Developing your midsection may require performing difficult ab exercises. Your abdominal muscles adapt to individual exercises within four weeks, says the National Federation of Personal Trainers. Performing more difficult exercises keeps your muscles in adaptive state, and helps you avoid overuse injuries. Mastering difficult ab exercises may take several months because they involve greater coordination and muscle recruitment. The most coordinated athletes can master difficult ab exercises in eight weeks, according to T-Nation.
Hanging Pike
Grip a chinup bar with an overhand grip and position your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Let your body hang below the bar with your arms fully extended and your feet together. Bend your knees at a 90-degree angle to bring the top of your thighs parallel with the floor. Pull your legs up as you exhale and bring your shins close to the bar above you, and try to straighten your raised legs as much as possible. Return the top of your thighs to the parallel point with the floor by lowering your legs very slowly. You may increase the intensity of this exercise by wearing ankle weights.
Hanging Leg Raise
Hang from a chinup bar with both arms fully extended and your hands shoulder-width apart or more. Let your legs hang straight down and roll your pelvis slightly backwards. Raise your thighs until they form a 90-degree angle with your torso; hold the contraction for one or two counts. Lower your legs slowly back to a straightened position to complete each repetition. You may use ankle weights or grip a dumbbell between your ankles to increase the difficulty as you improve with this exercise.
Press Sit Up
Lay down face-up on a bench in the decline position and hold a barbell across your chest. Extend your legs far enough past the bench so that you can secure your body by bending your knees over the edge. Inhale and tighten your abs. Focus on your abdominal muscles as you curl up in a situp fashion and exhale. Simultaneously push the barbell out and up above your head as you curl up. Lower your torso back down as you inhale and return the barbell to your chest to complete each repetition.
Bent Press
Take a shoulder-width stance and reach for a kettlebell or dumbbell on the floor with an overhand grip. Extending through your legs and hips, stand back up and rotate your palms outward as you bring the weight to your shoulder. Keep your eyes on the weight and reach for your ankle with your free hand by leaning down to the side opposite the weight. Press the weight straight up by extending your elbow to keep the weighted arm perpendicular with the ground. Complete each repetition by reversing the motion to return to an upright position before bringing the weight back to your shoulder.
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