Your abdominal muscles are important for your posture and the health of your back as they help to stabilize your spine. Well-conditioned abdominal muscles are also important for sports performance as much of the power you need to generate for kicking, throwing, running and punching comes from your abdomen. Whatever your fitness goals, there are many exercises you can choose from for your abdominals but these are among the best.
Swiss Ball Crunches
Lie on a Swiss ball with your feet on the floor and the ball resting in the curve of your lower back. Using your abdominals, curl your spine up and lift your head and shoulders. Hold the crunched position for one to two seconds before slowly lowering back into the starting position and repeating.
Ab Wheel Rollouts
To perform this tough exercises, kneel on the floor holding an ab wheel in front of you in both hands. Push the ab wheel away from you and extend your hips. Push the ab wheel as far away from your as you can while making sure your lower back doesn't arch. Use your abdominals to pull yourself back into the starting position and repeat.
Kneeling Cable Crunches
Grasp the handles of an overhead pulley and kneel down on the floor. Keeping your hands next to your head, crunch your spine forward and pull your elbows toward your knees. Hold the most contracted position for one to two seconds before slowly returning to the starting position and repeating.
Cable Russian Twists
Using a waist-high adjustable pulley, stand sideways on and hold the pulley handle in both hands. Keep your hips facing forward and your arms straight; turn your upper body 180 degrees away from the pulley. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat before changing sides.
Planks
Lie on your front with your arms under your body, your weight resting on your elbows and your legs straight. Lift your hips and hold this position using your abs. Keep your spine straight and make sure you keep breathing throughout this exercise. Hold this position for as long as you can comfortably manage before resting and repeating.
Side Planks
Lie on your side with your arm under your body and your weight resting on your elbow. Straighten your legs and lift your hips to create a straight line down your body. Hold this position for as long as feels comfortable before resting and changing sides.
Dead Bugs
Lie on your back with your legs bent, your knees over your hips and your arms pointing toward the ceiling. Keeping your back slightly arched but rigid, extend your left leg and your right arm until they touch the floor. When your leg and arm are fully extended, change limbs and continue alternating for the duration of the set.
Hanging Knee Lifts
Hanging full-stretch from a pull-up bar, use your abdominals to pull your knees up toward your chest. Hold this top position for one to two seconds before lowering your legs and repeating. You can make this exercise more challenging by keeping your legs straight.
Swiss Ball Mountain Climbers
Place your hands on top of a Swiss ball and, keeping your arms straight, extend your legs so you are in a push-up position. From this position, alternately pull your left leg and then your right into your chest while maintaining a tight midsection and fixed spine position. Continue for the duration of your set.
Medicine Ball Sit-up and Throws
Lying on your back holding a medicine ball, dynamically sit up and perform an overhead throw to launch the medicine ball to a training partner. Your partner should then throw the ball back to you aiming just above your head. Catch the ball, descend back to the floor and immediately repeat.
References
- "The Complete Book of Abs: Revised and Expanded Edition"; Kurt and Brett Brungardt; 1998
- "Abdominal Training, Second Edition: A Progressive Guide to Greater Strength "; Christopher M. Norris; 2002
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