The good news about the abdominal muscles is that, unlike most other muscles, they can be worked every day without fatiguing -- which is also the bad news about abs. Getting into the habit of working out your abs requires dedication and a good routine to achieve excellent results.
Designing a Routine
Choose between five and 10 exercises that combine rotation, spinal flexion and lateral flexion; perform eight repetitions of each exercise before continuing to the next one; and switch up your workout every two to three weeks, suggests Len Kravitz, program coordinator of exercise xcience at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Focus on proper technique and visualize your abdominal muscles contracting with each movement, he advises. Unfortunately, you can't use ab exercises to "target" abdominal fat; to get that six-pack, you'll have to commit to a healthy diet as well.
Lower Abs
Hip-ups and reverse crunches work your lower abs. Perform a hip-up by lying on the floor and lifting your hips by pushing your heels toward the ceiling and above your hips. Use a small, controlled range of motion and hold for 20 to 30 seconds. Slowly return to the starting position. To perform a reverse crunch, use your lower abdominal muscles to "roll" your pelvis backward. Keeping your hands on the floor, raise your hips and bring your knees up over your chest. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds before returning to the home position. Other exercises to work your lower abs include hanging knee raises and reverse crunches on an incline bench.
Upper Abs
A standard crunch works the upper abdominal muscles. Lie on the floor and place your hands behind your ears with your elbows facing out. With your knees bent and your feet firmly on the floor, raise your chin toward your chest to around 30 degrees. If you're at a gym, try a cable crunch. Grasp the rope on a cable machine. While on your knees, contract your abs and round your back as you bring the rope down. A decline crunch can be performed with or without a plate. On an incline bench with your arms folded across your chest, curl up to the point where your lower back is barely touching the pad. You can increase or decrease the difficulty by raising or lowering the incline of the bench. Other exercises for the upper abs include straight-leg and feet-up crunches.
Obliques
Your obliques are the outermost muscles on your trunk. Work them by performing a side crunch on a fitness ball. Lie atop the ball and stabilize it beneath your lower back. With your hands behind your ears, crunch as high as you can while bringing your elbow toward your opposite hip. Repeat for each side. A crossover crunch is performed almost exactly like a standard crunch, except instead of coming straight up, you bring your shoulder toward your opposite knee with your arms fixed. Other exercises for the obliques include an oblique cable crunch and an oblique hanging-knee raise.
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