Carve a Strong, Chiseled Core With These 30 Ab Day Exercises

Updated on 6/22/2018 at 2:35 PM

POPSUGAR Photography | Kathryna Hancock

Strengthening your core can improve your overall fitness abilities (like make you a more powerful runner or skier), can prevent injury or back pain, and improves your posture.

Whether you throw in an ab routine after a cardio workout, or you're devoting an entire day to your midsection, these exercises are a must! Be sure to do these ab stretches afterward.

Overhead Circles

Stand with your feet hip-width apart with a slight bend in your knees. Keeping your spine neutral, lift a five- to eight-pound medicine ball overhead.
Begin to circle the ball to the left, in the largest circles you can make, while maintaining a still and stable torso.
This completes one rep.

High to Low Wood Chop

Holding an eight- to 10-pound dumbbell overhead, twist to the left, pivoting your right foot as needed.
Exhale and slice the dumbbell across your body to the right as you raise your right knee, bringing the weight to the outside of your right hip.
Raise the weight back to starting position, and lightly tap your right toes to the floor. This completes one rep.

Reverse Lunge With Twist

Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Hold a five- to 10-pound medicine ball with both hands with your arms outstretched in front of you.
Keep your core stable, and take a large step back with your right foot, planting your foot and then lowering your body until both legs are bent in right angles.
As you sink into the lunge, twist your torso to the left.
Bring your torso back to center, and exhale as you straighten your legs. Bring your feet back together, and then step back on your left leg, twisting to the right.
This completes one rep.

Leaning Camel

Start on your knees. If this hurts your knees, fold up a mat or towel and kneel on that for a little cushioning. Your thighs should be parallel.
Hold a five- to eight-pound dumbbell with both hands in front of your chest.
Take a breath in, and as you exhale, lean back, squeezing your glutes, and use your abs to keep your spine straight. As you inhale, return your torso back to the starting position.

Frogger

Begin in a plank position. Jump your feet to the outside of your hands, coming into a deep squat and keeping your hands on the floor.
Jump your feet back to a plank.
Really engage the abs by trying to slow down the jump, aiming to land the feet softly, without making a sound.

Plank Jacks

Begin in plank position, with your shoulders over your wrists, your body in one straight line, and your feet together.
Like the motion of a jumping jack, jump your legs wide and then back together. Jump as quickly as you want, but keep your pelvis steady and don't let your booty rise toward the ceiling.
This counts as one rep.

Knee Driver

Begin in an elbow plank position with the abs engaged.
Draw the left knee into the chest. Then step the foot back to the elbow plank position. Now draw the right knee into the chest and then step it back to the elbow plank position.
This counts as one rep.

Plank and Rotate

Begin in a plank position holding a five-pound dumbbell in each hand, keeping your wrists stiff to protect the joints. Open your feet a little wider than hip distance.
Lift your left hand to the ceiling, twisting through your entire torso — keep the motion smooth and controlled. Your pelvis will rotate, but keep it level without letting it raise or drop.
Bring your left hand back to the floor, and repeat this action on the other side to complete one rep.

Pike With Ball

Not only does this move work all four abdominal muscles, but the glutes are targeted as well, giving a nice lift to your powerful rear.

Put your hands on the ground and the top of your feet on the ball so your body is in an L shape to the ground (head facing down). Keep your core tight to keep balance.
Pull your navel into your spine and lift your bottom into the air using your core.
Maintaining balance, lower your bottom back to the first L position.

Twisting Side Plank

Come into a side plank on your right side, with your feet stacked one on top of the other and your weight on your right elbow with your fingers reaching away from your body, palm down.
Place your left arm behind your head and inhale to prepare.
Exhale and pull your navel to your spine to engage your deep abs and rotate your left rib cage toward the floor. Stay there for a second, and deepen your abdominal connection by pulling your navel in toward your spine even more.
Return to the starting position to complete one rep.

Elbow Plank With Hip Dip

From an elbow plank, slowly rotate the spine to lower your left hip to just above the floor (about one to two inches from the ground). Come back to elbow plank.
Now lower the right hip toward the floor. This counts as one rep.

Side-Plank Crunch

Begin in a side elbow plank with your left elbow down and your right hand behind your head.
Keeping your torso stable and your waist lifted, bring your right leg up toward your shoulder to lightly tap your right elbow.
Lengthen your right leg back to the starting position to complete one rep.

Diamond Sit-Up

Lie on your back and open your legs into a diamond shape (aka butterfly legs), with the soles of your feet pressed together and knees out wide. Extend the arms overhead.
Inhale to curl the torso up, and tap the floor in front of your feet to stretch your glutes a bit.
Slowly lower back to the starting position.
This counts as one rep.

Double Crunch Pulse With Medicine Ball

Begin by lying on your back with your legs in the air, toes toward the ceiling, holding a medicine ball over your chest with straight arms. Engage your abs to press your low back into the mat while lifting your head, neck, and upper back off the mat.
Exhale and round your low back so the bottom of the pelvis raises as you lift your upper body an inch higher off the mat. Aim the medicine ball toward your ankles as you perform this double crunch.
Inhale, and lower your pelvis and upper back an inch toward the floor.

Reverse Crunch

Lying on your back, lift your legs in the air with your knees bent. Place your hands on the floor beside you.
Without momentum, use your lower abs to slowly curl the hips off the floor and into your chest. Slowly lower them back to the starting position.
This counts as one rep.

Dumbbell Crossover Punch

Begin by lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground, about two feet from your butt. Hold five- to eight-pound dumbbells in both hands at your chest with your elbows on the floor.
Keeping your hands at your chest, roll up to a sitting position. Twist your ribs to the left as you "punch" your right hand to the outside of the left knee.
Bring the right hand back to your chest as you untwist, bringing your torso back to the center, and roll down to the ground.
Repeat the sit-up, twisting to the right side to complete one rep.

V Crunch

Lie on your back and lift your legs and arms up so they are extended toward the ceiling. Lift your upper back off the floor, reaching your hands toward your feet.
Lower your legs toward the floor while reaching your arms overhead, keeping your shoulders off the mat and lower back pressed into the mat.
Repeat the crunch motion to complete one rep.

Scissor Abs

Lie flat on your back. Extend your arms so they're against the sides of your body with your palms pressing into the floor, or bend your elbows and place your palms under the back of your head. Bend your knees and draw them into your ribs. This will make it easier to pull your navel in toward your spine and actively press your lower back flat on the ground.
Lift both legs straight up toward the ceiling, continuing to engage your abs and pressing your lower back into the ground. Keeping your core strong, slowly lower your right leg down toward the ground until it is a few inches above. Then slowly scissor your legs, lifting your right leg back up as you lower your left leg down toward the ground.
This counts as one rep.

V-Sit

Lie on your back and reach your arms rigidly off the floor to your side. Lift your legs off the floor and point them so they are at about a 45-degree angle. Lift your head, so your shoulders are off the floor as well.
When you're ready to begin, lift your upper torso off the floor, and bend your knees. You can lean back to make this move harder or come up more to make it easier. Slowly lower your upper body back down to the floor, straightening out your legs as you do so. Stop when your back is on the floor, but not your head, shoulders, or legs.
This completes one rep.

Half Banana

Start lying on your back with your arms reaching toward the ceiling.
Exhale and roll up toward sitting while lifting your left leg up. Pause at the top and reach for your toes before rolling slowly back down to the mat. Then perform on the other side. This completes one rep.

Butterfly Crunch

Lie on your back with your knees open and the soles of your feet together (in a butterfly position). Lengthen your arms overhead so they are resting on the floor.
Exhale and bring your hands and knees toward each other, performing a full-body crunch. Your shoulder blades should be off the mat as you perform a small reverse crunch, lifting your pelvis a bit off the mat. Hold this position for a moment and really feel your abs squeezing.
Slowly lower your arms and feet back to the starting position to complete one rep.

Overhead Reach With Leg Lower

Lie on your back with your arms reaching toward the ceiling, holding one weight with both hands. With the sole of your left foot on the mat, bring your right toes toward the ceiling.
Exhale and lower your arms and leg toward the floor, keeping your lower back touching the mat.
Inhale and return to starting position to complete one rep.

Coordination Fly

Lie on your back with a three- to five-pound dumbbell in each hand. Raise your arms straight up above your chest, with a slight bend at each elbow. Raise your legs up to tabletop, with knees and hips bent to 90-degree angles.
Inhale and open your arms to your side, with a slight bend at each elbow. Exhale as you bring your arms back up to starting position.
Once your arms are back straight, lift your upper back and curl up toward your legs, pushing your weights toward your shins. As you curl up, stretch your legs out in front of you.
Uncurl your spine slowly as you lower your upper body to the floor while bending your knees back to 90-degree angles. Once your head is back on the floor, release your arms to back out by your side, making sure not to let your upper arms touch the floor.

Lying Overhead Reach

Lie on your back with your hips and knees both at 90-degree angles, using your low abs to press your lower back into the mat. Holding five- to eight-pound dumbbells, raise your arms toward the ceiling, keeping the elbow joint slightly bent.
Reach your arms overhead, tapping the dumbbells on the floor above your head. Do not let your back arch away from the floor as you lower the weights.
Raise your arms back to the starting position to complete one rep.

Seated Russian Twist

Holding a dumbbell in both hands, sit on the ground with your knees bent and your heels off the floor.
Lean slightly back without rounding your spine at all. It is really important, and difficult, to keep your back straight.
Pull your navel to your spine, and twist slowly to the left, bringing the weight to your left side. The movement is not large and comes from the ribs rotating, not from your arms swinging. Inhale through center, and rotate to the right. This completes one rep.

Bicycle Crunches

Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground (pull your abs down to also target your deep abs). Interlace your fingers, and put your hands behind your head.
Bring your knees in toward your chest, and lift your shoulder blades off the ground.
Straighten your right leg out to about a 45-degree angle to the ground while turning your upper body to the left, bringing your right elbow toward the left knee. Make sure your rib cage is moving and not just your elbows.
Now switch sides and do the same motion on the other side to complete one rep (and to create the pedaling motion). Do this exercise with slow and controlled motion.

Crunches on Exercise Ball

Sit on a well-inflated exercise ball.
Place your hands behind your head, and walk your feet away from the ball so your torso starts to roll onto the ball. The ball should support your hips and the curve of your lower back. Your legs should form a bridge with your knees bent at right angles.
Exhale and lift your upper body by about 45 degrees, pulling the deep abs in toward the spine, and return to starting position. Don't yank your neck!

Lower Abs: Hanging Ab Curls

Using a pull-up bar, get a good grip with your palms facing out or toward each other.
Start with your legs hanging straight down, and on an exhale, pull your abs toward your spine and bend your knees, lifting them toward your chest.
Without swinging, slowly lower your knees, returning to a straight-leg position.

The Roll-Up

Dr. Wu told us the ab roll-up works all four abdominal muscles at once, while "assisting with segmental mobility and stability of the core."

Lie on your back with arms overhead.
Bring the arms forward until they are above your head (fingertips pointing to the ceiling).
Lift the head and together with the arms roll your spine up one vertebra at a time, keeping your navel pulled into your spine.
Roll up completely until you are bending forward reaching toward your toes.
To return, stack your vertebra one at a time, until you are sitting erect, and then slowly roll down starting from the sacrum (pelvic tilt backward to touch sacrum down first) one vertebra at a time until you are lying flat on your back again with arms overhead.

Double Leg Raise, Scissors

This challenging but simple move is so effective — and it specifically works the pesky lower ab area that can be difficult to target at times. You'll also take advantage of a nice quad exercise, which can help with running.

Lie on your back with arms at your side.
Pull yout navel into the spine.
Lift both legs up at once until they are perpendicular to the floor.
Slowly lower back down. Do not let your back arch up off the floor.
Add a scissor kick vertically and horizontally up to a few inches (legs stay straight and move up and down or side to side and crisscross each other).