Resistance Band Exercises for Abs

“Only carrying weights makes muscles”, they say. As wrong as it stands, it’s not true on so many levels. Heavy weight training does make muscles, sure, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make those gorgeous sets of abs with other equipment– in this case, resistance bands!

That’s right, resistance bands can make wonders when it comes to stretching, pulling yoga moves, or even having a full jam-packed back day. In short, resistance band workouts can easily strengthen your muscles and tone them down without any added impact on your joints, which is precisely why resistance bands are perfect to build abs.

Since it’s a versatile tool, there are various resistance band exercises for abs, which specifically hits every muscle group of the core. To learn about the variations of exercises and how resistance bands work wonders for your abs, read on.

Do Resistance Bands Work for Abs?

To build a body worth of steel and increase your workout regimen up to ten, you need to implement resistance training along with strength training. The saying goes without a reason that carrying weight does help you in building muscle and strength, but it’s not the only option you have that implements strength training.

In fact, resistance bands not only add resistance to your core exercises but recruits the stabilizer muscles, which makes it even a better option for building or toning muscles.

However, the core anatomy is much more complex and harder to deal with compared to other muscle groups in the body. So it’s natural to be confused and think, Are resistance bands worth it? Does it even work for abs?

To simply put, yes, resistance bands do more than just build your abs. The reason why these bands work so flawlessly for abs is that they can build the obliques, abdominals, and deeper core muscles that are highly responsible for reflexes, spine, and pelvic stability.

That means, you get better reflexes with improved balance and stability, which will significantly stabilize all your physical movements in daily life with a hunk of muscle.

Moreover, building abs is quite complex as the core anatomy is filled with little muscles that go unseen or uncalled-for during training. Your core muscles include some compound muscles named rectus abdominis, Transversus Abdominis, internal and external obliques, Erector Spinae, and Multifidus.

All of these muscles together surround your entire front, back, and sides of your upper and lower ab region. Each of these muscles is extremely important to train if you want a set of snatched abs. These muscles actively provide strength, balance, and stability when you’re bending, twisting, or leaning. Actually, they support every single movement you make.

What a resistance band does is, it targets all these muscles individually and increases the strength, and stabilizes an added resistance. These bands are so versatile that they largely contribute to reducing the risk of injuries, whereas carrying weights can highly expose you to external injuries.

So, for a safe and high-impact option, resistance bands work tremendously well when it comes to strengthening or building your abs.

What Type of Resistance Bands to Use

Just like any other tool, there are variations of resistance bands too. Why not right? This only makes exercises more fun, doesn’t it!?

These flexible bands are made of rubber or latex and come in color-coded sets. Since they’re flexible and can be rendered into different exercise types, you can use all three types of resistance bands for your ab workouts. However, some of the common types that truly build those sets of abs are-

Mini Resistance Bands

Believe it or not, a mini resistance band is a fiery tool when it comes to ab exercises that need support from your arm or shoulders. Especially, if you’re into free-body exercises or calisthenics, mini-band core exercises are ideal for you as you can perform all those flexible exercises with these bands. Adding these bands to your abs workout will only fuel that belly fat burn and quickly burn those muscle straps to make bigger and better muscles.

Mini resistance bands will allow you to perform variations of ab exercises while adding a resistance of at least 5 to 50 pounds– depending on your intensity. Small but mighty!

Large Loop or Flat Band

The majority of resistance bands are flat bands or large looped bands. These are simple with large loops and no handles, which is why you get to do the highest number of ab workouts.

Large Loop resistance bands will allow you to flexibly perform abs exercises like controlled Rollup, Palov Press, banded crunches, and many more. Apart from that, you can also use these for your warm-ups. You’ll get a whopping 15-60 pounds worth of resistance by using these bands for your abs workout.

Tube Resistance Bands

Tube bands are made of rubber but they have a handle attached to them. This means you can easily perform bodyweight exercises with this versatile type. This band is perfect when you want to focus more on your lower abs like obliques.

Since resistance bands allow you to add variations to your abs workout, there are many exercises that each hit individual muscle categories. Below, we’re going to break down all these resistance band exercises based on the three types of resistance band exercises that help you make a strong core.

Exercises Using a Mini-Band

Banded Bridge:

This exercise hits your lower abs and also works up your oblique. Additionally, it also works on your glutes making it a two-in-one ab exercise. To do this exercise-

Lay down your exercise mat and lay down flat on the ground with your back straight. Make sure to stretch your knees while you straighten your back.
Take the mini resistance band and put it around your thighs while adjusting it accordingly.
Press your knees against the bands and keep your hands on the side in a straight position.
Breathe in and slowly raise your hips towards the ceiling. Squeeze your muscles tight for once and hold your breath for 5 seconds until you breathe out.
Repeat this for at least 15 times each set of 3.
Take rests for 30 seconds between each set.

Branded Dead Bug:

Make sure you keep the spine stable if you want to work that core in full strength. This exercise is suitable for all types of people focusing on rectus abdominis and Transversus abdominis. Additionally, it also works your hamstrings slightly. To do it-

Lie down and wrap the mini resistance band around one foot while holding it with the opposite hand.
Extend the banded leg as if you’re throwing a kick and stabilize your shoulder and arms while you’re doing it.
Breathe out and pull in your belly to stabilize your spine as you control and extend your arm back and forth.
If you want to add intensity to this exercise, you can try reaching the opposite hand overhead.
Repeat this on 12 reps and 3 sets on each side back and forth.

Mountain Climbers:

Mountain climbers’ is the infamous ab exercise known among all the workout freaks. This exercise burns your lower ab while also adding a little jolt of cardio to it. To do it-

Wrap the band between the arches of both feet.
Get into a classic plank position while your palms are on the ground instead of your knuckles.
When you’re in your straight arm-plank position, slowly start to alternate your legs.
Stretch the mini band and pull one knee towards the elbow and repeat the same on the other knee back and forth.
Keep your intensity based on your comfort and run on that mat for at least 12-20 reps of 2 or 3 sets.

Banded Plank Walk:

The banded Plank Walk is pretty much a mixture of both planks and mountain climbers. It’ll give your lower abs a slow burn and increase muscle strength. To do it-

Wrap the bands around your thighs right above the knee and take on a plank position on your hands or elbows.
Walk your legs forward with a bare plank position while stabilizing your core. While you stabilize your core, make sure your knees come back and forth one after another until they come back to a straight-legged plank.
Engage your abdominals and maintain the symmetry of alternating your legs one after the other. Focus more on pulling your legs using your abdominals instead of overworking the hip flexors.
Repeat it 10 reps of 2 sets to get a complete impact.

Bicycle Crunches:

Bicycle Crunches are quite hard to pull off but it’s pretty rewarding too. This exercise hits directly to the lower abs and works the transversus abdominis. To do this-

Take the resistance band and wrap it around your thighs.
Lie flat on your workout mat and take a bicycle crunch position. Keep your elbows out and place your hands behind your head while leaning back slightly.
Slowly start to push one leg out and eventually bring the other leg towards the chest. While doing so, bring your opposite elbow towards the opposite knee at the same time.
Follow the same procedure on both legs back and forth until you complete 15-20 reps of 2 sets with 30 seconds of rest.

Banded Plank:

Banded Plank takes a lot of balance of the body, but if you can pull it off your obliques will be on fire. This exercise is great for your obliques and works up all the muscles around your side abs. To do it-

Wear the bands around your ankles and take a side plank position on the ground.
Put one of your hands straight on the ground and lift your body weight on it while placing the left hand on your hips.
Slowly place your left hand vertically upwards for added intensity.
Now, once you do that, raise your right leg while your left leg is attached to the ground.
Stay still in this position for 2 minutes and eventually return to your original position.
Repeat the same process on the left side of your body for 2 mins.
Repeat this for 1 set for each side.

Leg Rises and Abductors:

This exercise is similar to the usual leg raises, except you’ll be wearing resistance bands this time, which increases the intensity by 2x. To do it-

Wear the resistance bands around your ankles and lay flat on the ground.
Keep both your hands straight and attached to the ground.
Focus and put strength on your abdomen while raising your legs. Hold on for 3 seconds.
After keeping your legs up for 3 seconds, slowly lower them and widen them apart. This time, hold for 2 seconds then raise your legs again.
Do this in a 3 set of 10-12 repetitions.

Exercises With Flat Bands

Flat bands or long loops are very versatile and can be implemented on almost any abs exercise. Some of the most effective flat band exercises for abs are as follows

Russian twist:

This exercise is heavily performed by both genders, but does the Russian twist build abs?

Yes, the Russian twist is an effective core exercise, which works the rectus abdominis and vertical muscles in front of your abdomen. These muscles make up most of your abs like obliques and lower back, which is why you should always do some Russian twists when you have some resistance bands. To do it-

Bend your knees and sit in a V-position on the ground while keeping the heels of your shoes touching the ground.
Wrap the flat band around your feet and hold the ends with both hands.
Gently stabilize your glutes on the ground and twist your rib cage left and right while bringing your hands back and forth from hip to hipath a fast pace.
To increase the intensity, float both your feet on the ground while repeating the above process.
Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps with a 45-second break in between.

Controlled Rollup:

This exercise is great to make the upper abs 2x times stronger. Controller Rollup focuses on the upper abs and helps in strengthening the back, which works as a great mechanism to ease your upper motion of the body. To do it-

Grab your bands and wear them around your feet.
Sit on the ground and hold the ends of the band with both of your hands.
Straighten your back and roll down your spinal posture in a supine position while holding your abdominals inwards (breath in).
Keep your chin intact towards your chest and start to roll back up to your seated position with control.
Make sure your arms are straight as possible so that your biceps don’t end up working instead of your abs.
Follow 10 reps of 2 sets with 45 seconds of break within the sets.

Banded Wood Chop:

Ab crunches with resistance bands aren’t impossible. In fact, this exercise only adds more of a better workout to the abs. It works both of your obliques and also tones up your upper abs. To do it-

Stand straight with a split stance and keep both of your feet apart from each other.
Anchor one end of the band under one of your feet while keeping it forward.
Once you do that, hold the other end of the band with both of your hands.
Lift your arms to stretch those bands away from your legs in a slightly rotating direction. Do so while keeping your abs tight and hips stable.
Complete at least 12 repetitions of 3 sets with a 30-second break in between.

Banded Bird Dog:

In this exercise, your core is fully engaged while also working your hamstrings and shoulders. Hence, it’s not only a great abs exercise but also can be used in a full-body exercise routine. The reason why this exercise can be deemed a full-body exercise is that it works up both the upper and the lower abs. To do it-

Take a crawl position on the ground.
Anchor one end of the band upon one of your hands and anchor the other end of the band on the opposite-sided leg.
Make sure your knees are bent and movable through the bands.
Once you’ve locked the bands in, extend the banded arm and banded leg simultaneously.
Keep your abdominals engaged and spine straight and move slowly back and forth. Don’t forget to breathe in and out consistently.
Do 2 sets of 10-12 repetitions with a 25-second break in between.

Double Leg Stretch:

This exercise is hard and powerful, which is the perfect combination for getting ripped. This exercise not only adds strength to your abs but also builds endurance of your abs muscles. If you’re ought to do resistance band lower ab exercises, then don’t miss out on this power-jammed exercise right here. Here’s how you do it-

Lay down on the ground keeping your back in a straight position and your legs in a tabletop position.
Bent your knees and hips at a 90-degree angle with your feet off the ground.
Wrap the middle of your feet with the band and anchor the other ends with both your hands.
Push or extend both your legs out away from your midsection and control your leg’s return. Don’t be hasty and draw your abs towards the ground while pushing your legs through the bands.
To make this exercise more intense or challenging, you can try lifting your head and shoulders from the floor and extending your arms at the same time.
Try to do 2 sets of 10 reps, but If it’s too hard for you, just 1 set will suffice.

Palov Press:

This exercise is like the stand-up version of Russian twists. If you’re injured or have tissue damage around your torso, this exercise right here is the perfect replacement for those Russian twists. Plus, the Palov press actively works on your abdomens to only boost its functions as a stabilizer.

So, it’s going to be pretty uncalled for if you miss this amazing exercise. Here’s how you do it-

Stand still with a split position of your legs.
Turn 90 degrees to the side after anchoring the band at your shoulder height.
Slowly extend your arms forward with a fisted arm and move away the anchor from your chest. Keep doing it with a proper fist until you feel a good amount of tension building up in that abdomen. Once you feel the tension, pull your elbows back towards your chest.
Whilst maintaining the tension in the band, extend your shoulders slowly throughout the movement.
Keep your body still as you press your arms out in front of you without rotating.
Finally, bend your elbows and repeat the whole process.
Follow 2 sets of 10-12 reps with a 20-second break in between.

Banded Curl Up Crunches:

Without crunches, an abs workout hardly feels like one. With a resistance band added to it, the intensity not only increases but also significantly boosts the development of the core muscles. By doing this exercise, you minimize your lumbar spine strength and increase your abdominal strength, which makes your posture straight and abs strong like metal.

Here’s how you do it-

Sit down on the ground keeping your knees upward and feets attached to the ground.
Hook up your band to a support system and wrap the other portion around your upper ab or stomach.
Sit in a V-shape position whilst keeping both your arms folded behind your head.
Once you’re in this position, you’ll be able to feel the mild tension between your abs and the anchored band.
When you feel the tension, slowly make crunches while maintaining the tension of the anchored band. Make sure to tighten your abdomen and breathe in while making crunches and breathe out while going back to the starting position.
Do a 3 set of 8-10 repetitions with 60 seconds of rest in between.

Banded Good Morning:

While the banded good morning is a back exercise, this exercise makes a significant difference in building core stabilization, which is a necessity when it comes to building packs or abs. That’s because, the stronger your erectors are, the more symmetrical balance you’ll get when your abdominals and obliques build up. Hence, it’s super smart to involve this exercise in your abs workout session.

To do it-

Anchor one end of the band below both of your feet on the ground.
Bend down with a straight back and wrap your back with the other end of the band carefully whilst keeping your knees a little bit outward or bent. Make sure your shoulders and back or spinal cord are straight.
Once you get into this position, grab each strap with both your hands individually.
Now, slowly stand up or make your back straight whilst holding your hands and keeping your posture straight.
Repeat the same process back and forth.
Do 2 sets of 12-15 repetitions with a 30-second break in between.

Tube Resistance Band Exercises

The exercises performed through these bands are usually hardcore exercises, which work perfectly well when you want to get ripped or have abs definition. Some of the most effective tube resistance band exercises are-

Full Kneeling Pall of Hold and Reach:

This exercise is the same as the Palof except that the kneeling position adds to the intensity and forces the obliques to engage at a higher degree.

Here’s how you do it-

Kneel at a 90-degree angle.
Attach one end of your band on the stand and keep a distance between you and the band so there’s some tension.
Lock your knees on your ground and hold the band with both your palms with a strong grip.
Put both your palms forward and backward while keeping your abdominals in to build tension.
Move your hands back and forth while maintaining the tension.
Do 2 sets of 10-12 reps with 60 seconds of break.

Ab Twists:

This exercise is going to be your best buddy in building those ripped abs if you want to emphasize transverse oblique exercises. Without a resistance band, this exercise wouldn’t work the same and only adds to its intensity. To do it-

Wrap the band at a sternum level.
Step a few feet apart from the band and position your body and hips perpendicular to the anchored band.
Make sure your arms are extended at all points.
Slowly rotate towards the anchor and eventually rotate the opposite way with a 180-degree angle when your arms are aligned with the band.
Twist your hips back and forth while rotating while keeping your core tight throughout the movement.

Side Bends:

Side bends will make your obliques feel like they’re on fire and will instantly tone them in a short amount of time. To do it-

Attach the band directly over the top of your body and make sure the bands are upon both of your shoulders.
Start by bending to one side with your elbow. Make sure your elbow comes down and touches your hips. It’s exactly like a side crunch.
Hold the position for 2 seconds then come back to the original position.
Focus on contraction and repeat the same process on the opposite side.
Perform 10 reps of 2 sets with a 60-second break in between.

Woodchopper:

This exercise is a classic spinoff of dumbbell ab exercise. However, when using dumbbells, the movement works more upon the arms than the abs. In this case, your abs will be worked upon rather than your arms. To do it-

Attach the band on a pole that’s on your feet or ankle level.
Make a distance from the anchor until there’s a taut.
Keep your arms extended, locked, and straight at all times.
Bring your arms down in the direction of the band while rotating in the same direction with your hips and trunk.
Bring the band up diagonally to the collateral side with your arms straight.
Make sure your arms are higher than your arms and are perfectly aligned with the band.
Now, slowly return to the original position.
Do a 2 set of 10 reps with 60 seconds of rest in between.

Why You Should Use Resistance Bands for Abs Exercises

Bodyweight or heavy weight exercises alone can indeed train your abs quite effectively. However, to add intensity, variations, and hit core muscles, the use of resistance bands is inevitable.

The reason why you should truly use a resistance band for abs is that it targets the core muscles, adds flexibility, strengthens it, and adds a huge pile of endurance to them. As a result, to which you are ended up with hardcore ripped abs.

You might think, does resistance band exercise for belly fat even work? The simple answer is, yes. That’s because resistance bands add a huge intensity to these ab workouts, which in turn increases the endurance and helps reduce belly fat. Not to mention, some of the exercises have cardio in them and the use of resistance bands only increases calorie burn by 2x fold.

Most importantly, you can work all three types of exercises with this equipment, which consists of the isometric and breathing exercise, rotational core exercises, and extension/flexion core exercises. And all of these exercises focus on every part of the core muscle individually. Which is more to a reason why you should add a resistance band workout for abs in your routine.

Safety Tips to Follow While Working Out with Resistance Bands

Resistance band training is the safest option compared to all the heavyweight and body weight exercises out there. It drastically lessens the risks of causing injuries and in turn, increases the endurance level.

However, at times, you might internally injure yourself if you adhere to the wrong body form. So here are some safety tips you should follow while working out with Resistance Bands-

Always keep the elasticity and safety of the resistance bands in check.
Never stretch the resistance bands more than their capacity of a specified length.
Never exercise on uneven surfaces as it can cause heavy internal injuries.
Never use a broken or worn-out resistance band. From time to time check if they have any cracks or signs of cuts. If you happen to find any, get rid of them immediately.
Never pull a resistance band close to your face.
It’s better not to use a resistance band for more than 8-10 months as they lose their elasticity in this period.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I tone my stomach with resistance bands?

You can tone your stomach by doing various resistance band exercises for abs. Exercises like, banded bicycle crunches, banded Russian twists, banded woodchopper, double Leg Stretch, etc work effectively on your upper and lower abs whilst also toning down your obliques.

Can you get ripped from resistance bands?

For getting ripped, heavyweight exercises are the fastest route to take. However it’s still possible to get ripped using resistance bands but it takes a way longer time, consistency, and patience to get there.

Is Abs Workout resistance training?

Even though the core muscles are more complex than other muscle groups in the body, it’s still not outlandishly different from other muscles. In the end, it’s still muscles and if it can become stronger and increase in endurance, then yes abs workouts can be deemed as resistance training.

Final Words

Abs workout is one of the hardest parts of a fitness journey as it takes a lot of dedication, time, and strength to build them. In such situations, always working with heavy weights is sometimes exhausting and uncalled for injuries. At times like this, resistance band exercises for abs can really save the day.

These exercises not only add a great variety to the exercise types but also tremendously increases the intensity of the workout. By doing resistance band exercises, say no to boring abs day!