Breezing through your current abs routine without a flinch could mean it is time to step it up to a more advanced level. When advancing your stomach workout, it is essential to work the entire core, ensuring proper muscular alignment. Your core consists of your lower back, pelvis, hips and stomach muscles, and helps with stability and balance, according to the Mayo Clinic. Keeping your lower back safe during advanced abdominal exercises also requires a strong lower back, another reason to make sure you include your back, hips and pelvis when moving on to harder ab exercises.
Stability Ball Advanced Exercises
The stability ball is an excellent tool for beginning and advanced stomach exercises. It protects the back and neck from injury on beginning exercises and is perfect for stability work on more advanced movements. If you have mastered the bridge and the plank on the ball, you can begin trying the advanced versions. The bridge with heel dig requires total mastery of the bridge and solid core strength. The Mayo Clinic article "Core Exercises with a Fitness Ball" recommends digging your heels into the ball, engaging the hamstrings with your core and holding for a minimum of three seconds. The stability ball pike is a very advanced version of the plank, which requires solid abdominal and upper body strength. Begin this exercise just like the plank and then slowly bring the tip of toes to the ball as you raise your gluteals in the air. ACE Fitness suggests aligning your back and torso to keep from sagging for proper form.
The Medicine Ball
The medicine ball has recently regained popularity for use in advance stomach exercises. Medicine balls vary in weight from a few pounds to over 10 pounds, and most exercises with a medicine ball are advanced movements. A basic crunch, oblique twists and lower abdominal curls can all become advanced movements when done with a medicine ball. Movements such as the standing wood chop with the medicine ball engage the entire core and require exceptional core strength. ACE Fitness suggests learning moves like the wood chop in stages to help master the movement and protect the spine.
BOSU
The BOSU, which stands for, both sides up, is a half ball on one side and a platform on the other. It can be worked either way and is used for total-body conditioning. Using the BOSU for abdominal exercises can bring an advanced variation to old-school moves, like crunches, bicycles and v-sit crunches. To perform a v-sit crunch on the BOSU, place the BOSU ball side up and sit in the middle of it, using your hands on the side for balance, slowly bring your knees into your chest as you inhale. Exhale and extend your legs out straight while leaning your torso back, so you are in a "v," inhale and come back to your starting position. The "Idea Fitness Journal" article "BOSU Workout" recommends keeping the movement slow and controlled to prevent back injury.
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