7 Weight Bench Exercises for Abs

Most people associate the weight bench with weight training, or, at the most, for doing sit ups. While sit ups are a great exercise to strengthen and flatten your abs, there are a whole series of ab exercises you can do on the weight bench that can help to strengthen upper and lower abs and even your lower back.

Firstly, let’s talk about the best type of weight bench to use for these ab exercises. There are basically 6 types of weight benches:

• The flat bench: this is the simplest and most common type of weight bench.
• The adjustable weight bench: this is the most useful of all the benches as you can adjust the bench to do a variety of exercises.
• Olympic weight bench: these are very advanced benches for professional athletes. These benches come with additional attachments so that they can be used as a complete workout machine.
• Folding weight bench: these are handy little benches that are convenient storage options. They don’t offer much in terms of variety but if you have a space constraint, this one works.
• Abdominal bench: These weight benches are made specifically for performing ad exercises. The benches can be adjusted for incline or decline and have foot rollers so that the feet can be locked during exercises.
• Preacher curl bench: This bench is made again for a single type of exercise – the preacher curl, which mainly works the tips of your biceps.

Of all these benches, the best option for most people would be the adjustable weight bench. You can use it for multiple types of exercises, including ab exercises.

Here are a list of 7 ab exercises that can be done on a weight bench:

1. Reverse Crunch

• Lie down on the weight bench on your back.
• Extend your legs with a slight bend at the knee and keep this as your starting position.
• As you exhale, raise your legs – using your lower abs – and get your hips off the bench.
• Lower your hips back to the start position, but do not relax your legs once you are in that position.
• Do 3-4 sets with 15 reps

2. Straight Leg Raises

• Lie flat on your back on the weight bench.
• Straighten your legs till they are parallel to the floor.
• Make sure you lock your knees in position so that your legs are absolutely straight.
• Slowly bring your feet up towards the ceiling as your exhale. Again – the focus is to get your hips off the bench.
• Try to ensure that you use your lower abs to lift your hips.
• Bring your legs back to the horizontal position but do not relax them.
• Do 3-4 sets with 15 reps

3. Hip Lift

• Lie down on your back on the weight bench.
• Lift your legs until they are perpendicular to the floor (that means they are straight up in the air!).
• Slowly – as you exhale – raise your hips up off the bench and push your feet up towards the ceiling.
• Return to the starting position of perpendicular legs.
• Do 3-4 sets with 15 reps

4. Seated Ab Crunch

• Sit down on the flat bench with your legs stretched out in front of you.
• Lean back slightly and lift your feet off the floor – this is your starting position.
• Using your abs, pull your knees up towards your shoulders – as you exhale. Ensure you also move your shoulders down toward your knees at the same time, but don’t bend your back.
• Slowly return to your starting position.
• Do 3-4 sets with 15 reps

5. Bench Bicycle Crunch

• Sit on a weight bench and hold the side of the bench with both hands (this will be your support).
• Slowly lean backwards and lift your legs 45 degrees to the bench.
• Slowly pull your knee towards your face enough to squeeze your lower abs, this should be done alternately with the other knee like you are riding on a bicycle.
• Do 3-4 sets with 15 reps

6. Sit-ups

• Lie down on your back on a declining bench with your feet hooked onto the rolls.
• Lace your fingers and put them behind your head so you have to use only your abs to pull yourself up.
• Using your upper abs, pull yourself up till you are sitting straight – again, do this while you are exhaling.
• Slowly lower your upper body back to lying flat on the weight bench.
• Do 3-4 sets with 15 reps

7. V-Ups

• Sit on a weight bench and hold the rear side of the bench with both hands.
• Lock your feet and knees and lean back – make sure your body is 45 degrees to the bench.
• Pull both your knees and your body simultaneously to the center while your calves should touch your hamstrings to make a V position.
• Then stretch your legs forward and your body backwards simultaneously.
• Do 3-4 sets with 15 reps

Do 3-4 sets of these ab exercises on the weight bench and see how your abs strengthen and your belly flattens.