Face it, doing situps over and over again every time can be boring. Your body has probably gotten so used to your usual routine that you are no longer seeing progress in your abs. Time to change your routine and confuse your body into giving you the progress that you desire again. This time round, we present to you 15 abs exercises that actually work to add spice to your abs workouts. Click on each link for a more in-depth explanation on how to perform the exercises.
The Basics
You probably are already familiar with these exercises, but for the benefit of our readers out there who are new to abs exercises, we shall go through the basics again. Skip this if you are already an experienced ab warrior.
1. Sit-ups - The sit up is an effective way to build up the muscles in your abdominal areas, but has fallen out of favor of professionals because of the potential risks of back and neck injuries. However, when done properly, such problems will not occur at all.
2. Crunches - The crunch, also known as curl-up, is one of the most common exercises for the abdominal muscles. Many people recommend crunches over sit-ups because crunches take the movement out of our hip flexors, thus allowing us to work our abdominals better.
Sit-ups and crunches are the basic exercises that will work our abdominal muscles. The abdominal muscles are also what we know more popularly as the 6 pack. For girls however, a set of toned abdominal muscles will usually mean a flat stomach. There are disputes over the effectiveness of sit-ups and crunches, but that is beyond the scope of our article today. Effective or not, sit-ups and crunches are so overused and boring. Instead, try the following:
More Effective Abdominals Exercises
3. V-Ups - The V-Up, or also known as the V-Situp, is one of the most effective bodyweight exercises for your abdominals. The problem with situps and crunches is that they tend to work only the upper abs, while leg raises work the lower abs only. The V-Up is different because as studies have shown, the V-Up actually works all portions of your abdominals!
4. Side Crunches - Side crunches would be the most effective exercise to tone and strengthen your obliques. Sit ups and leg raises are unable to target your obliques as they do not have a twisting motion to it. Side crunches are different because of its twisting motion which are able to target the obliques.
5. 4-Point Supermans - The 4 Point Superman requires a great amount of core strength and stability to be done properly. The glutes and the obliques are targeted in this exercise.
6. Plank - The plank exercise is brilliant to tone up your abdominal and back muscles. It also trains your stabilizers. Remember to not let your hips and back sag during the exercise as it will reduce its effectiveness.
7. Lying Leg Raises - This exercise targets your lower abdominal muscles. It's a very good exercise for beginners to start with as it strengthens the set of abdominal muscles that many neglect.
8. Hanging Leg Raises - This exercise is a variation of the lying leg raises. The only difference lies in the difficulty of the exercise. Hanging leg raises are generally much more difficult to execute as compared to lying leg raises. Hanging leg raise will strengthen your abdominal muscles as a whole, but the emphasis will be the lower abdominal muscles.
9. Leg Raises with Swiss Ball - This exercise is again similar to the Lying Leg Raises with an additional difficulty. This exercise strengthens and tones your lower abdominal muscles.
10. Long Arm Crunch - The long arm crunch is a slight variation of the normal crunch to increase its difficulty.
11. Bicycle Crunch - The bicycle crunch keeps tension on your abdominals constantly throughout the exercise, not allowing them to relax completely, thus making it a very effective abdominal exercise.
12. Reverse Crunch - Just like normal crunches, reverse crunches will target your abdominals too to give you an edge in getting that dream 6 packs finally. The only difference is that the reverse crunch targets mainly the lower abdominals while the normal crunches will hit the more developed upper abs.
13. Ab Rocker - The Ab rocker is a crunch with a slight twist to it. Now, you have an equipment to aid you with the exercise.
14. Russian Twist - Russian twists are rarely done because not many people know about it. However, it can be an extremely effective exercise that works and strengthens your abdominals and obliques.
15. Cable Crunch - If you workout at a gym and have access to a high pulley cable, then the cable crunch will be a very useful addition into your abdominals routine.
16. Jackknife - The jackknife, also known as the knee tuck, is a challenging exercise that works your body from head to toe, especially your abdominals.
17. Fit wheel exercise - This version of the fit wheel exercise will train your core abdominal strength as a whole.
Thoughts aside, pilates and yoga would also aid your quest to achieving beautiful abdominals. One of the unique qualities of aero pilates is the padded jump board. When performing different pilates exercises in the pilates classes, it reduces the stress on your joints. Exercises are all fun, whether it's a pilates, 17 abs or rolling on yoga mats.
Got any other favorite abs exercises that you swear by? Let us know!
Stumble It!
zone rezidentiale bucuresti said
The main benefits of the exercise ball are that it increases the range of motion of any stomach exercise and makes your core muscles work harder because of the balance and stability challenge. Many people also find it more comfortable than ab machines or regular floor crunches.
shade sails said
The abdomen contains most of the tubelike organs of the digestive tract, as well as several solid organs. Hollow abdominal organs include the stomach, the small intestine, and the colon with its attached appendix.
Evaluari imobiliare said
For apartment lessors, each vacancy represents a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the time the apartment is vacant
Add your comment