Ab Exercises

So, you have arrived at a point where your abs are mostly ready and only need minor detailing before a six pack becomes visible. This part needs you to concentrate on certain variables that will lead to a more ripped you. An endeavour that demands a lot of sweat and ab workout which is dedicated to your mid-section apart from general training.

However, a dedicated workout of the mid-section does not stand for doing hundreds of crunches alone.. A great mid-section involves the right posture, the right exercise combinations and the right diet.

Improves Sports Performance

When it comes to sports performance, then core muscle strength has been under the lens since early 80’s. Most studies have revealed major benefits of training for improved sports performance for most athletes in terms of injury prevention and stability.

Prevents lower-back pain

Plank with Overhead Reach

Much harder than it sounds, the plank with overhead reach is amazing at fortifying your lower back.

Standing Ab Wheel Rollout

The standing ab wheel rollout is popular as six-pack maker, since it builds a lot strength across the torso.

• Start with your feet shoulder width apart and bend down to grab the handles of your ab-wheels.
• Next, gradually roll back till you reach the pinnacle of a push-up move.
• Slowly move your arms as far forward as you can without losing control.
• Re Do. 3 Sets, 5 Reps.

Improve Your Posture

If you work from a desk all day or sit in a car for a long commute to and from work, chances are that you’ve experienced the painful effects of poor posture.

The New Crunch

Also known as the curl up, the new crunch goes towards priming the rectus abdominis, which are the six-pack muscles and also the obliques that come down diagonally to rotate the torso.

How To:

• Lie flat on your back and bend your knees, put your feet flat on the floor and press your lower back to the floor. Put hands behind your head.
• Breathe out fully and suck your navel in and towards your spine. Take your head and shoulders off the floor in a slow motion. Stay, and then go down. Repeat thrice.
• Put one leg forward at a 45-degree angle to the ceiling. Or hold both legs off the floor, knees bent, with your shins parallel to the floor.
• Breathe Better

Leg Lift

• Lie on back on yoga mat, extend arms overhead, and hold on to sides of mat as if trying to pull it apart.
• Put forward left leg straight up at 90 degree and extend right leg above floor. Stay for half minute and inhale into belly and ribs.
• Concentrate on keeping spine in its natural shape. Relax, then repeat on other side.

Develop a Slimmer Waistline

Side Plank-Up

Side plank-up targets rectus and transversus abdominis, the obliques, and inner thigh zone.

• Lie straight on your left with legs piled and a rolled towel between the thighs.
• Prop your torso on the left elbow and make left forearm perpendicular to the torso.
• Raise your hips so that body makes a straight line from toe to the head and squeeze the towel between your thighs. Count for a minute. Repeat.
• Go for 10 reps. Alternate sides and repeat. Prime 3-4 sets.

Round Back

The round back is great for getting the rectus and transversus abdominis in shape.

• Sit down on a rolled-up towel on the floor and press shoulder blades against the wall and bend your knees, flatten your feet and keep you’re back rounded.
• Put hands on the floor near your hips and press the fingertips into floor.
• Squeeze your abs and raise your feet off the floor. Next, bring knees into the chest, straighten legs by 90 degrees.
• Do 3 sets.

Fly Up

The fly up targets Rectus Abdominis.

• Sit down on a rolled towel on the floor, lean back on your elbows and gather feet together on a wall and ensure that knees are bent at 90 degrees.
• Put your legs in front of you and balance feet against a wall, press your rounded lower back into the floor and squeeze your abs when you lift the arms and touch your feet, elbows soft.

Let’s look at some of the best ab exercise for women. These target four core muscle groups.

• External abdominal Obliques - Muscles on the sides of your body that you can be felt under your arms at the ribcage.
• Internal Abdominal Obliques - Stabilizer muscles under the external obliques.
• Transversus Abdominus - Running horizontally on the mid-section these are really deep core muscles.
• Rectus Abdominus – Stretched between the sternum and your pelvis, the rectus abdominus assist in flexing your spine when you walk.
• Plank Crawl Out
  • Keep your feet together as you stand and use your core.
  • Bend down at hips and touch the floor. Once you touch the floor, you’re your fingers to walk into the push-up stance.
  • Crawl up to the start position inch by inch backward and raise your hips towards the ceiling. Once your feet become flat on the floor, bend down at the hips and come back to standing position.
• Side Plank
  • Start on your left, with elbow beneath your shoulder and forearm at 90 degree to the body.
  • Pile your feet by placing one foot on the other.
  • Pull in your abs and raise hips off the floor until body is diagonal from your shoulder to the feet.
  • Stay in this position for half minute to 45 seconds.
  • Change sides and repeat.
• Reverse Crunch
  • Start when you are sitting, knee bent at 90-degree and feet flat.
  • Extend your hands with palms facing the other.
  • Exhale, pulling your belly button toward your spine.
  • Roll back onto your tailbone, curving your spine into a C shape.
  • Inhale and return to the starting position. Repeat, doing 15 more reverse crunches.
• Boat Pose
  • Start when you sitting, back straight, knees bent and feet flat.
  • Lean back and balance on your hip bones. Next, lift legs off the floor.
  • Put your hands out straight, with your palms up. Form a V with your body.
  • Stay for half a minute.

Prone Plate Switch

The plank is amazing. It is great for your abs, a spine stabilizer, and keeps lower back pain at bay. However, there is boredom associated with planks. Let us get rid of it and move on to advanced planks.

360 Abs

Crunches are critical ab exercises since anyone can do it. Crunches are amazing for your trunk. While the main function of your core is to prevent movement and resist force through your torso.

Reverse Push-Up

A regular push-up works your core. The reverse push-up is very intense on the abdomen. When you power your body forward using your legs, the core muscles end up working really hard to stop your body. This means that your abs get worked out as much as your shoulders and arms.

Elevated Bird Dog

The bird dog position gives you core strength. Raise your knees off the floor a couple of inches and make it a point to stay still when you change arms and legs.

This involves making your hips and lower-back muscles, obliques, rectus abdominis function in sync to keep your spine straight.

Lie flat, face up. Bend your knees and put your feet flat on floor. Breathe in, and then exhale and slowly curl your head, neck, shoulders to raise yourself above the floor and touch your feet. Stop and inhale. Pause and breathe in. Go back to the original position. Do eight reps.

Straighten your legs upwards. Breathe in and tighten your abs. Breathe out and gradually lower your legs to about four inches from the floor. Stop and inhale. Exhale while you lift your legs to the initial position. 10 reps.

Ab Wheel Rollout

The barbell ab curl is an amazing workout of the abs and lower back. A highly efficient workout, the ab wheel rollout strengthens your lower back and abs, together with the lats and shoulder muscles. The ab wheel is amazing at stabilizing the abdomen without hurting the spine. This is an amazing exercise to give yourself a great core.

Arms-High Partial Sit-Up

Arm high partial sit up. Lie flat on your back and make your knees perpendicular and put your arms out straight, and point them upward through the exercise. Go into a half sit up position and gradually return. That makes one complete rep.

Barbell Rollout

Kneel down on the floor in front of a loaded barbell and grab the barbell with an overhand, shoulder-width group. Your arms should be straight and your torso fairly upright in the start position. Allow the bar to roll forward as far as possible with just your knees touching the floor while you maintain your grip on the bar. The goal is to be as flat as possible in the finish position with your torso and upper legs parallel with floor and hovering just a couple inches above it.

Twist for Great Abs

The Russian Twist is a highly challenging exercise that is amazing for your core strength. It is also great because it does not hurt the lower back as is the case for many beginners engaging in ab workouts.

Swiss Ball Crunch

Largely suitable for those people who experience pain in the lower back due to doing many variations of crunches with the support of an exercise ball.

1. Before starting, relax on the exercise ball by sitting. Extend your feet out and ensure that your lower back is at edge of the ball but still fully supported on the ball. Ensure that your back is properly arched and your legs are bent at a 90-degree angle.
2. Pull in your abdominal muscles and curl up your upper body. Lift your upper body to 45 degrees and at the same time raise your hips up towards the shoulders. This way you will involve your lower abs as well. Then return to the starting position. That’s one rep.

There should be no or little movement of the exercise ball during the exercise.

Dip Bar Leg Raise:

• Step 1: Stand facing away from the dip machine.
• Step 2: Get onto the handles and extend your arms out.
• Step 3: Legs should be straight and feet raised to waist level.
• Step 4: Stay for a moment and then lower your legs to the ground.

Flutter Kick

The flutter kick is done while lying on your back and running your legs. This utilises your rectus abdominis, which forms the core abdominal muscle, as well as your obliques for stabilization. You will notice stress in the front muscles of your hips throughout the duration of the exercise. This is the hip flexor taking the strain.

Front Squat

In this day and age, we all come to a point where we need to do some smart work, whether it’s completing the task given by your boss at workplace by deadline or buying vegetables and food items while coming back home. We all try saving our time here and there.

Now, when it comes to body building and fitness, perhaps training, smart work would be to learn the right exercises and techniques to perform them without getting injured and staying fit and healthy throughout and be able to live a better life. Taking it further, when it comes to our own body, almost entire load is balanced onto the two legs, probably the reason why every other trainer or gym guy would suggest you to perform a front squat.

Horizontal Cable Wood Chop

This exercise utilises a cable rack and a mono cable to duplicate the woodchopping movement. Why should one practice the woodchopper move? Because it mimics a common sport move of swinging while using the torso. A mid-level exercise, the cable wood chop involves the pulling motion.

Leg Raise

Amongst the really good ab workouts, a special mention should go to the leg raises. The leg raises are not complex and quite efficient. They are quite efficient and available with many challenging variations. Leg raise is an amazing move for your lower abs that is otherwise ignored by conventional sit-ups. They add to the strength and flexibility of your hips and lower back.

Lower Ab Exercises

Most people cannot afford to not workout the lower abs. That is how tough the lower abs are when it comes to losing weight and giving definition to your muscles. You need to burn calories. This is how the best of abs come from the kitchen.

Go for these at 30 seconds per move and 10 second interval in between.

• Heel Tap
• Mountain Climber
• Scissor
• Slider Pike
• Straight Leg Raise
• Cross Body Climber
• Slider Knee Tuck

Ab Roller Exercises

V Roll-Outs

The V roll-outs put greater emphasis on the obliques and are similar to the knee roll-outs. The only difference being the extension which needs to be done at an angle of 45 degrees.

Knee Tucks

For this variation, you will have to be in a plank position but instead of your hands, this time your feet will be on the handles of the ab roller. An extra accessory that you will require is afoot strapping attachment for this exercise. You need to set yourself in a plank position after your feet are secured in the attachments.

Lower Ab Exercises for Men

First, we must quickly understand the human biology. Here, we speak about rectus abdominis which is a long muscle comprising your upper and lower abdomen.

Bicycle Crunch

Lie flat on your back, extend one leg, and pull the knee of the other leg towards your chest. Put your hand behind your head and bring the elbow near your chest.

Alligator Walk

Once you are in a push up position, take your arms to shoulder’s width. Your body should be straight as an arrow and your core should be tight. Make small steps with your hands and feet move like an alligator.

Ab Strengthening Exercises

A stronger core does not necessarily involve shedding carbs and sweating for hours at the gym.

Crunches

Lie flat on the floor, face up, bend your knees and put your hands behind your head. Your lower back should be pushed into the ground and upper back should be lifted and pushed forward a little.

Vertical Leg Crunch

Lie flat on the ground, face up, and press your lower back into the ground. Put your hands behind the head. Straighten your legs at 90 degrees and cross them at the ankles, together with a light bend of the knee. Pull in your abdominal muscles as you take the torso towards your knees.

V-Ups

Lie faceup with legs and arms extended. While your knees and elbows are locked, raise your upper body and then raise your legs while touching your toes.

Raised Knee-In

Lie on your back, face up, palms down and pressed under the lower back and your butt. Push the small portion of your back to the floor and put legs out, hover heels 3 inches above the ground. Repeat.

Upper Ab Exercises

Remember that working out the entire midsection is important if you want to flat washboard abdomen. Working out only 1 segment might result in an uneven abdomen.

Sprinter Exercise

The sprinter exercise is quite hard to master and quite efficient as a motion for upper body workout. Remember that you need to control movements to achieve good results. Keep your back straight.

Ab Exercises with Dumbbells

Ab exercises involving the dumbbell go for the upper and lower abs and the obliques at your side.

Weighted Crunch

Lie straight on bench, face up, and hold a dumbbell above your chest. Curl up your upper body till your shoulder blades are above the bench and go down after staying for a moment.

Weighted Leg Raise

Lie down on the bench, face up. Grip the bench on the sides and put dumbbell between the feet. Extend your legs up to 90 degrees to the floor and bring them back after a while.

Dumbbell Side Bend

Grip a dumbbell at your side with one hand. Tilt your upper body towards the dumbbell and come back to the original position in a while.

Lower Ab Exercises for Women

There are many methods for women to work out their abs.

V-Up

• Lie down with your face up and your arms and legs on the floor.
• Make sure that your abs are tight and raise your hands and feet until they touch above your torso.
• Bring your arms and legs to the floor.
• Repeat.

Half Burpee

• Start standing in a quarter squat. Bend and put your hands on the ground and jump back so that you're in the high plank position.
• Quickly jump forward and place your feet outside your hand.
• Elevate your chest up and return to the initial position. Put your hands on the ground and do the next rep.

Ab Wheel Exercises

The Ab Wheel Rollout

The goal is to activate the core. When not done properly, the ab wheel puts stress on your back and hip muscles. The ab wheel should look mostly like a push up on the knees.

The Oblique Rollout

This has the same posture as mentioned above. Put your hands out, and curl up till your nose almost touches the floor. Go to the start position and curl out towards the opposite. 3 sets @ 4 repetition each.

A washboard stomach is a synonym of fitness. Yet, achieving a washboard stomach is easier said than done. Remember that there are around 2 dozen muscles that make up your abdomen and back. To get a stronger core, you need to work the abs in the best possible way. So, upgrade your abs exercise regime with the workouts detailed here. Challenge your abdomen with these exercises from every angle and achieve total fitness doing so.