Tag: abs exercises

  • The 4 Best Abs Exercises You’re Not Doing

    The 4 Best Abs Exercises You’re Not Doing

    A strong core is essential not only for aesthetics but also for overall fitness and functionality. While many are familiar with crunches and leg raises, there are numerous less common exercises that can effectively target and strengthen your abdominal muscles. Here are four exceptional abs exercises that you might not be doing but should consider incorporating into your core workouts for enhanced results.

    Related: 35+ free workout plans for different goals and ability levels

    1. Bench Knee Tucks

    This exercise targets the lower abs and improves core stability by utilizing a bench for an increased range of motion.

    How to Do It:

    • Sit on the edge of a bench and place your hands behind you for support.
    • Lean back slightly and lift your legs off the ground.
    • Pull your knees towards your chest, then extend them back out without touching the floor.
    • Perform 3 sets of 20 reps, maintaining control and balance throughout the movement.

    Why It’s Effective:

    • Bench knee tucks isolate the lower abs and engage the entire core, including the obliques, for better stabilization.

    Pro Tip:

    • Focus on engaging your core to pull your knees in rather than relying on momentum. Keep the movement smooth to maximize tension in the abdominal muscles.

    2. Plank Shoulder Taps

    This dynamic version of the plank not only strengthens the core but also enhances shoulder stability and coordination.

    How to Do It:

    • Start in a standard plank position with your arms extended and hands directly under your shoulders.
    • Alternate tapping each hand to the opposite shoulder while keeping your hips as stable as possible.
    • Complete 3 sets of 15 reps per side, ensuring your body remains in a straight line from head to heels.

    Why It’s Effective:

    • Adding shoulder taps to the plank introduces a balance challenge that forces your abs to work harder to maintain stability.

    Pro Tip:

    • To prevent your hips from swaying, widen your feet for better balance. Engage your glutes and quads to help stabilize your lower body.

    3. Side Bend

    Performed with a dumbbell, this exercise specifically targets the oblique muscles, crucial for side-bending and rotational movements.

    How to Do It:

    • Stand upright holding a dumbbell in one hand with your other hand extended freely or placed on your waist.
    • Lean to the side holding the dumbbell, allowing the weight to gently pull you down.
    • Contract your opposite obliques to pull yourself back to a straight position.
    • Perform 4 sets of 25 reps on each side, focusing on the contraction of the obliques.

    Why It’s Effective:

    • Side bends help develop the oblique muscles, which are often neglected in traditional core workouts, enhancing core definition and function.

    Pro Tip:

    • Avoid bending forward or backward; the movement should be strictly to the side to effectively target the obliques.

    4. Cable Crunch

    This exercise allows for adjustable resistance, making it an effective way to progressively train and strengthen the abdominal muscles.

    How to Do It:

    • Kneel below a high pulley with a rope attachment.
    • Hold the cable rope and lower your head towards the floor, contracting your abs.
    • Slowly return to the starting position, maintaining tension in the abs throughout.
    • Perform 4 sets of 25 reps, focusing on deep abdominal contractions.

    Why It’s Effective:

    • Cable crunches provide constant tension throughout the exercise, significantly enhancing the intensity and effectiveness of the crunch motion.

    Pro Tip:

    • Keep your hips stationary and use only your abs to perform the movement. Avoid pulling with your arms.

    The Final Flex

    Incorporating these four best abs exercises into your routine can significantly improve your core strength and muscular endurance. By challenging your abdominal muscles in new ways, you can achieve better definition and functionality.

  • FAQ: What are the best exercises for my abs?

    FAQ: What are the best exercises for my abs?

    There are loads of great exercises (and loads of variations of those exercises) for your abs and core muscles. However, what’s more important is the approach and combination of exercises — not simply a collection of the hardest ones. A lot of this also depends on where you currently stand with your fitness. If you’re just starting out, you’ll most likely need to start very basic. If you’re a bit stronger, you can add more challenging moves and do more exercises collectively in a workout.

    Also, all exercises aside, if your diet doesn’t get your body fat low enough, you won’t see your abs. Read: Intuitive eating for lean muscle

    Back to exercising for abs: The best way to get abs is to work the entire core with different types of movements and/or in different directions. For true beginners, you need to stabilize yourself first — exercises like a basic plank, bird dog, deadbug, boat pose, and Superman have you covered.

    If you’re a bit more advanced: lying leg lifts, hanging leg lifts, or bench curl ups are tough “flexion” type exercises. Please note, if this hurts, then stop. You’re either doing them incorrectly, or do not have enough basic core strength. A classic sit-up or crunch would be the more rudimentary versions of “flexion” type exercises.

    Rotational exercises are also an important component and could include cable chops, medicine ball throws, or Russian twists.

    Another component, especially as you progress in strength, are exercises that force you to stabilize in seemingly awkward positions. While a bird dog is a basic stabilization exercise, a more advanced version is a bird dog row. Same thing goes for a plank, while it’s a basic stabilization exercise, there are several more advanced variations such as a plank row, single-arm/single-leg plank, etc.

    Other factors that go into training your core and getting your abs to show are the big lift exercises like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses. These are pretty much essentials because of just how many muscles they involve and should be a part of your programming either way.

    If there’s one key takeaway: be mindful not to do too much in one direction. For example, if you do crunches, then sit ups, then hanging leg raises, that’s a whole lot of flexion movements and other areas of the core are going to be imbalanced. You want a nice mix. If it were four solid ones, shoot for: standard plank, bird dog rows, hanging leg raise, Superman is a good combo. There are many others, but that’s an example of a workout that is balanced. Check out our piece on 25 ways to give your core a great workout here.

    To get your abs to pop, get a customized program by applying at DigitalFitnessAdvisor.com.