Getting strong abs is part of the work you should do to build a strong core, the group of muscles that wrap around your entire torso. Focusing on just your abs, though, and neglecting work on other muscle groups and activities that build your cardiovascular fitness, can hamper you in the long run.
Basics
Yoga is one activity that can lead to incredibly strong abs while advocating holistic well-being. According to Yoga Journal, you should strive to have toned abs rather than tense abs, and you should first learn to sense your core and become familiar with it from inside, before trying to build the core as a stable base and a fluid source of movement.
Yoga Exercises
Several yoga poses are exceptional at building abdominal strength. One is Navasana, where your legs and torso rise up from the ground in a V, supported by your rectus abdominus. Another is Paschimottanasana, the seated forward bend. In addition, Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, an upward extended foot pose with one leg extended at a 90-degree angle from the other, requires you to engage your lower rectus abdominus. Also perform complementary contraction exercises like Bridge Pose, to maintain flexibility as you build strength.
Gym Exercises
A 2009 fitness article in the New York Times featured expert advice from physicians more familiar with how the core works than your average gym rat. These experts recommended core exercises, but not your common ones. Avoid sit-ups, they noted, advising to do crunches that allow you to maintain the curve in the lumbar area of your spine. Other standard gym exercises of varsity athletics teams include the bicycle -- similar to crunches, with torso-twisting action -- and the V-up, which involves touching your toes in the sky. Rows are popular too, a sort of modified version of the V-up, while those who favor the toughest exercises like to do 30-second to one-minute-long holds, frozen in the "up" position of a push-up with abs completely tensed.
Accessorized Exercises
Using a powerball -- sometimes also known as a stability ball or Swiss ball -- for ab exercises can take up the difficulty a notch. This is because your body will need to maintain balance even while you're not actively doing an exercise. Use the ball for exercises like the Russian twist, planting your upper back on the ball and your feet on the ground, with your knees bent 90 degrees. Then extend your arms directly upwards with hands clasped, before twisting your torso and arms 90 degrees to each side. This will work your obliques. You can also incorporate the ball into push-ups by balancing your feet on the ball or doing the Inchworm by rolling the ball towards your torso by bending your knees and slightly raising your tailbone. Modified V-sits can also incorporate an exercise ball: simply grasp the ball with your arms extended above your head while flat on your back, then bend at your hips and catch the ball between your feet, taking it all the way to the ground.
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