Abs workout and exercise routines has been researched and tested by many fitness experts and bodybuilders. The following abs workout routine has shown to be the best in producing strength, stability and most of all a fantastic looking stomach. It does this by allowing the twitch fibres and neurones in the abdominal and oblique muscles to develop faster than any other routine.
Below are the ab exercises going from easiest to hardest and the explanation of how to properly execute the movement. This could be done by men and women. Women should just halve their reps:
Normal sit up:
1. Lie on your back on the floor and hook your toes under a heavy piece of furniture. Even better, use an ab board and hook your toes under the ankle constraints.
2. Bend your knee comfortably and keep them bent throughout the entire set. This helps to relieve concentrated back strain.
3. Place your hands across your chest or fingers behind your ears, don’t pull on your head you will damage your neck.
4. Curl your head, shoulders, upper back and lower back slowly in succession off the floor until your torso is perpendicular to the floor.
5. Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point.
6. Resistance may be added by varying the degree of incline if you are using an ab bench or by holding a weighed barbell plate behind your head. Repeat this six pack abs workout for specified number of reps.
Twisted sit ups:
1. Lie on your back on the floor and hook your toes under a heavy piece of furniture. Even better, use an ab board and hook your toes under the ankle constraints.
2. Bend your knee comfortably and keep them bent throughout the entire set. This helps to relieve concentrated back strain.
3. Place your fingers behind your ears, don’t pull on your head you will damage your neck.
4. Curl your head, shoulders, upper back and lower back slowly in succession off the floor and twist your torso to the left touching your left knee with right elbow.
5. Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point.
6. Perform the sit up again but this time twist to the right, touching you right knee with left shoulder.
7. Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point.
8. Resistance may be added by varying the degree of incline if you are using an ab bench or by holding a weighed barbell plate behind your head. Advanced athletes may want to do both!
9. Continue these six pack abs workout reps right and left until the end of the set.
Crunches:
1. Lie flat on your back and place your calves on a flat bench seat. Your hamstrings should be perpendicular to the floor.
2. Place your hands behind your head with fingers interlaced together.
3. Perform the following movements simultaneously: a. Pull your hips from the floor using your lower abdominal muscles. b. Raise your shoulders and back from the floor usingyour upper abdominal muscles c. Force your shoulders in moving them toward your hips d. exhale hard
4. Hold the contracted position for a slow count of 1-3seconds.
5. Keep repeating this movement for stated reps.
Leg raises:
1. Lie flat on your back on the floor or exercise mat.
2. Place both your hands just past or underneath your bum.
3. Keeping your legs together bend your knees very slightly keeping your feet off the floor.
4. Use your abdominal muscles to slowly raise your feet upward in an arc until they are above your hips.
5. Slowly turn them to the starting position just above the floor.
6. Repeat these movements until you have completed the required number of repetitions.
7. If you find this to hard just bring your knees up to your chest and then put feet back to original position, instead of raising the whole leg to a vertical position.
Repeat this six pack abs workout for specified number of reps.
Side Bends:
1. Stand up straight and with your arms straight down at your sides.
2. Bend sideways holding your pelvis very firm. First one shoulder should bend down toward the floor.
3. When you reach a point where you cannot bend further, inhale, hold your breath and raise yourself back to the erect starting position exhaling when you reach the vertical position. Can be done holding a weight in your hand to increase difficulty of the exercise
4. Repeat this movement numerous times before switching to the opposite shoulder.
Sit up with leg raise:
1.Lie on your back on the floor and hook one foot under a heavy piece of furniture. The other leg must be straight out in front of you.
2. Bend your knee comfortably and keep your leg bent throughout the entire set. This helps to relieve concentrated back strain.
3. Place your hands across your chest or fingers behind your ears, don’t pull on your head you will damage your neck.
4. Curl your head, shoulders, upper back and lower back slowly in succession off the floor until your torso is perpendicular to the floor, at the same time bring your knee up to your chest.
5. Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point. Move your torso and leg in a simultaneous movement.
6. If this is easy which you can place a small weight behind your head. Repeat this six pack ab workout for specified number of reps.
7. Now sap legs and do the same for the other side and repeat this ab workout for specified number of reps.
Advanced rotation crunch:
1. Lie on your back on the floor and hook your toes under a heavy piece of furniture.
2. Bend your knee comfortably and keep them bent throughout the entire set. This helps to relieve concentrated back strain.
3. Place your hands across your chest or fingers behind your ears, don’t pull on your head you will damage your neck.
4. Curl your head, and shoulder blades slightly off the floor keeping your stomach tight.
5. Now the hard and complicated bit!! Staying at the same height off the floor bend to the left slightly and hold for a second.
6. Now staying bent left slightly lift your torso a few centimetres hold for a second keeping your abs tight.
7. Now move your body back to the straight position staying at this higher level and keeping stomach tight, hold for a second.
8. Now bend your body to the right slightly staying at the higher level and keeping abs tight, hold for a second.
9. Staying bent to the right lower back to the original position just above the floor, keeping abs tight and hold for a second.
10. Now straighten up to the original position on the lower level hold for a second and keep abs tight.
11. Repeat this rotation for half of the reps in the direction described.
12. For the second half of the reps Rotate in the opposite direction as described above.
Repeat this six pack ab workout for specified number of reps. Good luck it’s a hard one but enjoyable once you’ve got the hang of it
Lower stomach vertical leg raises:
1. Begin laid on your back, place your hands under your bum and raise your legs to a vertical position so your toes are pointing to the sky.
2. Now with your legs together or crossed, still straight pointing at the sky. Lift your pelvis off the floor. You may need to support yourself pushing down with your hands.
3. Push your legs and hips upward in one movement keeping legs vertical. You will feel your middle to lower stomach working very hard.
4. Repeat this six pack abs workout exercise for the sated amount of reps.
Now for the specific routines: These routines should be carried out every day or every second day for the best results. I strongly recommend you use an exercise mat or a folded towel to prevent damaging your coccyx. Start at what ever level you think you can manage and work your way up by increasing reps by 5 every week or advancing onto the next routine when you feel comfortable. Females can do the same routines just half all the reps
Beginners Abs Workout Routine: Normal sit ups: 4 sets of 10-15 reps Twisted situps: 2 sets of 10 reps Side bends: 3 sets of 20 reps Crunches: 2 sets of 5-7 reps Carry out once a day, if to hard start with 2 of the exercises and develop it to the full routine.
Intermediate Abs Workout Routine: Normal sit ups: 1 set of 30-40 reps Crunches: 4 sets of 20-30 reps Twisted sit ups: 2 sets of 20-30 reps Led raises: 3 sets of 20 reps Once a day
Advanced Abs Workout Routine: Normal sit ups: 1 set of 50+ reps Crunches: 2 sets of 40+ reps Sit up with leg raise: 4 sets 15+ reps Advanced rotation crunch: 3 sets of 12+ reps Lower stomach vertical leg raises: 2 sets 15+ Carry out once a day
Below are some helpful tips to try and help you maximise your six pack abs routine and get the best six pack possible:
1. Train your abs on an empty stomach. This allows you to burn body fat as fuel instead of carbohydrates.
2. Perform cardio activity before your workout. When the body is warmed up as a result of cardiovascular activity, you’re able to get a better contraction on your abs when you work them. The warm up enables you to better feel the deep muscular burning sensation when your abs are trained.
3. Contract and flex your abs in between sets. This technique helps to build abdominal definition. Bodybuilders have been know to stretch and flex in between sets to increase muscle definition. I find this help a lot.
4. Minimize rest time in between sets. Try to only take 1 minute of rest [or less] time in between abdominal exercises. The goal is to keep rest to 30 – 40 seconds in between sets.
5. Focus on the diet. Your diet is the main factor in how your abs will look.
6. If you really want to invest in a six pack abs guide, including ebooks, dvd’s workout programs, nutritional info etc I could personally recommend The Truth About Six Pack Abs. It has helped me and thousands of others.
