7 Best At-Home Core Workouts You Can Do Daily

An at-home core workout that helps you get rid of your belly: doesn't it sound like a dream come true? Well, with effort, dedication and consistency, there's no reason why you can't build those abs right from your living room.

A good core workout helps you maintain balance, good posture and an overall strong body. A solid core affords you a strong and sturdy foundation, helping you move better in everyday life and perform a variety of daily activities with ease.

An at-home core workout can be done anytime, anywhere and without any equipment. Just grab a mat, and you're set.

Best At-Home Core Workouts to do Daily

Check out these seven quick, at-home, no equipment workouts that can test your core strength:

1) Plank to Dolphin

The plank to dolphin pose is an excellent at-home core workout for your shoulders, arms and core.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

Start off in the elbow plank position, with your forearms on the floor, elbows directly underneath your shoulders and hands facing forward so that your arms are parallel and legs extended behind you.
Tuck your tailbone, and make sure to engage your core, butt and quads.
Pressing through your forearms, lift your hips up and back, creating an inverted V-shape with your body.
Your head will now be between your shoulders and ears directly between your arms.
Pause for a brief moment, and slowly lower back into an elbow plank.
Continue this movement for 60 seconds.

2) Plank with Leg Lifts

Another important at-home core workout exercise is the plank with leg lifts, which can be performed literally anywhere. When you lift your leg from the ground, your core muscles have to tense up to compensate and keep your body stable.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

Start in the elbow plank position with your forearms and toes on the ground.
Make sure your body is in a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
Keeping your body centred and stable and without dipping your hips, lift your legs straight up as far as you can without bending them, one at a time, before putting them back down.
Move deliberately and with control.
Perform three sets of ten lifts with each leg.

3) Plank Taps

Plank taps help strengthen your core and activate your shoulder muscles. The shoulders have to take turns in bearing the weight of the body.

Here's how you can do this at-home core workout:

Start off in a high plank position with your palms flat on the floor directly underneath your shoulders, legs extended behind you, and your core and glutes engaged.
Raise your right hand, and tap your left shoulder with it while engaging your core and glutes to maintain balance.
Make sure your hips are not swaying from side to side.
Repeat with your other side.
Continue the exercise, and keep alternating sides for a minute.

4) Deadbug

Deadbug is an excellent and somewhat underrated core strength exercise. It's an excellent at-home core workout that challenges your core, hips and arms:

Lie on your back, and raise your hands in the air straight above your shoulders.
Keep your legs raised in the air and knees bent at 90 degrees. This is your starting position.
Breathe in, and extend your opposite limbs down towards the ground, but don't let them touch the ground.
Keep them raised just a few inches above the ground to engage your core. Your lower back should remain pressed against the ground.
Lift your arms and legs back to the starting position, and switch to the other side.
Perform three sets of ten reps with each side.

5) Plank with Reach Out

The plank position is an excellent at-home core workout that engages the abdominal and other muscles of the core that stabilises your spine and pelvis. This variation of the plank can spice things up for you.

Here's how you can do it:

Start off in the high plank position with your palms flat on the ground under your shoulders. Make sure your body is in a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
Raise your right arm straight in front of you as if you are reaching forward.
Extend it all the way out, and slowly pull it back, and put it down on the ground.
Switch arms, and try your best to avoid rocking side-to-side.
Continue alternating for three sets of ten reps each.

6) Bicycle Crunches

Bicycle crunches work your abs by combining a crunch with a twisting motion, which gets the obliques involved.

Here's how you can do this at-home core workout:

Start by lying down on your back with your lower back pressed into the ground.
Lift your legs into the air, and keep your knees bent at 90 degrees.
Cross your hands behind your head.
Raise your head and shoulders off the ground, keeping your core rooted.
Twist to the right side, and try to touch your right elbow to your left knee.
Simultaneously reach your left leg out straight.
Repeat the entire motion on the other side.
Do three sets of ten reps each.

7) Boat Pose

The Boat pose might seem like an easy exercise, but holding the pose for a full 60 seconds with your belly drawn in and your chest lifted is certainly not easy.

Here's how you can do this challenging at-home core workout:

Sit up straight on the floor with your legs bent, keeping your feet flat on the floor.
Keep both your legs together, and slowly lift them off the floor till they form a 45-degree angle with your torso.
Keep your core engaged, while keeping your back flat and your tailbone balanced.
You may keep your knees bent, or straighten them out if you want more of a challenge.
Extend your arms straight out in front of you such that they are parallel to the floor. For support, you may place your hands on the floor underneath your hips.
Hold the pose for 60 seconds.

Edited by Bhargav