ab workouts for women at home

Top 7 Best Ab Workouts for Women You Can Do at Home

Ab Workouts are my everyday staple. Why? Because not only will a strong core help correct your posture, protect your back, and improve your balance and stability but core workouts will also improve the way you look. After having 7 babies and losing 20 lbs, I realized that weight loss was not all there was to getting in shape. I felt like I still barely had a waistline. Fortunately, after only one month of daily 15-30 minute ab workouts, I was able to create major improvements! In this post, I am going to share the best ab workouts for women at home that I used.

How I Picked These Ab Workouts for Women for this Quick at Home Routine

You may be curious about why I claim that these workouts are the best ab workouts for women at home. What were my criteria? I figured it would be helpful for you to know so you can decide for yourself if they are going to become your favorites too.

Body Weight Exercises

I love ab workouts that take advantage of your body weight. They help improve your coordination and they also strengthen your arms as you are working your core. Most women are busy and have to manage multiple commitments. You may think that because I am a certified personal trainer, I spend a lot of time working out each day, but NO! I don’t! I am first and foremost a homeschooling mom and a blogger. My workout routine has to fit within a one-hour window, so I like to look for workouts and exercises that allow me to double down on my efforts.

Interesting Moves

I have been working out for decades. I have seen all the ab workouts for women under the sun! Or so I thought! Recently, I purchased a core strengthening program and was surprised to learn some moves I didn’t know. I included some of these moves in these ab workouts for women at home. Some exercises are a bit more well-known but the combination is interesting enough to keep you motivated.

Oblique Focus

Your core is made up of over 24 muscles between your hips and shoulders. The most noteworthy muscles that constitute your core are the transverse abdominis (your deep core), the internal and external obliques (your sides), and the rectus abdominis (your soon-to-be six-pack). I like to make sure to include many oblique exercises for three reasons:

  1. They recruit your other core muscles, particularly when they are part of a bodyweight ab workout. Again, I like to save time!
  2. They tend to require more time and attention to become stronger. After months of focusing on core exercise, I could definitely tell my core was getting stronger as I was able to perform more exercises without taking a break. However, I still found oblique exercises to be quite challenging!
  3. They are a critical part of getting that defined waist you have been looking for. Most women want to do ab workouts not because they want a six-pack but because they want a slim waistline.

Circuit Style

Circuit style training has become one of my favorites. I used to find circuit training boring because I didn’t like to repeat the same exercises. What I didn’t understand is that circuit training is a great way to fatigue your muscles fast while getting a good cardio workout. With circuit training, you have the chance to become more familiar with your workout which allows you to move faster and push yourself more.

Versatility

Even though I will present to you a circuit style at home ab workout for women, keep in my that you can modify these ab workouts to suit your own needs. For example, instead of doing circuits, you can pick your favorite exercises and ad them to another workout routine you may be working on. You may practice just one particular ab exercise that you find challenging until it doesn’t’ feel as difficult. I mentioned that my waistline seemed almost non-existent. Well, not surprising considering that my core was not strong at all. It was definitely my weakness. Doing circuits of ab exercises was incredibly difficult for me and I would end up just mostly just watching the video and doing a few reps. If that’s you, change the ab workouts to suit your needs. Start with 10 reps of one exercise. Can you finish the 10 reps? If so, move on to the next exercise. If not, focus on accomplishing your 10 reps. When you can, then move on. That’s how you push your limits. You set an attainable goal and you work towards it.

Top 7 Ab Workouts for Women at Home

Now that you know why I picked these seven ab workouts for women at home, let get to them. I will present the list of 7 ab workouts with images and tips to perform them correctly. When you are ready, try to follow along by watching my ab workout video. Keep in my that a typical circuit would include only 3-4 exercises and you would go through them 3 times. Here, you can do like I did and use all 7 ab workouts for women and do the circuit only twice. Or, you can pick your favorite 3-4 exercises and repeat the circuit three times. It’s up to you!

1. L-Sit to Table Top

  • Sit on the mat with your legs stretched out in front of you. Place your hands next to your hips underneath your shoulders.
  • Press your hands firmly on the mat. As you exhale, engage your abs to lift up your hips.
  • Hold for 5 seconds. then move your body weight to your feet to get into a tabletop position.
  • Hold the tabletop position for 5 seconds and move back to the L-Sit position.
  • Repeat 10 times.

2. Knee to Elbow

  • Start in the Plank position.
  • Lift up your right leg and bring it to your right elbow and then your left elbow.
  • Take your right leg back to your plank position.
  • Lift up your left leg and bring it to your left elbow and then your right elbow.
  • Repeat 10 times on each side.

3. Slide Throughs

  • If you are not wearing socks (check out these socks to improve your balance and endurance), put some on right now and start in your plank position. Press the top of your feet down to the ground.
  • Strongly press your hands to the floor, exhale, and engage your core to bring your feet closer to your hands.
  • Bend your knees and cross your legs to bring them through to the Reverse Plank position.
  • Hold the reverse plank for 3 seconds and slide your body back to your plank position the same way you did already.
  • Repeat 5 times.

4. Hip Dip Plank

  • Start in your plank position.
  • Drop to the right side and then to the left side.
  • Repeat 10 times on each side.

5. Side Slides

  • Start in plank position with socks on and the top of your feet on the ground.
  • Keep your legs straight and start bringing your right foot to your right arm.
  • Bring your leg back into the starting plank position.
  • Repeat 10 times on each side.

6. Pike Press

  • For this exercise, you can wear socks on a wooden floor or use sliders. Start in your plank position.
  • Strongly press your hands to the mat, exhale, and engage your core to bring your feet closer to your hands.
  • Bring your feet as close as possible to your hands.
  • Slide your feet back to the plank position.
  • Repeat 5 times. You can work towards 10 times.

7. Boat Oblique Crunches

  • Lay on your side with your upper body and lower body slightly raised.
  • Bring your knees to your chest making sure your lower back lifts off the mat.
  • Bring your feet back down to the starting position.
  • Repeat 10 times and switch side.

Best Ab Workouts for Women: Quick At-Home Routine Video

What to Improve Your Strenght and Endurance to Get Great Results Faster?

I mentioned to neurotech socks already in the slide through exercise description, but I want to quickly share how much these socks have helped me. It’s hard for me to push through when it’s uncomfortable. I have learned over time, but the first time I wore the neurotech, I could not believe the difference. Again, you can learn more here.

Slim young woman measuring her thin waist with a tape measure, close up