hands together above your head.
  3. Jump again and return to the starting position.
  4. Repeat until the set is complete.
  5. So, this is the last exercise, guys. Push it as hard as you can.
  6. Keep the knees slightly bent and land softly on the balls of your feet.

5 Best Weighted Ab Workouts at Home

Getting defined, chiseled abs requires training the muscles from multiple angles with progressive resistance. While bodyweight moves are effective, adding weight to your ab exercises can help build strength and muscle.

Luckily, you can use household items or dumbbells to add resistance to your home ab workouts.

11. Renegade Row

The renegade row, also known as plank row, is almost a variation of the dumbbell row exercise. It targets the upper back, chest, abs, and oblique. Like a plank, it is designed toย target the core.

The renegade row is a multitasking exercise thatย tones your back and works your core, while also testing yourย balance and stability. Itโ€™s the ultimate functional strength-training move that will give you a massive back.

Renegade Row

How To Do

  1. Place two dumbbells on the floor about shoulder-width apart.
  2. Start in the top of a push-up position with your hands on the weights.
  3. Pull your right elbow back, raising the dumbbell toward your chest. Keep your right elbow close to your torso, your abs tight, and your hips in one line.
  4. Hold for one second at the top and return the weight slowly to the starting position to repeat on the other side.

12. Dumbbell Wood Chop

You can easily incorporateย dumbbell wood chopย exercises into your abs routine at home toย build strength in your core muscles,ย including yourย low back,ย abs,ย oblique,ย and pelvic muscles.

It is also known as the dumbbell up-down twist, you must add these oblique workouts to your dumbbell abs workout arsenal.

Dumbbell Wood Chop

How To Do

  1. Hold the dumbbell with both hands, with either your fingers interlaced or with one hand over the other. Stand shoulder-width apart.
  2. Keeping your arms straight, rotate the dumbbell diagonally downward until your torso rotates to the opposite side and your hands are at knee height.
  3. Hold for a count of two. Then, slowly reverse the movement to return to the starting position.
  4. Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions. Repeat the exercise on your opposite side.
  5. Aim for 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps a side.

13. Dumbbell Side Bend

Dumbbell side bends are isolation exercises that target muscle groups on the side of your bodyโ€”specifically the oblique muscles.

The side bend effectively targets theย internal and external obliques, strengthens lateral spinal flexion, improves spinal mobility, and develops a strong core. It is anย easy core exercise that can be practiced at home.ย 

Dumbbell Side Bend

How To Do

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  2. Hold a dumbbell with a neutral grip in your right hand and your arm at your side.
  3. You can place your free hand behind your head.
  4. Your posture should be tall with your shoulders over your hips.
  5. Bend sideways at the waist to the left as low as possible, using your oblique muscles to pull your torso down.
  6. Hold for a second and return to the starting position.

14. Dumbbell Russian Twist

The Dumbbell Russian twist engages your core and strengthens your abs and oblique muscles, as well as your lower back.

This exercise helps to tone and trim your waist. It also improves your balance, stability, and posture.

A more advanced way to perform theย Russian twistย is to raise your feet slightly off the floor.

Dumbbell Russian Twist

How To Do

  1. Lie down with your knee bent at the knees and feet flat on the ground, and hold a dumbbell.
  2. Elevate your upper body to create a V shape with your thighs.
  3. Begin to twist side to side while maintaining balance on your buttocks, keeping constant tension on the abs.
  4. Repeat this movement until the set is complete.

15. Dumbbell V-Up

The Dumbbell V-Up also known as a jackknife is a full-body move that works your core, legs, back, and shoulders.

The exercise is designed to work the obliques and abs, including the lower andย upper absย muscles, simultaneously.

Dumbbell V-Up

How To Do

  1. Lie down on the floor on your back, hold a dumbbell and extend the arms straight back behind your head. Your legs should also be extended.
  2. Exhale and bend at your waist while raising your legs and arms to meet in a jackknife movement. Try to hold the contracted position.
  3. Lower your arms and legs back to the starting position, inhaling as you do so.
  4. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

6 Pack Abs Home Workout Routines

This session comprises 3-4 moves, which you will do as a circuit. After doing the first exercise for 45 seconds, take 30 seconds and then do the next. Do 3-4 four circuits in total.

To work your abs harder, start each set by engaging your entire core so the muscles work from the beginning to the end of each circuit.

At Home Six Pack Workout Plan: 1

ExerciseSetsReps
High Knee430-40 reps
Russian Twist38-12 reps
Hip Raises38-10 reps
Plank Knee to Elbow312-15 reps

At Home Six Pack Workout Plan: 2

ExerciseSetsReps
Jumping Jacks430-40 reps
Leg Raise48-12 reps
Flutter Kick38-10 reps
Sit Ups310-12 reps

You can do the workout two to three times a week. As you get stronger, it is important to increase your reps over time. Adding more weight to your body will help it grow and pop more.

Complete 6 Pack Abs Workout Routine

The three options target different areas of your abs to ensure youย hit them from every angle. The first workout concentrates on yourย upper abs, the second focuses on theย lower abs, and the final routine works the often neglected side abs โ€“ orย obliquesย โ€“ along with your deeper core muscles.

Day 1: Upper & Lower Abs

ExerciseSetsRepetitions
Crunches312-15
Leg Raises312-15
Plank330s
Bicycle Crunches312-15 per side

Day 2: Obliques and Core

ExerciseSetsRepetitions
Russian Twists315 per side
Side Planks330s per side
Mountain Climbers315 per leg
Reverse Crunches312-15

6-Pack Abs Dumbbell Workout Plan

If you add weight to your ab training, you will give your body the stimulus it needs to adapt and grow. The best way to do this is with aย dumbbell ab workoutย with some surprising core-challenging moves.

One of the easiest ways toย train your abs is using free weights. If youโ€™re short on time or just want to train your ab at home, you can try these best dumbbell abs exercises.

ExerciseSetsRepsRest
Dumbbell Russian Twist320 (10 each side)30 sec
Dumbbell Sit-Up312-1530 sec
Dumbbell Side Bend 312-1530 sec
Renegade Row310-12 (each arm)45 sec

Tips and Techniques

  • Exhale while pushing upwards and do in a controlled manner.
  • Keep a controlled motion and avoid jerky movements.
  • Consider doing weight training and cardio to get the most out of your workout.
  • Eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables is said to help you lose weight and get six-pack abs.
  • Engage in High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) at home, using exercises like burpees, mountain climbers, and jump squats.
  • Ensure that you’re gradually increasing the intensity of your workouts over time.
  • Ultimately, your results will depend on your ability toย recover adequately from your workouts. To allow sufficient recovery, it is recommended that you allow at leastย 36 to 48 hours of restย before training the same muscle groups again.

References

  1. Venu Akuthota, Ferreiro, A., Moore, T. and Fredericson, M. (2008). Core Stability Exercise Principles. Current Sports Medicine Reports, [online] 7(1), pp.39โ€“44. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/01.csmr.0000308663.13278.69.
  2. Huxel, K.C. and Anderson, B.E. (2013). Core Stability Training for Injury Prevention. Europe PMC (PubMed Central), [online] 5(6), pp.514โ€“522. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1941738113481200.
  3. Athanasios Mandroukas, Yiannis Michailidis, Aggelos Kyranoudis, Kosmas Christoulas and Metaxas, T. (2022). Surface Electromyographic Activity of the Rectus Abdominis and External Oblique during Isometric and Dynamic Exercises. [online] 7(3), pp.67โ€“67. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk7030067.
  4. Seo, K. and Park, K. (2018). The effect of trunk stabilization circuit exercise using a rubber mat on the thickness and white area index of transverse abdominis in healthy young adults. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, [online] 30(6), pp.892โ€“895. doi:https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.30.892.

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