You can tone and build stomach muscles with little or no equipment, using simple exercises. To decrease the amount of time it takes to see results, you'll want to work out efficiently, which means creating the right type of muscle contractions. Understanding how to create efficient ab workouts will help you see results in the shortest time possible.
Exercise Technique
When you perform a sit-up, crunch or other stomach-toning exercise, you will be most effective if you properly contract your muscles. This means using muscle effort on the way up and on the way down and pausing in between. Go slowly on the way up using only your core muscles -- don't use your hands to pull you up if you have them behind your neck. Pause at the top of the crunch or end of a move and hold several seconds to create an isometric muscle contraction. Lower yourself slowly, using muscle -- don't let yourself drop back down with gravity.
Obliques
Don't just work your core by moving up and down, or forward and back. Work your obliques with side-to-side movements. Do Russian twists by holding a weight, such as an exercise ball or barbells, at arm's length. Turn to the right, using your core muscles. Pause for several seconds, then turn to the left. Pause and repeat. You can do this standing or sitting. To perform oblique crunches, lay on your side with your hands behind your head. Slowly raise your upper body off the floor using your obliques. Hold and lower. Try raising your shoulders and legs off the ground at the same time for more intense oblique work. If you use an ab roller, roll to the left and to the right, instead of just straight.
Instability
You can tone your stomach while performing other exercises that recruit your core due to instability. For example, if you use a kettlebell for strength or aerobic exercise, your stomach muscles have to balance you during the workout because the kettlebell weight is not evenly distributed. If you perform exercises on a gym ball, you'll also work your core because you'll need to keep from falling off the ball.
Ab Rollers
Adding an ab roller to your workouts allows you to perform exercises you may not be able to do yourself. For example, if you don't have the arm strength to do push-ups, an ab wheel will assist you, recruiting your stomach muscles in the process. You can use an ab roller starting from a standing, kneeling or full plank position.
Injury
As you fatigue, you may injure yourself by trying to make your core exercises easier by recruiting other muscles. For example, as you do sit-ups and crunches, you may find yourself pulling yourself up with your hands if they are behind your head. This can cause neck and lower back strain. If you are performing a Russian twist or working with a kettlebell, you can also strain your back if you try to move the equipment with help from your butt or lower back.
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