A chiseled chest and well-defined abs are hallmarks of an attractive body, both for men and women. An abs and chest at home workout will definitely do you a lot of good from improving your posture to giving you the agility to perform a wide range of movement effectively.
However, you don’t need even a single visit to the gym to build a powerful set of abs and pecs as the exercises that are done in the gym can be incorporated into your fitness regimen anywhere you call home.
Let’s now dive into the 11 best abs and chest at-home workouts to crush your fitness goals.
First, let’s consider some preliminary information ranging from the anatomy of the abs to whether it is even possible to train the abs and chest at the same time.
Anatomy of the Chest and Abs
Chest (Pectoralis major)
The pectoralis major is the largest of the four muscles in the chest region and the one that is closest to the skin. It originates from the clavicle and the sternum and attaches to the humerus in order to make adduction (bringing the arm towards the body) and medial rotation of the upper limb possible.
Dumbbell chest flies, single-arm chest flies, and other abs and chest workouts at home specifically target the pecs.
Chest (Pectoralis minor)
The pectoralis minor is deeper down in the body, being situated underneath the pectoralis major.
The pecs minor starts on ribs 3-5 and attaches to the scapula (the triangular bone that connects the upper arm bone with the collarbone).
This arrangement allows for movement and control of the shoulder joint and downward rotation of the scapula when the shoulder is elevated.
Abs (Rectus abdominis)
The rectus abdominis, commonly referred to as the six-pack muscle, or abs, is found in the anterior abdominal wall.
It is a vertical, flat, and parallel muscle at the front of the abdomen that joins the sternum to the pubis and is interrupted by three or more fibrous bands called tendinous intersections.
The rectus abdominis assists with hip flexion and serves to bend the body forwards or sideways. It also provides stability during movements that engage the core.
The abs and chest workout at home that specifically target the rectus abdominis muscle are crunches and Russian twists, amongst others.
Can you work the abs and chest at the same time?
While the chest and the abs may seem to be a little far apart, many exercises that hit the chest (even if they are chest isolation exercises) will also give the abs a good workout.
This is because any exercise that requires you to maintain good form by keeping your torso from twisting from side to side calls on the muscles of your core—which include your abs—to fire.
In other words, any home chest exercise that requires core stability is also an abs and chest workout at home. Press-ups are a stellar example of this kind of challenge.
Nevertheless, an exercise that specifically targets the abs may not necessarily work the chest.
This is because something like crunches—which is abs focused—emphasizes lengthening and contraction movements that have a different line of action than the expansion and contraction movements that hit the chest.
Let’s now dive straight into the 11 best abs and chest workouts at home.
The Best 11 at-home Abs and Chest Workouts
The 11 best abs and chest workouts at home include sit-ups, crunches, V-ups, chest flies, chest presses, and Russian twists. These workouts can further be divided into isolation movements that target either the chest or the abs and compound exercises whose line of action affects the chest and abs and other muscle groups for a full-body workout.
Abs isolation exercises
Crunches
Crunches are by far the abs exercise most recommended by health professionals and fitness aficionados, often touted for their safety and effectiveness. Really, abs crunches are so good that except if you are a pregnant woman, have neck pain or osteoporosis, crunches should be part of your abs and chest workout at home.
Steps:
- Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet squarely planted on the floor, hip width apart. This is the starting position.
- To keep your neck safe from potential injury, cross your arms on your chest rather than wrapping them under your neck.
- Inhale and contract your abs, then exhale and lift your upper body (not your entire back) without tensing your head and neck in any way.
Precautions:
Crunches as an abs and chest workout at home are generally safe but avoid letting the movement come from your head or neck. Let all of it be from your core. Also, only place your hands underneath your head when you’ve mastered the proper form of this abs isolation workout.
Sit-ups
Sit ups are similar to crunches as they also isolate the rectus abdominis but the key difference is that this abs and chest at home workout has a much wider range of motion that according to Torra Wolf and Ray Cook may be better or worse for you depending on your fitness level (whether beginner, intermediate, or expert) and exercise goals.
Steps:
- Stay flat on your back with legs bent at the knees and feet flush with the floor. Look up at the ceiling and dig your lower back into the floor. Keep your hands same way as you do with crunches. This is the starting position.
- Engage your abs and squeeze your abs as if preparing to take a blow to the stomach as you lift yourself all the way up. Keep your elbows back and chin forward.
- Raise your back to lift your torso all the way to touch your hips.
- Gently lower back to the starting position and repeat the movement.
Precautions:
Don’t crane your neck when lifting your torso in this abs and chest workout at home. Keep it in a neutral position and in line with your spine. Also, use a flat surface when just starting out.
V-ups
A distant cousin of the sit-up mentioned above, V-ups make for an excellent abs and chest at home workout that thoroughly fires up your abs. V-ups derive their name from the shape your body assumes if you do the exercise with proper form.
Steps:
- Lie on your back and extend your arms above your head. Straighten your legs and keep your feet together.
- Point your toes and engage your core to lift your foot to slightly slant with your hips.
- Engage your core to lift your torso and legs at the same time to create a ‘V’ shape with your body.Â
- Keep your core engaged, and slowly lower your body down to the floor. Keep your legs straight, and your arms extended above your head.
Precautions:
Avoid slumping or arching your back when bringing your torso off the floor in this abs and chest workout at home.
Russian twists
For a strong yet flexible core that allows for frictionless rotational movements like the ones used in sports, you can’t go wrong with an abs and chest workout at home like the Russian twist.
Steps:
- Sit on the floor and create a V shape with your torso and hips. Keep your knees bent and straighten your spine. This is the starting position.
- Interlock your fingers and use your abdominals to twist to the right, and then to the left.
Precautions:
Avoid this exercise at all costs if you are pregnant due to the stretching of the midsection involved.
Chest isolation exercises
Dumbbell chest fly
Dumbbell flys are a great abs and chest workout at home for isolating the chest and the rowing movements involved offset the horizontal push movements—closing and opening the door, et cetera— that everyday life subjects us to.
To do this chest workout at home, use a flat bench if an incline bench is absent or do a standing chest fly, but with resistance bands (so you don’t do a shoulder workout instead with gravity’s interference) if you prefer an upright posture.
Steps:
- Sit near the end of a bench holding a dumbbell in each hand against your laps.
- Lie back on the bench, bringing the weights with you to suspend them above your chest with extended arms. Don’t lock your arms, though. Allow a slight bend in your elbow.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells in an arc to line up with your chest. Don’t drop your arms below your shoulders.
- Slowly press the dumbbells up in the reverse arc motion.
Steps:
For this abs and chest workout at home, avoid lowering your arms below your shoulders to avoid excess strain in your arm muscles.
Single-arm chest fly
The single-arm chest fly is a highly challenging way to train the chest muscles and to a lesser extent the abs. Nevertheless, the impact on the abs or the core muscles cannot be discounted as this muscle group is tasked with keeping your body from swaying from side to side when engaging in this abs and chest workout.
Here are the steps to engage in this abs and chest workout at home with good form.
Steps:
- Same as the dumbbell chest fly above except that the movement is made with one arm at a time.
Precautions:
A major precaution for this abs and chest workout at home is to avoid twisting your torso to help with lifting the dumbbell back up. This is a very easy mistake to make as the weight is unevenly distributed across the body. Also, bending your elbow instead of extending it could result in emphasis being shifted from your pecs to your biceps and triceps.
Close grip chest press
Many weightlifters prefer the close grip chest press to the barbell bench press as the latter abs and chest workout at home poses a greater risk of leading to shoulder pain and torn pecs.
The close grip chest press as an abs and chest at-home workout is a (potentially) safe way to add variety to your bench presses and is proof that you can get an effective workout from lighter weights.
Indeed, the close grip chest chest really lets you squeeze your target muscles hard for that dynamic tension training that can turn even the easiest bodyweight exercise into a ferocious workout!
Steps:
- Sit straight at the end of an exercise bench with a dumbbell in each hand. Squeeze them together on your lap.
- Lie back on the bench, bringing the dumbbells with you to rest on your chest. Keep squeezing them together.
- Push the weights straight over your chest until your arms are fully extended but not locked. Keep pressing the weight together to keep the tension on your chest.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells to your chest and repeat.
Precautions:
To minimize the risk of the dumbbells slipping as you press them together, use hexagonal dumbbells instead of round ones. Also, go for higher reps and lighter weights.
 Chest dips
The chest dip is a great bodyweight workout to target the inner pecs, particularly the lower region. It works like a push-up except that you press your body up in an erect stance rather than a prone one. And like push-ups, chest dips are also a great abs and chest workout at home.
Steps:
- If you don’t have a parallel bar, grab two strong stools of equal height and place them next to each other.
- Get two strong, stable stools or chairs of equal height and space them apart such that you can conveniently stand between them and still have space around you.
- Stand sideways between the chair handles (or stools) with your arms aligned at your sides.
- Lower yourself at the waist to grip the chairs by their handles, or press your palms on the stools with your arms straight.Â
- While gripping the chair handles tightly or pressing your palms firmly on the stool surfaces, suspend yourself in the air by bending your knees at 90 degrees and lifting your feet together off the floor behind you. At this point, your shoulders should be shrugged, your shins should be parallel with the floor, and your elbows should be bent but hugging your body. This is the starting position.
- Now, lift yourself up by pressing down on the chairs or the stools and straightening your elbows.Â
- Reverse the motion to lower yourself again. That’s one rep.
Precautions:
For this abs and chest workout at home, only dip as low as is needed to feel your shoulder muscles stretching. Also, avoid locking your muscles to avoid hyperextension.
Abs and Chest Compound Exercises
Archer push ups
Archer push-ups are also known as side to side push-ups and are a pretty badass take on the standard push-up. As a popular abs and chest workout at home, the emphasis on the back and arms muscles as well as the pecs makes them a high-intensity at home abs and chest workout that strengthens your stabilizing muscle groups.
Archer push-ups also prepare you for perhaps the most insane push-up of all—the one-arm push-up.
Steps:
- Get into the top of the push-up position and let your fingers point outwards from your body. Your hands should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart, and your legs should be hip-width apart. Rotate your shoulders upwards to engage your latissimus dorsi.
- Engage your core, squeeze your quads and glutes, and hold an imaginary egg under your chin.
- With your core tightly engaged, bend your right elbow and shift your body towards your right side to fully extend your left arm.
- Reverse the movement to get back to the starting position and repeat on the left side.
Precautions:
Keep your back straight, not arched or slumped in this abs and chest workout at home. Also, avoid twisting your torso as you push to your right or to your left.
Lying leg raise
Lying leg raises are among the best abs and chest at home workouts you can think of. They really emphasize the abs and as a bonus, work the hip flexors.
Doing lying leg raises regularly can help to improve back pain and also make it easier to do more advanced exercises due to your stronger hips and core.
Steps:
- Lie flat on the floor (preferably on a mat) with your face up and legs fully extended.
- Support your lower back and glutes with your hands underneath them.
- Press your thighs together and raise your legs as you keep them straight.
- Keep lifting until your hips are fully flexed, and you can go no further without bending your legs.
- Repeat for as many reps as possible.
Precautions:
Avoid arching your back as that’s not good form for this abs and chest workout at home.
Incline press-up
An incline press-up is what you get when you do a push-up but place your hands on a raised surface rather than the floor.
This kind of press-up is easier than the standard push-up but still makes for a bonkers abs and chest workout at home. Your ab muscles in your core come into place to contribute to core stability so you don’t sway your body from side to side when going up or down.
Steps:
- Stand in front of a solid, stable box or bench and get down all fours with your hands planted directly under you on the raised surface, back and hips straight and your feet supported on your toes.
- Bend your arms so you can slowly lower yourself to the raised surface. Straighten them again to bring you back. up
- Repeat those steps for as many reps as you can execute.
Precautions:
Discontinue this abs and chest workout at home if you start feeling shoulder pain or have a wrist or elbow injury.
Wrapping up: Get more out of your abs and chest workouts
Training the chest and abs doesn’t always mean reserving separate days to train those muscle groups separately.
Fine, you can do that if you so desire, but it’s not your only option. Sometimes, you need to switch things up a bit.
If you want to get more out of your workout session for a day, consider drawing your abs and chest at-home workout program in such a way that you do up to two workouts in a superset format.
In other words, engage in two exercises e.g. crunches and close grip chest press back-to-back without any rest in between.
That regimen is a bit more demanding than doing a single exercise in one session, but you will get considerable payoffs in muscle growth.
FAQ’s
Yes. It’s very possible. Chest exercises that call on your core muscles for stability (to keep your torso from swaying) also work your abs. Besides, you can always alternate chest isolation exercises with abs isolation exercises in the same session.
The following exercises will help with that:
Crunches (for abs)
Sit-ups (abs)
V-ups (abs)
Dumbbell chest fly (chest)
Single-arm chest fly (chest)
Chest dips (chest)
You can draw your workout plan for the day to include up to 2 chest exercises followed by up to 2 abs exercises for a total of 4 exercises targeting the abs and chest. Alternatively, you can take 2 exercises that target the chest and abs at the same time.
It’s not advisable to train your chest and abs muscles every day as you need up to a full day of rest for your muscles to recover and repair the damaged tissue in order to get stronger. So you can work your chest and abs every other day.
Crunches, sit-ups, and V-ups are your best bets to build stronger, well-defined abs.
The top 3 exercises for isolating the chest are the dumbbell chest fly, the chest dip, and the Archer push-up. All have been discussed above.