Among all the muscles in our body, abs tend to be the superstar when we choose which group to focus on the most. After all, who has ever said that they’d prefer not to have a six-pack? It seems like there are a million and one gadgets and machines that are supposed to “work your abs.” But do you really need one?
There are enough effective exercises to give your abs a super workout without using anything more than your own body, although some extras, like stability balls or bars, can help you advance the intensity as you progress through your workout. We rounded up the best ab exercises that our experts feel are the best to specifically focus on the abs. You might not love how your abs feel immediately after giving these a first try, but you’ll definitely love how they look if you stick with these exercises.
Best Ab Exercises #1 | Stability Exercises
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The function of the abs is to stabilize the spine, so the best way to strengthen them is through total body movements and stability exercises. My clients can attest—my favorite core exercises are forearm planks and side planks, and there are numerous variations so they never get old.
Starting with the basics, hold plank on your forearms and toes for 30 seconds keeping your body in a straight line from head to heels. Rest and then do it again. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can do a plank using a bosu or stability ball. You can lift and hold one leg or one arm off the ground. You can hold plank using a TRX, or you can walk your plank from side-to-side. |
Best Ab Exercises #2 | Hanging Abs Raise
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I think ultimately the best exercise varies depending on a person’s fitness level. The following are my favorite exercises, but they are more advanced and are certainly not appropriate for beginners or those who don’t have a very strong foundation. For beginners see: Abs Progression.
My favorite all time is the advanced hanging abs raise gymnasts do. You hang from a pull-up bar and you curl your legs forward while they are completely straight so your ankles/feet come all the way up to the bar. This is a very advanced exercise, but it’s also incredibly effective. Other honorable mentions include the abs wheel, abdominal cable curl, bosu ball crunches (while doing a reverse crunch with one leg on the side you are crunching), and advanced variations of the plank abs exercise. - Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT |
Best Ab Exercises #3 | Hanging Windshield Wipers
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I almost never do any direct ab work as I feel if you’re doing deadlifts and front squats heavy enough, while maintaining your diet, you’ll have more than enough ammunition to see your abs. If I had to pick one direct ab exercise that I’ll throw into my own workouts, it’ll be hanging windshield wipers.
This is performed by holding onto a chin-up bar, bringing your legs up as high as you can so that they’re in front of your face and then going side to side like a “windshield wiper.” Other ab exercises I enjoy and that more people can typically do are landmine twists (which is a great anti-rotation movement), decline bench weighted sit-ups (with the weight over your head), Palloff presses and the ab wheel. |
Best Ab Exercises #4 | Heavy-Weighted Crunch
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Ah, the age old question of what is the best exercise to target your 6-pack. I’m sure I am going to get a lot of hate mail for this one but that still stands to be a properly executed heavy-weighted crunch. No matter how I feel about the exercise in general it still recruits the largest amount of muscle fibers.
If you’re looking for something a little more healthy, close runners up would be ab-wheel rollouts, hanging leg raises and bodyweight chin-ups. Over the years, I have also found that heavy front squats and explosive exercises such as hardstyle kettlebell swings also do the trick quite nicely. Anytime your body is off the ground, your core and stabilizing muscles kick on hardcore. Doing strict chin-ups or leg raises will target your abs like whoah. Just make sure you are keeping your core tight and preventing your body from swinging as much as possible. If you have access to an ab-wheel, I recommend starting there. They are not only good for training your low back (anti-extension) muscles but destroy your rectus abdominis as well. Add 3-5 sets of 10-15 ab wheel rollouts to the end of your workout and you will not enjoy laughing or sneezing for a week. You’re welcome. |
Best Ab Exercises #5 | Plank
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While 99% of six-packs are acquired by dieting and/or being skinny and not ab exercises per se, ab exercises are important for core strength and stability. Planks work most abdominal muscles, and an entire plank workout only takes a few minutes. To do a plank, basically only your toes and elbows touch the floor while your legs and back remain rigidly straight. Hold the position for as long as you can (? 30 seconds), rest for a few minutes, repeat 2 – 3 x and voila, you’ll be sore tomorrow. |
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What Are The Best Ab Exercises?,
When doing a plank, how is our breathing rhythm ? do we need to hold our breath?
i have indirect inguinal hernia, what about trying this . is it possible?.
@Ajay – You should check with your doctor before doing any of these exercises and see what he/she says.
Anver
Your breathing should be normal I think, when I do the plank there is pressure making it harder to breath but it is important to breath so your muscles receive sufficient oxygen. Right?
Bee, just breathe normally on the planks. Dont hold your breath
I’ll go with William Lagakos and Kristin Rooke. I don’t think abs need a lot of heavy workouts. If you stick to the basics, like plank and crunches (on a stability ball), and combine this with proper nutrition most of us will have a nice sexy set of abs.
Thank you Anver & Alec for the answers.
Thanks for the tips, abs are the area in my body where I am still struggling.
I usually only throw in a couple quick ab exercises in the middle of my lifting sessions. Something like Ab Twists, and dumbbell floor-wipers. Other than that I just keep my core flexed and tight when I am lifting, which seems to be enough.
Is it ok to rely on your complex workouts such as dead lifts or squats to strengthen yourcore and not do movements like crunches/situps?