9 Must-Try Ab Workouts for you

The formula to get six-pack abs is simple – you need to exercise every day and eat a healthy diet. Also, staying away from junk food is essential, as they can have the opposite effect on achieving your fitness goals.

While you focus on giving your abdominal region a good workout, there are a lot of health benefits. For instance, the chances of suffering from lower back pain come down significantly. Ab workouts strengthen the abdominal muscles while making the lower back more flexible simultaneously.

Having a good posture is vital, as it ensures your spine is in good condition. With ab workouts, the muscles around your spine become stronger. As a result, it improves your posture, stability, and balance.

A lot of people suffer from health issues in their later years. This is due to body fat in their waistline. It increases the likelihood of developing obesity and diabetes. Ab workouts, in addition to a whole body strength and cardio routine, increases your body’s metabolism. In turn, it ensures you burn more fat, which keeps your waistline trim.

Ab workouts make it easier for your body to handle the weight, such as lifting a heavy box. The reason is that it makes your torso stronger while giving you a solid foundation for these activities. Also, if you are into sports, ab workouts help with your performance. It helps in the transfer of energy from your core muscles to your limbs.

With the ab workouts given below, you will get a toned body, along with the above health benefits.

Table of Contents

• Ab workouts for men and women
• Ab Workouts at Home
• Ab workouts at the gym
• Summary
• Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

Ab workouts for men and women

These ab workouts are excellent for both men and women. Make sure you do at least two sets of each exercise every day. Also, you should get at least 30-45 seconds rest between each set, and 1-2 minutes rest before moving to the next exercise:

Cannonball extension

The first step is to get into the cannonball position, which is to bring your knees to your chest. Hold your legs by putting your arms around them. The next step is to extend your arms and legs while pushing your back to the floor. However, you need to make sure that your upper back doesn’t come in contact with the floor.

Hold this position for at least six to eight seconds before going back to the cannonball position, for a single set. Remember to engage all your muscles while you are in the extension pose. For this exercise to be effective, one set should do three to five reps.

Knee-in

In this exercise, you need to sit on the floor or the edge of the exercise bench (if you have one). While placing your hands on the ground for support, extend your legs away from your body.

Slowly pull your legs towards your chest, until you reach a point where you can’t move anymore. Hold this position for a second, before returning to the original location, which becomes one rep. You need to do 12-15 reps, for it to count as a single set.

Mountain climbers

The beauty of mountain climbers is that it is great for all parts of your body, despite falling under the ab workouts category. First, you need to go down, ensuring both your hands and legs are on the floor.

Move your right knee to your chest before bringing it back to the starting position. Perform the same action on your left knee. For each side, you need to do 12-15 reps, which counts as a single set. Squeeze your abs to give it a proper workout with this exercise.

Ab Workouts at Home

When you are at your house, you may not have access to gym equipment such as dumbells or exercise benches. For these types of physical activities, you should do at least two sets, to observe noticeable results. Fortunately, there are a handful of ab workouts you can do within the comforts of your home:

Floor wiper

Floor wipers are good ab workouts because of the tension it creates in this specific region. For this exercise, you need to lie down on your back. Open your arms and place them on either side of your body. Make sure you keep them straight for extra stability.

Raise your legs and bring your knees closer to your body till it forms 90°. Start moving both legs together from one side to another. Try to keep your upper body steady, so that your abs do all the work. One set requires 12-15 reps on each side, after which, you should take a break for 30-45 seconds.

Reverse crunches

As it focuses on both your upper and lower abdomen muscles, this is excellent for ab workout at home. The first step is to lie down on your back and keep your legs right in front of you. You need to place both your arms beside your body for support. Bend your knees and bring them to your chest slowly.

Once it is close to your chest, the next step is to raise your hips off the ground. Go back to the starting position, to complete one rep. You need to do this 12-15 times to finish one set. Make sure you do at least two sets of these types of ab workouts.

Plank

Plank is one of the best ab workouts, as it focuses on the entire upper half of your body. Your shoulders, hips, chest, and abdomen will be burning by the end of this exercise. To get into position, you need to lie down on your chest. Raise your body up, while ensuring your elbows and shoulders are on the same line. Also, curl your fists into a ball, while you are in this position.

As a beginner, you can hold this for 10-20 seconds for the set. Once you become comfortable doing a plank, you should increase it to 30-60 seconds.

Ab workouts at the gym

A gym is a great place for best ab workouts with weights, as you have access to a myriad of equipment. Perform the following exercises in sets of two, with a break of 30-45 seconds between sets and 1-2 minutes rest before moving on to the next exercise.

Superman to pike

For these ab workouts, you need to use an exercise ball. Get into a pushup position, while placing your toes on the ball. Start to bend your hips while rolling the ball towards your chest.

Keep doing this until your torso becomes vertical, before going back to the initial position. Continue rolling the ball up your legs, until it forms a straight line with the extended arms. Make sure you keep the hands on the floor at all times. Doing all these three positions is the equivalent of one rep. You should do this at least 12 times, for it to become a set.

Leg raise

You need to lie on your back to begin these types of ab workouts. Keep your hands by the sides of your body, for support. Raise your legs until it becomes perpendicular to the ground. Make sure you flex the lower half of your abdominal muscles.

Hold this position for a second, before bringing your legs to the floor. Make sure you tense the abdominal muscles, to give it a solid workout. You should do at least 12-15 reps per set, to get your six-pack abs faster.

Scissors

Despite being simple, these ab workouts will ensure your lower abdominal muscles develop properly. You need to lie on your back and lift both your legs until it is perpendicular to the floor.

Raise your shoulder blades and head off the ground, while bringing down your left leg. It should be as close to the floor as possible before you raise it and get the other leg down. To do one set of these good ab workouts, you need to do ten reps on both sides.

Summary

If you are a beginner, you should perform only two sets of all the exercises in the ab workouts. You can improve your endurance and fitness, by increasing the number of sets, while cutting down on the rest time.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)