Abdominal Exercises

Abdominal Anatomy

When training the abdominals you should pay attention to the three primary areas of your midsection - the rectus abdominis (frontal abdominal wall), obliques (muscles at the sides of your waist), and intercostals (bands of muscle that run diagonally across the sides of your upper abdomen).

Abdominal Exercises

It is essential that when you do any exercise that you perform the movements correctly, if you don't you will receive less then optimum benefit from the exercise. It is very difficult to unlearn bad exercise habits, so it is best to learn the right exercise technique from the very start.

Crunches

This is one of the best abdominal exercises. It works the rectus abdominis, particularly the upper half of the fontal abdominal wall.

Lie on your back on the floor. Your feet should be flat on the floor shoulder width apart with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle. Place your hands behind your head for support.

Without pulling on your neck, slowly lift your shoulders off the floor using your abdominal strength. Breath out as you contract your abs. Hold this position for a couple of seconds to maximize the peak contraction in the abs. Slowly lower yourself to the starting position. Repeat.

Reverse Crunches

This exercise works the entire abdominis muscle wall, particularly the lower half of the muscle group.

Lie on your back on the floor. Your feet should be flat on the floor shoulder width apart with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle. Place your hands behind your head for support.

Keeping your legs bent, slowly lift them off the floor using your abdominal strength. Breath out as you contract your abs. Hold this position for a couple of seconds to maximize the peak contraction in the abs. Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position. Repeat.

Tip - to make this exercise harder you can do it with your legs out straight.

Pull Down Cable Crunches

This is a good all around abdominal exercise. It places intense stress on the rectus abdominis, intercostals, and serratus muscles. Secondary stress is placed on the lower lats.

Attach a handle to a lat pull down machine. Facing away from the weight stack. Grab the handle with an underhand curl grip and brace the back of your legs against the knee pad.

Bend forward at the waist and crunch your abdominal muscles. Breath out as you contract your abs. Hold this position for a couple of seconds to maximize the peak contraction in the abs. Return back to the starting position. Repeat.

Leg Raise

This exercise works the frontal abdominal wall, particularly the lower half of the abdominals.

Position yourself on the leg raise station. (Note: if you do not have access to a leg raise station you can do this exercise hanging from a chin up bar). Support your bodyweight on your forearms. Keep your torso upright.

Raise your legs in a semicircular arc until your legs are parallel to the floor. Slowly lower back to the starting position. Repeat.

Tip - a less intense version of this exercise is to keep your knees bent at a 90-degree angle during the exercise.

Over Head Leg Raise

This is a very hard and advanced version of the leg raise that works the entire abdominal muscles.

Grad a chin up bar with an over hand grip.

Raise your legs in a semicircular arc until your feet touch the chin up bar that you are hanging from. This is a very hard exercise that uses all the abdominal muscles. Lower your legs back to the starting position. Repeat.

Decline Bench Situps

This exercise stresses the rectus abdominis, particularly the upper half of the frontal abdominal wall.

Sit on an decline bench and place your feet under the foot pads to restrain your legs. Either cross your arms over your chest, or place them behind your head to support your neck.

Sit up and squeeze your abs at the top. Hold this position for a second. Slowly lower your torso back up to the starting position. Repeat.

Frog Kicks

This exercise works the frontal abdominals, especially the lower half of the abdominal muscles.

Sit on the floor or a flat bench with your legs out straight. Place your hands palms down behind you. Lean back slightly and use your abdominal strength to lift your legs.

Simultaneously bend your legs and bring your knees as close to your chest as possible. Slowly straighten out your legs and return to the starting position. Repeat. Do not let your feet touch the floor during the exercise, keep the tension on the abdominal muscles.

Crunches On The Stability Ball

This exercise works the entire rectus abdominis, but because you have to balance yourself on the ball it focuses on developing the small stabilizer muscles.

Lie back on the stability ball. Place your feet flat on the floor (Note: the closer you place your feet the harder it is to balance on the ball). Place your hands behind your head for support.

Without pulling on your neck, slowly lift your shoulders using your abdominal strength. Breath out as you contract your abs. Hold this position for a couple of seconds to maximize the peak contraction in the abs. Slowly lower yourself back to the starting position. Repeat.

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