When working your abs, your goal is to focus on one area, but also to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible from other areas. The best way to do this is with a stability ball. When using the ball, your body is off balance which leads to a higher amount of muscle fiber activity than you would experience from floor exercises. To ensure full ab development, work your lower abs, upper abs and obliques. The obliques are found on the sides of the stomach.
Upper Ab Exercises
Crunches are basic upper-ab stability ball exercises that are performed from a face-up position with your feet on the floor, hands on the sides of your head and lower back in contact with the ball. Slowly lift your torso forward, squeeze your abs for a second and lower yourself back down. To create a variation, perform pullover crunches. To do pullover crunches, lie on the ball with your shoulders and head lifted, a medicine ball held straight behind your head and your feet shoulder-width apart on the floor. Lift your body up, pull the ball over your head and stop it when it is above your knees. Slowly lower yourself back down and repeat.
To further challenge your balance and increase the muscle fiber recruitment, perform crunches with one foot on the floor and one leg extended straight out.
Lower Ab Exercises
Two lower ab exercises on the ball are similar in execution, but they differ with the placement of your body. Both exercises are leg lifts, but one is performed with your body on the floor and the other is performed with your body on the ball. For the first variation, lie on your back with your arms at your sides and the ball pinched between your lower legs. Simply lift the ball up until your body forms a 90 degree angle, lower it back down and repeat.
The second exercise requires a barbell fixed in a Smith machine at waist level. A Smith machine has a barbell that can slide up and down between two poles, or can be fixed in one location. To do this leg lift exercise, place the ball in front of the machine, lie face-up with your lower back on the ball, hands grasping the bar behind you and legs parallel to the floor. Perform leg raises from this position.
Obliques
The cross crunch, side crunch and overhead side bend all work the obliques. To do a cross crunch, perform a standard crunch, but move your body higher and bring your opposite elbow toward your opposite knee. Lower yourself down and repeat to the other side.
To do side crunches, brace your feet against a wall, lie on your side across the ball and place your hands on the sides of your head or extend them straight above you. Slowly lower and lift your body laterally by contracting your obliques.
Overhead side bends work your obliques from a standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grasp the ball at its widest point and hold it above your head with your arms fully extended. Slowly bend laterally from one side to the other. Go as far as possible when you bend. This exercise also works the back muscles.
Combination Exercises
Combination exercises work more than one area of the abs at once. Knee tucks, pikes and roll-outs work the upper and lower abs simultaneously and they are all done from a face-down position. To do roll-outs, kneel on the floor with the ball in front of you, hands on top and arms straight. Slowly roll the ball forward and lower your hips toward the floor. Once you feel a strong contraction in your abs, roll back up and repeat.
To do knee tucks, place your lower shins on the ball, hands on the floor and lift your hips to straighten your back. Steadily roll the ball inward as you tuck your knees into your chest. Hold for a second, roll the ball back out and repeat.
The pike exercise is the progression of the knee tuck. It is performed the same way, except keep your legs, arms and back straight throughout the movement. When you roll the ball in, your hips will lift in the air and your body will form an inverted angle.
Isometric Exercises
A plank is an isometric exercise that works your abs without repetitive movement. Position your forearms shoulder-width apart on the ball, place your toes together behind you and lift your tail to form a straight line from your shoulders to your heels. Now hold this position until you feel fatigue.
A straight arm plank is a progression of the forearm plank. Perform this exercise with your hands on the ball.
An advanced plank is done by placing your toes on the ball and hands on the floor.
With all of these plank variations, increase the challenge by lifting one leg in the air.
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