Best Off-the-Floor Ab Workouts

When we think about ab workouts our minds often revert to the antiquated exercises our gym teachers and sports coaches had us do while we were growing up. I’m talking about the classic sit ups, crunches, six-inch leg raises, etc. The reality is, we’re no longer in gym class, and most of our workouts take place in crowded gyms where the floor might not be the most sanitary or comfortable place to blast your abs. Don’t worry though, all of these traditional movements can still be achieved with several off-ground alternatives that are more efficient, more sanitary, and more effective than old school ground workouts. Here’s my favorites. 

Replace Sit Ups With the Vertical Crunch™!

We’ve all spent hours on end trying to tone our abs with traditional sit-ups. You know, the type where you lay down on the floor, maybe have a friend hold your feet, cross your arms across your chest and continuously sit up and down until your abs are burning. With the vertical crunch, you can do this movement off the floor, in an upright position which will greatly alleviate the lower back stress associated with traditional sit-ups. The machine also has feet pads which eliminates the need for a friend to hold your feet, and is plate loaded on the back for more advanced users to add extra resistance. The best part is that the Vertical Crunch allows you to perform the upper and lower crunch at the same time! Plus the free swivel seat helps you easily hit the obliques!

Replace Crunches With The Abs Bench X3™!

If traditional sit ups got a little too easy for you, there’s a chance you moved onto crunches. A similar movement to the sit up, except now your feet are off the ground, and you are pulling your chest and knees towards each other to work the entire abdominal region. With the Abs Bench X3, one of the best ab workouts we have is taken off the floor, and made more effective and more efficient. On the Abs Bench X3, users replace the hardwood floor with a leather bench, ™and use the feet pads and arm grips to crunch the abdominal muscles together. Depending on the user's ability, they can also only do a lower crunch, upper crunch, or a complete crunch doing both at the same time. The bench also is plate loaded at both the top and bottom so users can add resistance based on their fitness level. 


Replace Leg Raises With The AbCoaster® CS3000

Personally, my least favorite floor exercise was always the six-inch leg raise. The one where you’d lay on the floor, raise your legs six inches off the ground until a timer went off telling you to stop. I could never stand this one. Don’t get me wrong, it was an effective exercise, but to do it you’d have to lay on a baseball infield or hard basketball court, your glutes and lower back would hurt, and it just was not a positive experience. With the AbCoaster, you get all the benefits of the exercise, without all the downsides of laying on the floor. To use the machine, you lightly grip the handles, place your knees on the seat, and in a controlled motion, raise your knees to the top of the rails, and lower them in line with your glutes. This machine is also plate loaded so you can add resistance that you could not with a traditional leg raise. Not only does the AbCoaster get you off of a dirty floor, but it also has a free-swivel seat so you can replicate the movement on your obliques as well.

If you’re looking for a total ab workout that’s entirely off the floor, check out the 6-Minute Ab Zone™. This is a six minute, six machine, interval system that uses six of the best ab products in the world to give you an elite ab workout in just six minutes without having to lay on the floor. The system perfectly streamlines all aspects of an ab workout to give you the ultimate burn in just six minutes.