The 41 Hardest Ab Exercises
Think you’re hardcore -- or that you have a hard core? Prove it! These 41 midsection-mangling moves are some of the most advanced on the planet.
Overview
Think you're hardcore -- or that you have a hard core? Prove it! These 41 midsection-mangling moves are some of the most advanced on the planet. They'll help strengthen your torso from a variety of angles and in a variety of ways so you'll be ready for all the movements initiated by your core -- which is just about every move you make!
1. Banana Roll
Don't let this one fool you: It may look and sound a little silly, but it's hard work. And it's foundational stuff: Rolling over is a skill that babies have, but many adults have lost. Get it back with this roll. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your back with arms extended overhead, legs straight out. Lift into a "hollow" position -- arms and legs lifted, lower back pressed into the ground, head in line with the arms. Engage your core and roll to your left using your abdominal muscles, not your hips. Roll until you're on your stomach and are in a Superman "flying" position. Roll back the way you came. Now roll to the right onto your stomach and return to start again.
Related: The Science of Amazing Abs
2. Barbell Hip Thrust
While this exercise doesn't target your abs, per se, it does target other core muscles like the glutes and hips. This move -- a favorite of Bret Contreras, CSCS, aka "The Glute Guy" -- is one of the best exercises for challenging and strengthening your backside. HOW TO DO IT: Start seated on the ground with a bench behind you and a loaded barbell over your hips. Your upper back and shoulders should be on the bench. Drive through your feet and extend your hips by contracting your glutes, raising the bar until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees. Return to the starting position and repeat.
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3. Barbell Floor Wiper
No list of advanced core moves would be complete without an example from the "300" workout. This variation on the classic supine move involves a challenge: holding a loaded barbell straight in front of your chest throughout the move. HOW TO DO IT: Grab a barbell loaded with one 45-pound plate on each side. Get on your back and hold the bar directly over your chest with straight arms. Keep your feet together and legs straight as you bring both feet up to the left plate then return them to the floor. Next, bring your legs up to the right plate and return them to the floor.
Related: The 15 Toughest Do-Anywhere Workout Moves
4. Body Saw
Holding a plank -- especially on your forearms -- is probably a piece of cake by now. Instead of hanging out statically for five minutes, change the length of the lever to challenge your core. HOW TO DO IT: Assume a forearm-plank position on a slick floor with a towel or slides under your toes. Slide your body forward and back slightly by hinging at your elbows and shoulders, maintaining a rigid body line from head to heels throughout the move.
Related: The Cardio Abs Workout
5. Cable Push-Pull
To get the form right on this move, imagine you're the Karate Kid: When he punches his right arm, he rows his left toward his waist. HOW TO DO IT: Stand in the center of a cable-cross setup, with the cables set just above waist height. Face one side of the cables, with your left leg in front of your right. Grab the cable in front of you with your left hand and grab the one behind you with your right and stand as if you've just thrown a punch with your left. Your right hand should be by your right hip, your left arm extended. Now push and pull simultaneously -- pull your left arm toward your left hip as you punch your right arm forward. Return to start, repeat, then switch sides.
Related: 12 Cable-Machine Moves That Build Muscle and Torch Calories
6. Cross-Climber With Feet on Swiss Ball
Keeping your hips stable and body aligned gets a whole lot tougher when the ground can roll. Throw in a ball and you add even more instability -- that's the idea behind many of the moves on this list, including this one. HOW TO DO IT: Start in push-up position, but with your shins on a Swiss ball. Your body should form a straight line from ankles to head. Without rounding your lower back, lift your left leg off the ball and bring that knee toward your right elbow. Return to start, then bring your right knee up to your left elbow.
Related: How to Stay Motivated to Get Six-Pack Abs
7. Dragon Flag
If this move is tough enough for the Italian Stallion, it's tough enough for you. While you may not rock the dragon on a farmhouse wooden table with a fire burning in the background while you train to avenge the death of your friend and formal rival, you can pretend that's why you're working on this punishing move. HOW TO DO IT: Lie faceup on a bench and grab the bench next to your ears so that your elbows are bent and your upper arms are next to your head. Your hands are there simply for support -- don't pull with them or you'll wrench your neck. Use your core to roll up onto your shoulders until your body is straight and perpendicular to the ground --basically, you're stacked on top of your shoulders. From here, slowly lower your body using your core, maintaining a straight body line. Work toward bringing your body down until it's hovering just above the bench. Then bring it back up to the start and lower slowly again.
Related: Food Tips for Six-Pack Abs
8. Fire Hydrant
Mimicking a dog marking his territory might not sound like an efficient ab exercise, but this move will prove otherwise. You'll also work on your hips, which are (surprise!) part of your core. HOW TO DO IT: Start on all fours, knees below your hips, hands below your shoulders. Keep your knee bent and lift your left leg out to the side until your thigh is parallel to the floor -- you'll look like a dog visiting a fire hydrant. Kick your leg straight back and return to start. Repeat with the right leg.
Related: How Eggs Get You Lean and Flat Abs
9. Front Lever
Planks too easy? Try them suspended upside down. The front lever isn't just incredibly impressive-looking, it's even harder than it looks and will challenge your core, back and motivation as you train to perfect it. Good luck! HOW TO DO IT: Grab a pull-up bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip. From the hanging position, use your shoulders, back and core to pull your body -- totally straight -- from the perpendicular position up to a position parallel to the floor. If you can reach this position, hold it for as long as you can. To work your way up to this position, start with your knees tucked in: You're hanging from the bar, arms straight, but with your body tucked in a ball and your back parallel to the floor.
Related: 3 Cardinal Rules of Fast Six-Pack Abs
10. Glute Bridge March
Your glutes -- and hips and back -- are all part of your core. This move works all of those muscle groups much as they function together in real life, while still ripping that six-pack area you can't stop obsessing over. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your back with your arms at your sides, palms down. Bend your knees so your heels are on the floor, feet flexed. Squeeze your glutes so your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders. Maintaining this straight line and keeping your hips square, lift your right foot off the ground and bring your knee to your chest. Return it to the floor and lift your left knee to your chest. Continue "marching" in this way.
Related: Join Our LIVESTRONG 30-Day Ab Challenge
11. Hanging Leg Raise
Lots of people crank out leg raises, but they're not getting the full benefit. By concentrating on keeping your torso perpendicular to the floor, you'll add difficulty to this move and reap greater benefits. HOW TO DO IT: Hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands wider than shoulder-width apart. Keep your torso perpendicular to the ground and don't lean back as you pull your knees toward your chest by bending your hips. To make it more difficult, keep your legs straight as you raise them and work toward raising your straight legs all the way up to the bar.
Related: 10 Core-Strengthening Kettlebell Moves
12. Hollow Rock
Popularized by CrossFit, this exercise, like the banana roll, will make you feel silly twice -- first for how you look and second when you realize how much you underestimated its challenge. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your back with arms extended overhead, legs straight out. Lift into a "hollow" position, with arms and legs up, lower back pressed into the ground and head in line with the arms. Using your core to get going, rock your body so that you look like the bottom of a rocking chair.
Related: Toning Your Core
13. Incline Reverse Crunch
Crunches are like Nickelback -- incredibly popular but most people agree they stink. But throw in some incline (gravity!) and reverse the movement and you've got a whole new challenge. HOW TO DO IT: Lie faceup on an incline bench with your hips lower than your head, your body forming a straight line from head to heels. Grab the bar behind your head for support or grasp the sides of the bench. Lift your knees toward your chest. Slowly lower your feet toward the floor and repeat.
Related: Top Core Exercises for Runners
14. K-Off Carry
One benefit of the weighted carry is that it builds functional strength. You'll probably need that same strength the next time a buddy moves to a new apartment. But in the real world, little variables pop up, says Mike Wunsch, director of training and program design at Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California. There's a bump in the walking surface or the couch slips in your hand. If your core isn't ready to adjust, you'll fall or get injured. The K-off carry uses a mini band to approximate little adjustments like that so you'll be ready. HOW TO DO IT: Double-wrap a thick mini exercise band around the handle of a kettlebell. Perform a weighted carry holding the band with the kettlebell suspended underneath. Engage your entire torso to maintain an erect posture while carrying the heavy weight. Walk 20 yards or so, then turn around and come back.
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15. L-Sit
You probably won't be able to pull off a triple flip, the iron cross or all those pommel horse spin moves anytime soon, so the L-sit is the closest you're probably going to get to an Olympic gymnastics move. It won't be easy though. HOW TO DO IT: Set two benches parallel to one another a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Get between the benches and hold yourself up with your arms so that your body forms an L shape. Your torso should be perpendicular to the floor, your arms straight at your sides and your legs out in front of you, parallel to the floor. Hold this position.
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16. L-Sit Pull-Up
L-sits too easy? Change the length of the lever by performing pull-ups from a hanging L-sit position for a move that combines isometrics (you're holding those legs up) with a constantly shifting stability challenge (from the pull-ups). HOW TO DO IT: Hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands wider than shoulder-width apart. Keep your torso perpendicular to the ground and don't lean back as you lift your legs up without bending your knees until they're parallel to the floor. Your body will form an L shape. While holding this position, perform pull-ups, pulling your chest up to the bar while pulling your shoulders back and down. Return to the bottom of the pull-up, but keep your legs in the L shape.
Related: The Best Core Workout Routines
17. Medicine-Ball Shield
Even though this exercise has it's roots in yoga, don't let that fool you as to it's intensity. You'll be taxing your core throughout by holding a weight plate in front of your chest. HOW TO DO IT: Get a 10- or 25-pound weight plate and hold it in front of your chest as you come to the top of a modified boat pose -- seated, leaning back, legs in a tabletop, weight in front of your chest. Hold this position as you breathe in and out through your nose, keeping your abs contracted and preventing your lower back from curving. Take a break for 30 seconds and catch your breath. Repeat.
Related: Fastest Ways to Get a Six-Pack
18. Medicine-Ball V-Up
Concentrate on pressing your lower back into the floor at the beginning of each rep by pinning your navel to your spine. This will engage your pelvic floor throughout the exercise. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your back with your legs straight. Hold your arms straight above your head, gripping a medicine ball so your elbows are by your ears. Without bending your elbows or knees, contract your abdominal muscles, fold your body up by lifting your arms and legs off the floor and stretch your arms toward your toes. Keep your back straight. Pause, then return to the starting position.
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19. Kneeling Reverse Cable Chop
If a tree falls in the woods and no one but your abs is there to hear it, they'll still be screaming from all the chopping. HOW TO DO IT: Stand next to a cable station with a rope attachment, the stack on your right. Kneel on your right knee (closest to the base of the cable), your left knee bent 90 degrees. Grab the rope with both hands and stretch it taut, holding it down below your right hip. Keeping your arms straight, twist and pull the rope up and across your body until it's past your left shoulder. Return to start, repeat and switch sides.
Related: What Are the Most Difficult Ab Exercises?
20. Overhead Squat
Squats tax your core already. Moving the weight over your head makes maintaining your proper squat form even more difficult. The weight is further away, so it's harder to control. What keeps that form correct? Your core! HOW TO DO IT: Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned out slightly. Grab a barbell with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart, and raise it overhead so your shoulders are roughly in line with your heels. Keep your arms straight and directly overhead as you push your hips back to squat down until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. Press back up to standing.
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21. Palloff Press
Most non-crunch core moves focus on rotation. But your core also functions to resist rotation -- the world tries to wrench you into a twist, and your torso keeps you from getting pulled. The pallof press mimics that; it's an antirotation exercise. HOW TO DO IT: Stand with a cable at waist level on your right. Pull the cable out and hold it against the front of your chest with both hands, knees slightly bent. The cable should be taut. Hold your core tight. Maintaining this body position, press the cable straight out away from your chest. The cable will try to rotate you toward the station, but resist it. Return the handle to your chest and repeat.
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22. Plate Squeeze Press
This move is usually designated as a chest exercise, but because your muscles don't work alone, it also places a tough challenge on your core. HOW TO DO IT: Grab a pair of 10-pound weight plates and hold them together directly in front of your chest, smooth sides facing out. Spread your fingers wide on the plates. Squeeze the plates together as you press them forward until your arms are pointing straight out in front. Return the plates to your chest and repeat.
Related: Top-15 CrossFit Body-Weight Exercises You Can Do at Home
23. Push a Car
You'll need your legs for this one, but it takes some bracing to get a ton of steel moving. Put the car in neutral and give it a shot. HOW TO DO IT: On a long, flat stretch of pavement, have a friend put a car in neutral. Stand behind the car and put your hands on the trunk about shoulder-width apart. Now push.
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24. Renegade Row
Awesome name for a double-duty move. Keeping your hips level as you row each dumbbell to your shoulder will tax your core while you train your lats. HOW TO DO IT: Assume a push-up position while holding a dumbbell in each hand directly below your shoulders. Your body should form a straight line from head to heels. Maintaining this body line, bend your elbows until your chest is between the dumbbells. Press back to start, then bend one elbow to row the weight up next to your rib cage. Return it to the floor, do another push-up and repeat on the other side.
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25. Side Plank and Cable Row
As with the renegade row, this move engages your lats while you stabilize your core. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your left side in a side-plank position facing a low cable pulley. Prop yourself up on your left elbow with feet stacked and body forming a straight line from head to heels. Row the handle of the cable machine with your right arm until your hand is in line with your torso. Return the cable to start and repeat. Then switch sides and repeat.
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26. Single-Arm Dumbbell Lunge
Placing weight on one side of an exercise means your core has to work to keep your body upright. HOW TO DO IT: Stand holding a dumbbell at your right side. Take a large step forward with your left leg, lowering as you step until your knees both form 90-degree angles. Press back to standing and repeat. For an added challenge, try moving the weight to your shoulder then straight overhead or to the other arm.
Related: The Science of Amazing Abs
27. Single-Leg Lowering
If you're hitting plateaus in your squats or presses, it can sometimes be core strength that's holding you back. Your core fires first in moves like these and stabilizes your torso to let you use the rest of your strength to do the move. With this exercise, you're using your hip flexors with your core, just as you would in a squat or other lower-body move. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your back with arms at your sides, palms down, legs extended. Lift your legs perpendicular to the ground so the soles of your feet face the ceiling. Keeping your legs straight, lower your right leg until it hovers just a few inches off the ground. Your left leg should still be sticking straight up. Don't point your toes; keep your foot flexed throughout the move. Return your right leg to the top, lower your left leg and repeat.
Related: The Cardio Abs Workout
28. Single-Leg Squat and Row
You don't need core-specific exercises to train your midsection. It has to fire in all kinds of moves, especially squats. Make it a one-legged version and you've added additional instability. Throw in a row and, well…you get it. HOW TO DO IT: Stand facing a cable machine stack set at shoulder- or waist-height. Grab the handle with your left hand. Stand on your right leg with your knee slightly bent, your left leg trailing behind you. Push your hips back to squat with your right leg. As you stand back up, bring your left leg forward so your knee is up in a marching position and row the cable to your side. Return to start, repeat and switch arms and legs.
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29. Single-Leg Straight-Arm Side Plank
This move is pretty much the pinnacle of side-plank progressions. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your right side, prop up on your right hand with your hand directly beneath your shoulder and arm straight. Your feet should be stacked on top of each other, your body forming a straight line from head to heels. Extend your left arm so that your body forms a T. Maintaining this rigid body line, separate your legs, raising your left leg until your body forms a five-pointed star. Hold this position for as long as you can maintain a rigid torso. Repeat on the other side.
Related: How to Stay Motivated to Get Six-Pack Abs
30. Sledgehammer Swing
Core benefits aside, this exercise will turn a bad week into a good one with some good old-fashioned stress-relieving smashin'. HOW TO DO IT: You'll need a sledgehammer and a tire. Place the tire on some grass or a surface that won't break if you miss with the hammer. Stand with a staggered stance, your left leg slightly in front of your right. Grab the hammer with your left hand at the base of the handle and your right up closer to the head. As you bring the hammer up, your right hand should slide down to meet your left. Once you reach your shoulder, swing the hammer down and slam the tire. Repeat on the other side, with legs and hands switched.
Related: Food Tips for Six-Pack Abs
31. Stir the Pot
Balancing on a Swiss ball is tough enough. Try maintaining perfect form while intentionally throwing your stability off. This move is a favorite of Dan Ownes, owner of Hyper Fit Training in Wall, New Jersey. HOW TO DO IT: Prop yourself on a stability ball in plank position with your elbows on the ball, feet on the floor and body forming a straight line from head to feet. Maintain this rigid body line as you move your elbows beneath your shoulders to rotate the ball in a small counterclockwise circle beneath your chest. Your hands will look as if they're stirring a pot (hence the name of this move). Give it all you've got, take a rest, then do the same number of circles in a clockwise rotation.
Related: How Eggs Get You Lean and Flat Abs
32. Suitcase Walk
Talk about mimicking real life! Here's one you usually do while fighting your way through airport security. Holding your shoulders level with the weight on just one side requires your core to work even harder than in the traditional, two-armed farmer's walk. HOW TO DO IT: Grab a heavy dumbbell and hold it at your side in one hand as you would a suitcase. Walk forward while maintaining an erect posture and keeping your shoulders level.
Related: 3 Cardinal Rules of Fast Six-Pack Abs
33. Standing Barbell Rollout
You've done the ab wheel for a million years, so step it up to this variation for a greater challenge with an added bonus -- the move creates a vertical-pull motion that also taxes your lats. HOW TO DO IT: Stand with a loaded barbell at your feet. Bend forward at the waist, knees slightly bent and grab the bar with an overhand grip. Roll the bar out, keeping your toes on the ground, until your body is straight in a full-extension position. Now use your core -- not your arms -- to pull the bar back toward your body and return to the bent-over position. Repeat.
Related: 30-Day Ab Challenge
34. Swiss-Ball Bird Dog
Lifting your arm and opposite leg while maintaining core stability and keeping your hips level is tough enough. In this move, you've got to do it while balancing on a ball. The size of the ball is key. If it's too big, you won't be able to reach your planted arm to the ground. HOW TO DO IT: Lie facedown on a Swiss ball, with the ball under your belly button. The balls of your feet and your palms should be on the floor almost in a push-up position over the ball. Raise your left arm and right leg simultaneously until they're in line with your torso. Hold for a second, return to start and lift your right arm and left leg. Alternate in this way.
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35. Swiss-Ball Jackknife With Push-Up
In one study from 2009, the jackknife was found to be the best core exercise for targeting the lower abs. Throw in the push-up, which increases the amount you've got to stabilize between jackknives, and you've got a powerful combo move. HOW TO DO IT: Start in push-up position with your shins on a Swiss ball. Your body should form a straight line from ankles to head. Without rounding your lower back, contract your abs and use your feet to pull the ball toward your chest by bending your knees. Pause before returning to the starting position. Perform a push-up, maintaining a straight body line, then repeat.
Related: Top Core Exercises for Runners
36. Swiss-Ball Pike
This advanced take on the jackknife takes a ton of core control. HOW TO DO IT: Start in push-up position, but with your shins on a Swiss ball. Your body should form a straight line from ankles to head. Without bending your knees, roll the Swiss ball toward your body by raising your hips as high as you can. Pause, then return the ball to the starting position. For best results concentrate on controlling the ball with your core, not your arms or legs.
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37. Swiss-Ball Push-Up (Feet on Floor)
When you perform a push-up, your core maintains a rigid plank position. But if the floor is a ball, it's like trying to keep that form during an earthquake. HOW TO DO IT: With your hands on a Swiss ball, assume a push-up position with your feet on the floor, hands directly beneath your shoulders and body forming a straight line from head to heels. Bend your elbows, keeping them close to your sides, until your chest touches the ball. Press back to the start and repeat.
Related: The 15 Toughest Do-Anywhere Workout Moves
38. Swiss-Ball Russian Twist
Is it Russian? Is it Swiss? Does it matter? Do it and you'll challenge your core with rotation. That's good in any country. HOW TO DO IT: Lie faceup on a Swiss ball with your upper back on the ball and feet on the floor, knees bent at 90 degrees. Your body should form a straight line from your head to knees. Hold a lightweight plate or medicine ball with straight arms directly over your chest. Brace your midsection and bring the weight to the left without bending your arms by twisting your core until your arms are parallel to the floor. Keep your hips up as you move, but allow them to rotate. Twist back to start, then twist to the right. Continue in this way.
Related: The Best Exercise for Ripped Abs
39. Tight Core Rotation
Nick Tumminello, a strength coach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and owner of Performance University, uses this maneuver because it mimics the type of twisting our cores perform in sports. While many rotational core exercises involve long, sweeping rotations, this tight movement is quick, similar to the way you'd rotate while sprinting. HOW TO DO IT: Stand with feet hip-width apart, your arms bent as your sides, forearms parallel to the floor. Without relying completely on your shoulders, rotate at the torso to move your hands left and right. Move quickly as if you were sprinting.
Related: The Best Core Workout Routines
40. Turkish Get-Up
What makes this move tough? Everything. The get-up requires your whole body to keep that weight above your head while you get up and down. HOW TO DO IT: Lie on your back with your legs straight. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand with your arm straight above you. Keeping your elbow locked and the weight above you at all times, move your legs and left arm underneath you to push yourself up. From here, stand up. Still keeping your right arm straight and the weight above you, reverse the motion to return to the starting position. For best results, keep your core braced throughout the move.
Related: What Are the Most Difficult Ab Exercises?
41. Two-Point Bridge
If you remove a leg from a table, it has trouble staying up. Remove two, more trouble. You're the table here. And the missing legs keep changing. But tables don't have a core to keep them upright. You do. HOW TO DO IT: Assume the classic push-up position: legs straight, hands beneath your shoulders. Raise your right arm and left leg simultaneously until your right elbow is next to your ear. Your pelvis should not twist; the front of your pelvis should still face the floor. Hold your arm and leg in the air for a second, then return to start. Now lift your left arm and right leg. Hold for a second, return to start and repeat.
Related: These 12 Moves Will Get You Washboard Abs
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What Do YOU Think?
Have you tried any of these moves? Have you mastered all 41? Are there other ab moves you rely on to sculpt six-pack abs and build functional core strength? If you don't see your favorite move or your biggest challenge on the list, post it in the comments and challenge your fellow Livestrong community members to join you.
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