Whether you’re just getting into working out or you’re looking to get back to basics, having a few easy abs workouts in your back pocket to whip out anytime, anywhere is a must. And just because they're beginner abs workouts doesn't mean they're any less effective. In fact, beginner abs exercises allow you to focus on your form and muscle engagement, making your core seriously quake in the process.
Strengthening those core muscles is majorly beneficial for fitness performance and daily life in general. Not only is your core the center point for all movement, but these muscles also support your spine and protect all of your organs.
Meet the expert: Kira Jones, CPT, is a personal trainer, mat pilates instructor, and the founder of Cacti Wellness app.
While some people might be motivated to tone up their tummy for the aesthetic (muscle definition is a badass accessory), working your core is most important to stay injury-free. Targeting all of the muscles that make up your core with accessible yet effective easy abs workouts will help you do just that. These moves will give you the base you need to protect yourself from injury and better prepare you to start working with weights and more complex movements, says Kira Jones, CPT. Plus, strengthening your abs muscles can actually help take pressure off the spine to ease back pain.
What muscles make up the core?
- Rectus abdominis: your six-pack muscles
- Transversus abdominis: the muscles beneath your rectus abdominis
- Internal and external obliques: side abs
- Multifidi: muscles in the back of your core, along your spine
- Erector spinae: muscles along the sides of your spine
Other muscles also contribute to what’s known as the “core”—like your pelvic floor and diaphragm—so it really is much more than those superficial washboard muscles. A strong, conditioned core is a must if you want to run, lift, jump, and crush whatever flavor of fitness you like partaking in.
To show your entire core some more love, incorporate the following easy abs workouts into your routine. You can sprinkle them into full-body sessions here and there, or dedicate brief sessions to straight-up core TLC.
Easy Abs Workout For Beginners
Time: 15 minutes | Equipment: Mat | Good for: Core
Instructions: Select five exercises from the list below. Perform each for 30 to 45 seconds, then rest for 15 before continuing onto the next exercise. Once you've completed all five moves, return to the first move and repeat the cycle twice more for a total of three rounds.
1
Deadbug
Why it rocks: This lying-down move offers your lower back some support as you develop your core strength and fatigues your lower abs quickly as you extend your opposite arm and leg.
How to:
- Lie on your back with arms extended toward the ceiling, in-line with shoulders, and legs bent to 90 degrees (knees above hips).
- Pressing the lower back into the floor and engaging the abs, slowly extend and lower the right leg and left arm (overhead) until they nearly touch the floor. (If someone tried to slide their hand in between your lower back and the floor throughout this movement, it shouldn’t fit! That’s how much you want to press into the floor with your lower back.)
- Pause, then return to start and repeat on the opposite side. Continue alternating.
Modify it: When you’re first starting out, try holding this position with your legs in a tabletop position and your arms perpendicular to your body. That static hold alone can be effective for tuning into and engaging your core.
2
Plank
Why it rocks: The plank is pretty much the quintessential core move because it challenges all 360 degrees of your midsection, makes your shoulders burn, and even requires your glutes and quads to fire up, too.
How to:
- Kneel at the back of the mat with toes tucked and walk hands forward until your legs are straight, knees lifted, and wrists are stacked directly beneath shoulders.
- Hold, keeping hips high and abs engaged. Your body should form one straight line from heels to head.
Modify it: If you’re working way up to a plank, you can drop down to your forearms to take pressure off the wrists and make it easier to achieve a flat back, according to Jones. If this is still too challenging, come back onto your hands and try lowering down to your knees instead. Hinge forward so that your shoulders are stacked directly above the wrists and you feel tension in your core.
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3
Seated Straight-Leg Lift
Why it rocks: Lying leg lifts can be tough on your lower back if you're still improving that core strength, but this seated modification ensures you'll feel sore in all the right places (read: six-pack muscles).
How to:
- Sit with the legs extended on the floor straight out in front of you.
- While sitting tall and engaging the core, crunch forward, slightly hinging at the hips.
- Keep feet flexed while lifting the right heel 3 to 5 inches off the floor. Pause and lower.
- Repeat with the left leg, then continue alternating.
Modify it: By moving your hands next to your hips, or right behind your hips, makes this move more comfortable and helps improve posture when you're just beginning. You can tent your fingertips so you don't take away from the abdominal work, says Jones.
4
Side Plank
Why it rocks: Say hello to your side abs with this exercise. Side planks hit your obliques hard (but still get your entire core in on the action).
How to:
- Lie on your side with your right forearm flat on the floor, elbow under shoulder, and both legs extended, forming a straight line from head to feet. (Feet can either be staggered for more stability, or stacked for more of a challenge.)
- Engage core and lift hips off the floor and hold.
Modify it: Bring your bottom knee down to the floor while keeping your top leg straight, says Jones.
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5
Circuit 2: Toe Reach
Why it rocks: “This one really isolates the upper abs since the entire movement is generated by a deep contraction of the upper abdominals when lifting the chest to the sky,” explains Wilson. “However, keeping your legs straight and stable will still engage those lower abdominals as well.”
Good for: Rectus abdominis
How to:
- Start by lying on your back with legs extended into the air to form a 90-degree angle with your body.
- Hold a dumbbell with arms extended up above chest.
- Keeping lower back pressed into the mat, raise shoulders off mat to reach dumbbell toward toes.
- Lower back down to start. That's 1 rep.
Make this move less challenging by using bodyweight only.
6
Tabletop With Knee Tap
Why it rocks: Work up to that bear plank with this slow and controlled move. Extend your hover as you improve.
How to:
- Start on all fours, wrists and elbows stacked directly beneath shoulders. Knees should be directly below hips with toes tucked. Keep neck long and neutral by looking at the floor below you.
- Engaging the core, lift knees up off the mat until hips are in line with shoulders.Hover knees for one to two seconds.
- With control, lower body to tap knees back to the floor for one second Continue hovering and lowering.
Pro tip: Make sure to engage your core to feel a lift rather than pushing through your toes and palms.
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7
Bird Dog
Why it rocks: This move builds solid stability as your core fires to keep your shoulders and hips square to the floor as your arm and leg extend.
How to:
- Start in a quadruped position with wrists stacked directly under shoulders and knees under hips.
- Keeping back flat, core engaged, and a slight bend in your elbows, extend your left arm out in front of you at shoulder height and right leg straight behind you at hip height.
- With control, bring your extended leg back underneath you, stopping at your hips, and tap that knee with your opposite elbow.
- Lower your leg and arm down, then repeat on the other side. Continue alternating.
Modify it: To simplify this move, extend one leg at a time with both hands planted, and then extend one arm at a time with both knees planted. You can slowly work your way up to extending the opposite leg and arm simultaneously, says Jones.
8
Single-Leg Stretch
Why it rocks: If bicycle crunches don't feel quite right yet, this modification is a great move to start with.
How to:
- Lie on back with left leg extended straight in the air, just above the mat, and head and shoulders curled up off the floor to hug right knee to chest with arms.
- Keep your left leg straight and hover your left foot a few inches off the floor.
- Slowly and with control, release, straighten, and hover right leg, while bending left leg, pulling knee in towards chest, and wrapping hands around left shin.
- Repeat on the opposite side, then continue alternating.
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9
Plank With Knee Tap
Why it rocks: Those knee taps might look easy, but they up the challenge for your entire core as it works to keep your hips stable.
How to:
- Start in a forearm plank position, with elbows stacked under shoulders, palms flat, core engaged, and legs straight.
- Slowly and with control, lower both knees until they briefly kiss the floor.
- Lift knees and extend legs to return to a plank position.
Pro tip: Think of each tap as one repetition and then return to your forearm plank, focusing on maintaining proper form and not relying on momentum.
10
Plank Knee-To-Elbow
Why it rocks: Your obliques work extra hard as you pull your knee to your elbow in this move, which is a staple in many a yoga flow.
How to:
- Start in a high plank position.
- Lift left foot up off floor and drive toward left elbow while keeping hips level and back flat.
- With control, reverse movement to return to start.
- Repeat on the other side.
Modify it: Drop into a tabletop position and complete the movement from there, pulling one knee to the corresponding elbow, says Jones.
Lauren Del Turco, CPT
Lauren is a freelance writer and editor, an American Council on Exercise-certified personal trainer, and the Fitness & Wellness Editor of Women’s Health. You’ll find her hiking, lifting weights, working on her downward dog, or perusing the farmer’s market.