Six Pack Workout: 10 Best Ab Exercises and 3 Routines

Getting six pack abs takes dedication, hard work, time and patience. To get a visible six pack you need to do two things: lose fat and build your abdominal muscles. You probably already know that most of the work happens in the kitchen, but you shouldn’t underestimate a good six pack workout. Strong, well-developed abs show up sooner and look much better once the fat comes off!

In this article we’ll focus on the training side: how your abs work, the 10 best exercises to build them, and three six pack workouts you can start using today. If you want the full picture, including diet and how lean you need to be, read our guide on how to get a six pack.

Anatomy of the Six Pack

Your abdominal wall is made up of four muscle groups: the rectus abdominis, the transverse abdominis, and the external and internal obliques. A good six pack workout trains all of them.

Rectus Abdominis

The rectus abdominis is a pair of long, flat muscles that run vertically along the front of your abdomen, on each side of the belly button. Each side is divided by bands of tendon into separate segments, which give it that blocky look when you’re lean. That’s why the rectus abdominis is called the “six pack.” Its main job is to bend your spine forward – think crunches, sit-ups and leg raises.

Transverse Abdominis

The transverse abdominis (TVA) is the deepest layer of your abdominal muscles, sitting underneath the rectus abdominis. It runs horizontally across your abdomen like a weight belt and stabilizes your spine almost every time you move your arms or legs. Planks and heavy compound lifts train it best.

External Obliques

The external obliques run along each side of the rectus abdominis. Their fibers run diagonally downward and inward from the lower ribs to the pelvis. They rotate and bend your torso to the side, and they help compress the abdomen.

Internal Obliques

The internal obliques lie just below the external obliques, with their fibers running roughly at right angles to them. They work together with the external obliques to twist and bend your torso and stabilize your core. Want to focus on them? Check out these best oblique exercises.

10 Best Exercises for a Six Pack

Because no single move works all of your abdominal muscles equally, you need a few different exercises in your abs arsenal. Here are 10 of the best, with easier and harder versions so you can target every area of your abdomen.

1. Hanging Leg Raises

• Grab a pull-up bar and hang with your arms straight.
• With your core tight and legs straight, slowly raise your feet until your legs are parallel to the floor.
• Lower your legs back down under control – no swinging!

If you get tired, switch to hanging knee raises: bring your knees up toward your chest and squeeze your abs. Stop lowering before your thighs are fully vertical to keep the tension on your abs. An easier version is leg raises performed on a flat bench or on the floor.

2. Crunches

We all know the good old crunch. It targets the upper and middle part of your abs and it’s also known as the “universal ab exercise.”

• Lie on the floor with your knees bent and your hands behind your head.
• Curl your shoulders off the floor toward your knees and squeeze your abs.
• Lower back down slowly. Don’t pull on your neck with your hands!

You can also do crunches on a fitness ball, with your feet on a bench, or kneeling at a cable machine with a rope – the cable crunch is one of the best ways to add weight.

3. Side Crunches

Side crunches target your obliques. You can do them on the floor, on a sit-up bench or on a Roman chair: position yourself with your feet and hip on the pad, upper body hanging free, and crunch sideways, bringing your ribs toward your hip.

4. Planks

Get into a push-up position, but instead of supporting your body on your hands, bend your elbows and rest on your forearms. Keep your body in a straight line from head to heels with your abs and glutes tight. Hold for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds and repeat.

Once you can do several 30-second sets with good form, have your training partner place a weight plate on your upper back. Just make sure you keep your entire body tight. Before you start holding planks for minutes at a time, read the truth about planks.

5. Side Planks

Side planks are the plank’s bigger brother – harder to do and great for your obliques. Lie on your side with your legs straight, prop yourself up on your forearm, brace your core and lift your hips until your body forms a straight line. Hold, then switch sides. Up for a challenge? Slowly move from a side plank to a regular plank and over to a side plank on the other side.

6. Bicycle Crunches

• Lie on the floor with your hands behind your head and your knees bent, feet lifted over your hips.
• Exhale and rotate your upper body to the left as you extend your right leg and bring your left knee toward your chest.
• Rotate back through the middle and repeat on the other side. Keep your elbows wide and your chin up.

To make it harder, do all reps on one side before switching to the other.

7. Dragon Flags

This is an advanced ab exercise that requires strong abs and a lot of strength – it was made famous by Bruce Lee.

• Lie on your back on a flat bench and hold the sides of the bench behind your head.
• Tuck your knees in, then lift your legs, hips and lower back straight up in the air. Only your head and upper back should stay on the bench.
• Staying stiff as a board, lower your straight body back toward the bench as slowly as possible.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to master the dragon flag.

8. Windshield Wipers

• Lie flat on your back with your arms out to the sides for support.
• Raise your legs straight up (bend your knees if it’s too hard).
• Rotate your hips from side to side like a windshield wiper, without letting your legs touch the floor.

For an extra challenge, squeeze a medicine ball between your feet.

9. Sit-Ups

Sit-ups start from the same position as crunches, but you raise your whole torso until you’re sitting up, with your chest close to your knees. Keep the movement controlled and use your abs, not your hands, to pull yourself up. When regular sit-ups get easy, hold a weight plate on your chest.

10. Russian Twists

• Sit on the floor with your knees bent at 90 degrees and your feet flat.
• Lean back slightly and lift your feet off the floor.
• Twist your torso from side to side, keeping your neck neutral and your eyes looking ahead.

For more intensity, hold a medicine ball or a weight plate at your chest.

3 Six Pack Workouts You Can Do

You can follow the three workouts below on non-consecutive days (for example Monday, Wednesday and Friday), or pick one six pack workout and stick with it for a few weeks before switching to another one. Rest 45–60 seconds between sets.

Six Pack Workout #1

1. Crunches – 3 sets of 20 reps
2. Hanging leg raises – 3 sets of 10–12 reps
3. Windshield wipers – 3 sets of 8–10 reps per side

Six Pack Workout #2

1. Plank – 3 sets of 30 seconds
2. Sit-ups – 3 sets of 15 reps
3. Russian twists – 3 sets of 10 reps per side

Six Pack Workout #3

1. Bicycle crunches – 3 sets of 10 reps per side
2. Dragon flags – 2 sets to failure
3. Hanging leg raises – 2 sets to failure

More Ab Workouts to Try

• Short on time? Try this 10-minute ab workout built on two supersets.
• Lifting heavy? Here’s how to train your abs with compound lifts like squats and deadlifts.
• Want a complete core program? Check out these 2 workouts for complete core development.

Make Your Abs Grow: Progressive Overload

Like any other muscle, your abs need to be trained with enough intensity to grow. Doing hundreds of easy reps won’t do much. Once you can easily do more than 20 reps of an exercise, make it harder: hold a weight plate during crunches and sit-ups, add a plate to your planks, use a cable machine, or move on to harder versions like hanging leg raises and dragon flags. Here are some of the best weighted ab exercises to try.

Training your abs 2–4 times a week is plenty. They need rest to recover and grow, just like your chest or legs.

Don’t Forget Diet and Cardio

Remember, you can have the strongest abs in the gym and still not see them if they’re hidden under a layer of fat. For most men abs start to show at around 10–12% body fat, and for most women at around 16–20%. That’s why abs are made in the kitchen: a good diet that keeps you in a small calorie deficit is a must. Add some cardio, but don’t overdo it, and don’t fall for the most common six pack myths.

Combine a smart diet, heavy compound lifts and one of the six pack workouts above, stay consistent, and your abs will show up. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!