The abs are a relatively simply muscle that does not require hundreds of exercises to get that six pack easily, but what are the best abs exercises ? There are 4 different muscles in the abdominal area; however, they can be worked through three different sections: upper abs, lower abs, obliques. For each part there will be 2 different exercises. Normally, I find that 1 different exercise per part of the abdominals is enough to have that ripped six pack, but it is nice to have variety. Furthermore the six pack will not show unless you have a low percentage of body fat, therefore it is important to continue with cardio exercise as well as maintaining a healthy diet. For all of these exercises they should be done slow and controlled, for a guideline a set of 10 on any of these exercises should take over 30 seconds. Unless otherwise specified, 3 sets of 15 reps should be performed for each exercise, if this is too hard, start with 10 reps and try to work up to 15.
Upper abs
The upper abs tend to show the easiest of all the parts of the abdominals, this is due to fat tending to congregate at the lower part of the belly first.
The first exercise is the concentration crunch. To do this lay flat on the ground facing upwards, knees bent and feet flat on the floor; place your hands on your quads and slide up to just over your knees, squeezing your abs all the way up. Return down to the ground and repeat. It is important to let your shoulders touch the ground after each rep as the initial movement off the ground greatly works the upper abs.
The second exercise is the cable crunch. For this kneel in front of a cable machine, with the rope attached to it. Hold each side of the rope at either side of your head. Bend forward from the abdominals until you are very close to the ground, squeeze the abs and then return to near upright, repeat; 3 sets of 10 is recommended for this exercise. Do not move your hips in this exercise as it will take the stress off your abs resulting in a lesser workout.
Lower abs
These are without a doubt the hardest part of the abdominals to tone up, many people have great upper abs, but virtually nothing on the lower abs, therefore it is important to work these.
The first exercise for these is said by many experts to be one of the best exercises for abdominals in general. This is the captains chair knee or leg raises. Firstly stand on the chair, until you get your arms in position, once they are in position you can let your legs fall, from this position raise your knees to your chest and back down to the hanging position; for greater difficulty do it with straight legs raising as high as you can, before lowering back down to resting position. For this exercise you should maintain a straight back against the back pad and not swing your legs, but move them controlled.
The second exercises for the lower abs is not often used as it is quite difficult, but with great difficulty comes great rewards, so if you can master this exercise then this should help those abs show terrifically. This exercise is leg raises, on an exercise ball. For this you will need something secure to hold onto, be it a door frame, weights machine or someone’s legs. Sit on the ball, lean back extend your arms and hold onto the secure base. From this position raise your legs, by bringing your knees close to your chest, and then back to straight out. This exercise proves difficult for balance for many people, but in attempting to straighten the balance, there is extra pressure put on the core, and obliques giving a fantastic abdominal workout.
Obliques
To the side of the abdominals are the obliques, and these can add great shape and definition to the abdominal area.
The first exercise for these is side crunches. Simply lie on your side, right shoulder flat on the ground, place your right hand on the side of your left obliques. Raise your shoulder off the ground as well as your left leg up, return down to the ground. You should feel the obliques tensing as you lift. Repeat this for the opposite side (i.e. left shoulder on the ground), do 3 sets of 10 reps on each side.
The second exercise is the medicine ball twist (aka Russian twist). Start sitting on the floor, knees slightly bent; lean back slightly to take strain off your back. Holding the ball in front of you with both hands, twist from side to side from the waist (no shoulder movement), one rep is classed as going from centre to left, back to centre, to right and then back to centre; 3 sets of 10 reps is recommended. For added difficultly raise the legs off the ground, this helps work the lower abs as well, lean back slightly for extra balance.