Unconventional Abs Exercises


advertisement

For many people, having a six-pack of abs is the ultimate fitness-goal they want to achieve. Ripped abs have come to almost represent fitness as a whole and you can bet that most people you see in a gym are secretly hoping to achieve this goal sooner or later.
A proper diet and good cardio routine are essential for building six-pack abs. However, the right kind of ab exercises are just as important and the usual crunches and sit-ups will only get your so far. Here are my top 3 most intense and effective exercises for ripped abs:

1. Hanging Leg Raise:

As the name implies, you need to be hanging off something to do this exercise, ideally a pull-up bar. Simply raise your straight legs up until they are at least parallel to the floor (i.e. you’ll have a 90 degree bend in your body) and then lower them again. To do this exercise properly, raise and lower your legs slowly, without sudden movements. You’ll quickly find that this is one of the hardest, most intense exercises you can do for your abs, giving them a really hard workout.

Bonus tip: Support your back against a solid surface to further increase the intensity of this exercise.

2. Exercise Ball Crunch:

This is basically the same as a regular crunch, but it’s performed with your lower back only supported by an exercise ball. Again, do the motions slowly and smoothly. Because the exercise ball is an unstable surface, all of your core muscles will have to do much more work than if you were doing crunches on a solid surface.

3. Cable Crunch:

Once again, the motion is identical to what you do when you are performing regular crunches. However, for the cable crunch, you need a cable machine. You grab onto a handle (use low weights to start out) and position yourself so that you’re lying on your back, with the handle behind your head, holding it in both hands. Now, you perform slow, steady crunches with the added resistance provided by the cable machine. Cables are a great way to add resistance to crunches as they provide full resistance for the full range of motion, but still give you a lot of free motion, almost like training with free weights.

Note: For all abdominal exercises, you should maintain a good “base stability tension” throughout. Tuck in your belly without raising your chest. That’s the base tension you should have in your core, before you start doing the first crunch.

With the three exercises above, your path to a six-pack will be shorter (albeit harder, but that’s kind of a give, with weight-training).

-
About the Author:
Are you making these simple, overlooked mistakes in your workout? Grab this free muscle building guide, covering the 20 most common workout mistakes and find out!
Article Source

Related Posts

        
advertisement

Leave a Reply