How Many Calories Do You Burn Doing Ab Exercises?

Ab Exercises Calories Burned Calculator

When performing abdominal exercises such as different type of crunches, abdominal roll wheel, and planks for a typical duration of 5 to 20 minutes, you burn approximately 4 to 8 calories per minute. This means during a targeted ab workout, you can expend between 25 to 140 calories.

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Calories Burned with Ab Exercises (weight: 170 lbs)

Exercises	MET	30 min.	60 min.
Ab Exercises	7	283	567
Abdominal Roll Wheel	4	162	324
Bicycle Crunches	2.9	117	235
Crunches	2.8	113	227
Hanging Knee Tucks	3.2	130	259
Reverse Crunches	3	122	243
Side Crunches	2.9	177	235
Side Plank	5	202	405
Burpees	8	324	648
Bridges	6	243	486

You may think that doing endless crunches and planks will get you the six-pack that you’re dreaming of. But ab exercises are only one piece of the puzzle to getting a shredded core.

If you really want to see a six-pack, you’re going to need to add ab exercises to other strength training exercises and plenty of cardio to burn enough calories to put you in a caloric deficit.

If you can’t stay in a caloric deficit, you’ll find that you’ll never be able to lose weight around your mid-section. Below are some of the most popular ab exercises that you should consider adding to your workout routine.

Common Ab Exercises

Abdominal Roll Wheel

The abdominal roll wheel is one of the best exercises you can do to engage your core and build muscle around the abs. You can get ab wheels at just about any store that sells exercise equipment, and the exercise is easy to learn but hard to master.

The ab wheel will be difficult to do for beginners that are starting to develop their core, but advanced weightlifters can challenge themselves even more by doing standing ab wheel rollouts.

Learn more about how many calories you’ll burn and tips about how to do the abdominal roll wheel.

Crunches

Crunches are one of the most popular ab exercises for weightlifters since they are easy to do and don’t require much equipment.

Your standard crunch is going to be the exercise that all the crunch variations come from, so you must be able to master the standard crunch before you decide to do any of the advanced variations of crunches.

When doing a crunch, it’s important that you hold at the top of your crunch for about 2 seconds. This way you keep your core engaged and control your motion, as doing crunches too fast without proper form could lead to injury and you won’t get all the benefits that come with doing crunches correctly.

Curious about how many calories you’ll burn from crunches? Learn more about crunches and tips on how to do them correctly.

Bicycle Crunches

The bicycle crunch is a variation of the standard crunch and is also used to build the core and strengthen your abs. The bicycle crunch is beginner-friendly and is easy to do once you’ve got the correct form.

To do this exercise, you’ll put your hands on your head as you’re lying down on the ground, and then bring your left knee up towards your abs and twist your torso so your right elbow just about touches your left leg. Then alternate for sets of about 15-20 on each side.

To make the exercise more challenging, you can perform it on a bench lying backward to force you to use your balance to keep your body from falling on the bench.

Find out more information on the bicycle crunch and how many calories you can expect to burn.

Hanging Knee Tucks

Hanging knee tucks are a variation of the standard knee tuck, but you use a stable pull-up bar to hang from. Since you’re hanging from the bar while doing this knee tuck, you’ll be able to develop and tone your upper body better than sitting knee tucks.

This variation is a challenging exercise that can pay off when done correctly and consistently.

You use your core muscles as you pull your knees to your chest, and as you lower your legs back down, the abs work to keep the torso stable. In addition, just hanging from the bar allows you to get an upper-body workout in too.

Learn more about hanging knee tucks and some tips on how to do this exercise effectively.

Reverse Crunches

Next time you hit abs at the gym, you should mix in reverse crunches if you want to feel your abs burn. This exercise is ideal because you can do it anywhere since crunches don’t require much additional equipment.

Reverse crunches mimic a more natural movement and the exercise targets the rectus abdominis muscles. This exercise is different than the standard crunch because you perform the exercise in a reverse motion.

Find out some more in-depth tips and tricks on how to do the reverse crunch.

Side Crunches

 Side crunches are another variation of the regular crunch and allow you to target your abs and obliques all in one exercise instead of splitting them up into two. Side crunches are great for flattening the stomach and building muscle in the abdominal region.

It’s important to know that you shouldn’t do any type of twisting crunches more than one day per week to avoid putting a lot of stress on your back. If you’re looking to work in more oblique exercises, you can try the side plank as well.

Learn more about side crunches and how many calories you can expect to burn while doing this challenging exercise.

Side Plank

The side plank is a useful variation of the normal plank and can help to build muscle in the hip adductors and abductors. The side plank forces your abductors to move the legs away from the body by rotating at the hips, which develop and tones the adductors if you practice this regularly.

Doing side planks regularly also contributes to higher PRs in other exercises that involve hip flexion and rotation, which makes knowing the correct form of side planks even more important.

Find out more information on side planks and how many calories you will burn from this exercise.

How the Calculator Works

Our calculator uses MET values and gives you an approximate number of calories you can expect to burn while doing abdominal exercises.

What Are MET Values?

MET stands for metabolic equivalent of task, a MET value is a ratio between the working metabolic rate and the resting metabolic rate [1], which is the amount of energy that is used in comparison to the duration of time spent doing the activity.

Formula

The formula that our calorie calculator uses to determine the number of calories burned per minute is (bodyweight in kg  x  MET   x  3.5) ÷ 200.

Benefits of Ab Exercises

Aside from toning your abdominal region and developing rock-solid abs, there are more benefits to doing ab exercises that you should be aware of.

First, having toned abdominals helps to improve your posture on a daily basis and gives you more stability when doing other exercises that indirectly target your abs.

Athletes will especially find that ab exercises help them with their performance since most sports require some form of stability, balance, and core strength.

Athletes participating in sports like gymnastics, rowing, and skiing will get the most benefits from having a strong core.

With a solid core, you’ll also reduce the chances of developing back pain and other nagging injuries. Lower back muscles that aren’t used frequently become rigid in the joints and can cause chronic lower back pain if you neglect to train your core on a regular basis.

Here are some of the Best Ab Exercises and Workouts:

• Bigger Abs Workout and Diet Guide  
• Why and How: Proper Plank Form
• V-Lines Exercises and Workouts
• How To Do Side Crunches – Tips, Benefits, Variations
• Diastasis Recti Exercises for Moms to Get Their Body Back
• 10 Best Abs Stretches
• Weighted Abs Exercises and Workouts
• Plank Progressions and Variations for Stronger Abs
• Abs Exercises You Can Do Anywhere and Anytime 

The Bottom Line

Ab exercises are extremely important for anyone that is looking to build a rock-solid core and a shredded six-pack.

But getting a solid core is not solely achieved by doing hours of ab exercises. You must remain in a caloric deficit if you want to lose body fat and have your abs visible as you’re walking down the beach or going for a swim with friends.

Pair any of the ab exercises we’ve discussed here with a solid strength training routine and you’ll be well on your way to building a great physique.

References:

1. Jetté, M., Sidney, K., & Blümchen, G. (1990). Metabolic equivalents (METS) in exercise testing, exercise prescription, and evaluation of functional capacity. Clinical cardiology, 13(8), 555–565. https://doi.org/10.1002/clc.4960130809

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