The "Best" Ab Exercise
I have dieted for 12-week periods, similar to a bodybuilding style pre-competition diet, several times.
The first time I dieted, I did ab work at least four days per week.
Know what happened? Toward the end of the diet, my abs looked great! I could see the whole "six pack" look, all the definition, etc.
The second time I dieted, I didn't do any ab work at all, save for whatever incidental core work in some of my total body, multi-joint exercises.
Know what happened? My abs still looked great! I could see my "six pack" and I had definition, veins popping out everywhere, and the coveted "V" look with my abs & hips.
So what was the difference? My abs were already developed, I just had to strip the fat off of them through a combination of nutrition, supplementation, resistance training, and cardio.
The ab exercises themselves basically did nothing for the look of my abs.
If your goal is to strengthen your abdominal muscle, then ab exercise away! If your goal is to see your "six pack," then get your nutrition, supplementation and resistance training right consistently, and the abs will come.
NOTE: I'm not advocating eliminating ab or core training completely from your exercise routine; I did that simply as a self-experiment to see if I would still see results in my abs strictly from nutrition, resistance & cardio training.
However, people ask me all the time what the "best" ab exercise is.
My questions about what their goals are (strengthen abdominal muscle or wanting to see a "six pack") notwithstanding, there is one exercise that, according to research, stimulates the entire abdominal muscle and is safe for the spine and the rest of the core musculature.
According to research, where they measure muscle stimulation rates with a similar method to a heart EKG, the bicycle crunch is the "best" ab exercise overall.
Basically, this exercise stimulates the entire abdominal muscle to the highest degree of any ab exercise tested.
This exercise is included in all of my personal training clients' exercise routines, and they all hate it!! So how do you do the "best" ab exercise? Glad you asked! Lie on the floor, and places your hands on the side of your head, with your elbows pointed toward your lower body.
Bend your knees, and bring your legs up to a 90 degree angle to your abs.
Make sure that your back remains on the floor at all times.
If you are not able to keep your back on the floor, then you will need to do some corrective exercises and stretching to correct some postural distortion that you have.
Start the movement by extending your right leg, and bringing your left knee towards your head.
At the same time, try to touch your right elbow to your left knee.
Then extend your left leg while bringing your right knee toward your head, while simultaneously trying to touch your left elbow to the right knee.
Repeat without stopping for as many repetitions as you can.
If you have never done this exercise before, it will be extremely tough, and you probably will not be able to do very many repetitions.
However, you will be able to adapt to this exercise fairly quickly, gaining more ab strength and endurance in a short amount of time.
Start off with only two sets, for as many reps, or as much time as you can.
I advocate timing sets for most exercises and most of my clients, and definitely with this exercise.
Work up to the point where you can do two sets for 30 seconds each without resting during the set, and then add a third set.
Continue to work up until you are able to do three sets for one minute each.
After you have reached that point, it is time to add an element of instability to increase the difficulty of the exercise, but that is an advanced workout technique that is beyond the scope of this post! Do that two to three times per week, and your abs will get strong & developed in no time! But, you've got to get everything else right if you want to ever be able to lose your spare tire, or eventually be able to see you "six pack!"
The first time I dieted, I did ab work at least four days per week.
Know what happened? Toward the end of the diet, my abs looked great! I could see the whole "six pack" look, all the definition, etc.
The second time I dieted, I didn't do any ab work at all, save for whatever incidental core work in some of my total body, multi-joint exercises.
Know what happened? My abs still looked great! I could see my "six pack" and I had definition, veins popping out everywhere, and the coveted "V" look with my abs & hips.
So what was the difference? My abs were already developed, I just had to strip the fat off of them through a combination of nutrition, supplementation, resistance training, and cardio.
The ab exercises themselves basically did nothing for the look of my abs.
If your goal is to strengthen your abdominal muscle, then ab exercise away! If your goal is to see your "six pack," then get your nutrition, supplementation and resistance training right consistently, and the abs will come.
NOTE: I'm not advocating eliminating ab or core training completely from your exercise routine; I did that simply as a self-experiment to see if I would still see results in my abs strictly from nutrition, resistance & cardio training.
However, people ask me all the time what the "best" ab exercise is.
My questions about what their goals are (strengthen abdominal muscle or wanting to see a "six pack") notwithstanding, there is one exercise that, according to research, stimulates the entire abdominal muscle and is safe for the spine and the rest of the core musculature.
According to research, where they measure muscle stimulation rates with a similar method to a heart EKG, the bicycle crunch is the "best" ab exercise overall.
Basically, this exercise stimulates the entire abdominal muscle to the highest degree of any ab exercise tested.
This exercise is included in all of my personal training clients' exercise routines, and they all hate it!! So how do you do the "best" ab exercise? Glad you asked! Lie on the floor, and places your hands on the side of your head, with your elbows pointed toward your lower body.
Bend your knees, and bring your legs up to a 90 degree angle to your abs.
Make sure that your back remains on the floor at all times.
If you are not able to keep your back on the floor, then you will need to do some corrective exercises and stretching to correct some postural distortion that you have.
Start the movement by extending your right leg, and bringing your left knee towards your head.
At the same time, try to touch your right elbow to your left knee.
Then extend your left leg while bringing your right knee toward your head, while simultaneously trying to touch your left elbow to the right knee.
Repeat without stopping for as many repetitions as you can.
If you have never done this exercise before, it will be extremely tough, and you probably will not be able to do very many repetitions.
However, you will be able to adapt to this exercise fairly quickly, gaining more ab strength and endurance in a short amount of time.
Start off with only two sets, for as many reps, or as much time as you can.
I advocate timing sets for most exercises and most of my clients, and definitely with this exercise.
Work up to the point where you can do two sets for 30 seconds each without resting during the set, and then add a third set.
Continue to work up until you are able to do three sets for one minute each.
After you have reached that point, it is time to add an element of instability to increase the difficulty of the exercise, but that is an advanced workout technique that is beyond the scope of this post! Do that two to three times per week, and your abs will get strong & developed in no time! But, you've got to get everything else right if you want to ever be able to lose your spare tire, or eventually be able to see you "six pack!"
