Use this trainer’s five favorite abs stretches to recover faster after your next core workout

Try these quick stretches to help your core muscles relax

Woman demonstrates stretches in a fitness studio
(Image credit: Life Time)
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Think of all the stretching exercises you know. Most people can name—or at least picture—some leg, arm and shoulder stretches, but how many abs stretches can you name? I would have struggled to name any before speaking to NASM-qualified personal trainer Brooke Van Paris, who gave me this super quick ab stretching routine to use after your next abs workout.

The five stretches each target different abdominal muscles and should give the area the stretch it needs to properly relax after your abs workout.

Five expert-approved abs stretches

1. Lying supine abs stretch

Woman demonstrates stretches in a fitness studio

(Image credit: Life Time)

Time: 30sec

  • Lie on your back and extend your arms behind you.
  • Arch your lower back, push your stomach up and hold for time.

2. Lying stability ball abs stretch

Woman demonstrates stretches in a fitness studio

(Image credit: Life Time)

Time: 30sec

  • Sit on a stability ball with your feet flat on the floor.
  • Walk your feet away from the ball and lean back, rolling down the ball so your arched back rests on the ball.
  • Place your hands behind your head, push your stomach up and hold.

3. Cobra stretch—upper abdominals

Woman demonstrates stretches in a fitness studio

(Image credit: Life Time)

Time: 30sec

  • Lie on your stomach and place your hands on the floor just in front of your head with your palms facing down.
  • Push through your hands to extend your arms and lift your upper torso, keeping your hips and toes on the floor, and hold.

4. Cobra stretch—lower abdominals

Woman demonstrates stretches in a fitness studio

(Image credit: Life Time)

Time: 30sec

  • Lie on your stomach and position your hands under your shoulders.
  • Push through your hands to extend your arms and lift your torso, keeping your quads and toes on the floor, and hold.

5. External oblique stretch

Woman demonstrates stretches in a fitness studio

(Image credit: Life Time)

Time: 30sec each side

  • Lie on your back and extend your arms out to the sides so your body forms a T shape.
  • Keeping your upper back on the floor, move your right leg across your body to your left side.
  • Turn your head to the right and hold.
  • Return to the start under control, then repeat on the other side.
About our expert
Head and shoulders of a smiling woman.
About our expert
Brooke Van Paris

Brooke Van Paris is a certified personal trainer at Life Time Boca Raton. She specializes in weight management, general health and strength training.

Lou Mudge
Lou Mudge
Fitness Writer

Lou Mudge is a Health Writer at Future Plc, working across Fit&Well and Coach. She previously worked for Live Science, and regularly writes for Space.com and Pet's Radar. Based in Bath, UK, she has a passion for food, nutrition and health and is eager to demystify diet culture in order to make health and fitness accessible to everybody.


Multiple diagnoses in her early twenties sparked an interest in the gut-brain axis and the impact that diet and exercise can have on both physical and mental health. She was put on the FODMAP elimination diet during this time and learned to adapt recipes to fit these parameters, while retaining core flavors and textures, and now enjoys cooking for gut health.

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