Best No Equipment Exercises for Abs — Top 10
No Equipment training is hotel rooms, parks, or home training with zero gear. Here are the best no equipment exercises for targeting your abs, ranked by effectiveness. No equipment needed — just your body and some floor space.
Ranked by abs muscle activation percentage, range of motion quality with no equipment, and progressive overload potential.
The hanging leg raise is one of the most effective ab exercises. Hanging from a bar, you raise your legs by flexing your hips and curling your pelvis, targeting the entire rectus abdominis with emphasis on the lower portion.
Key Form Cue
Hang from a pull-up bar with a shoulder-width grip.
The ab wheel rollout is an advanced anti-extension exercise that produces extreme abdominal activation. It challenges your core to resist spinal extension as you roll the wheel forward.
Key Form Cue
Kneel on a mat with the ab wheel on the floor in front of you.
The V-up is a bodyweight core exercise that simultaneously lifts the legs and torso to form a V shape at the top. It targets both the upper and lower abs through a full spinal flexion with hip flexion.
Key Form Cue
Lie flat on your back with arms extended overhead and legs straight on the floor.
The hollow body hold is a gymnastics-origin isometric exercise that trains total anterior core activation. Lie on your back and lift your arms, head, shoulders, and legs off the ground, maintaining a banana-shaped position under constant tension.
Key Form Cue
Lie on your back and press your lower back firmly into the floor — eliminate any gap.
Bicycle crunches combine spinal flexion with rotation to target both the rectus abdominis and obliques. EMG studies consistently rank them among the top ab exercises for activation.
Key Form Cue
Lie on your back with hands behind your head and legs elevated.
Russian twists target the obliques through rotational movement. Sit with your torso at a 45-degree angle, hold a weight at your chest, and rotate side to side.
Key Form Cue
Sit on the floor with knees bent and feet slightly elevated (or on the ground for easier version).
The lying leg raise targets the lower abs by lifting both legs from a supine position. Lie flat on your back, press your lower back into the floor, and raise your legs to vertical before lowering them with control.
Key Form Cue
Lie flat with your hands under your hips or gripping a bench behind your head for support.
The dead bug is an anti-extension core exercise that teaches you to brace your core while moving your limbs independently. It is excellent for building core stability and coordination.
Key Form Cue
Lie on your back with arms extended toward the ceiling and knees bent at 90 degrees.
Mountain climbers are a dynamic plank variation that builds core endurance and cardiovascular conditioning. Hold a push-up position and drive your knees alternately toward your chest in a running motion.
Key Form Cue
Start in a high plank with hands directly under shoulders and body in a straight line.
The plank is an isometric core exercise that trains anti-extension — the ability to resist your lower back from arching. It builds core endurance and stability that transfers to every compound lift.
Key Form Cue
Start in a push-up position but rest on your forearms instead of your hands.
Put these exercises into a real program
Revy's AI combines the best exercises for your goals into a personalized training program with progressive overload built in.