Everyone wants nice looking abs, but they're notoriously difficult to get. The good thing about ab exercises is that your body can provide most of the resistance you need, so they're easy to work out right at home with minimal equipment. Three sets of three of these exercises will be enough for a good ab workout, but switch them out to develop full-core strength that will not only look great, but protect your spine.
Bicycle Crunches
Lie on your back. Crunch your abs until your shoulder blades leave the ground. Lift one leg up, knee bent, so that your shin is parallel to the ground. Stick the other leg straight out, heel off the ground. Alternate, not touching your feet to the ground, almost like you're bicycling. As you do, twist your shoulder toward the knee approaching your face. This exercise will activate your upper, lower and obliques all in one movement. In a 2001 study performed at the San Diego State University biomechanics lab, Dr. Peter Francis found that this exercise activated the abdominal muscles more than any other.
Reverse Crunch
This is not the same thing as leg lifts, which primarily work your anterior hip flexors. Lift both legs up with bent knees, so that your shins are parallel to the ground. Put your arms down by your sides, palms flat on the floor to support and balance yourself. Raise your butt and then lower back down, rolling back onto your upper back, feeling a tight crunch in your abs. Lower your butt slowly to the floor.
Exercise Ball Crunch
Sit on the exercise ball, then lie back and roll down until your mid and lower back are supported. Crunch. It's simple, but doing crunches on an exercise ball will activate substantially more abdominal muscle than doing them on the ground, and engage your full core to keep you balanced. The American Council on Exercise says that when you use a fitness ball, "your posture will improve and you will find that you are generally more balanced and aware of your body movements. Your core will be more prepared to support the rest of your body in whatever activity you choose to do."
Exercise Ball Pull-in
Get into a push-up position, but with your legs propped up on your exercise ball. Your knees and upper shins should rest on the ball. Pull your knees forward, rolling the ball. Push your legs back. Repeat.
Plank
Get into a push-up position. Stay there. If that's too hard on your shoulders, hold yourself on your elbows instead of your hands. This isn't the best ab exercise out there, but it's the best ab burnout out there. Hold this for as long as you can at the end of your workout. It'll burn.
Side Plank / Side Plank Crunches
Lie down on your side. Prop yourself up on one elbow and lift your hips into the air so that your body is in a straight line and the only two points of contact with the ground are your forearm and the side of one foot. To really hit the obliques, touch your hip to the ground, then raise back into the plank. Repeat.
Heel Touchers
Lay on your back. Bend your knees and do a crunch, but hold it. Holding your arms by your sides, tilt to one side and then the other, trying to touch your heels with your fingertips each time. You'll feel a serious burn in your upper abs, and a serious crunch in your oblique abs.
Windshield Wipers
This is an advanced ab move, but a good one. Lie on your back and lift your legs until they are perpendicular to the ground. Hold your arms out to your sides, palms down, to support yourself. Lower your legs to one side until they almost touch the ground, then do the same on the other side, just like a windshield wiper.
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