5 of the Most Effective Ab Exercises

Plenty of focus is given to the abdominal muscles when it comes to personal fitness training programs. The fact that ab exercises are very important to your overall training program should not be overlooked.

The good news is that you can do ab exercises at anytime and virtually anywhere, plus an entire abs routine shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes to complete.

As part of the American Council’s Exercise’s study in finding the most effective of ab exercises, here are the top 5:

The Bicycle Ab Exercise

Primarily targeting the six pack area, the rectus abdominis and the obliques, the bicycle exercise is known to be the most effective of ab exercises.

To perform this exercise:

Lying face up on the floor, with your hands behind your head, bring the knees towards your chest, lifting the shoulder blades off the ground.

After that, straightening the left leg while twisting your upper body to let the left elbow to meet with the right knee. Doing this continuously, while switching sides from left to right, for twelve to sixteen repetitions, completes the bicycle exercise.

The Captain’s Chair Ab Exercise

This is the second most effective abs exercise that focuses on the rectus abdominis and the obliques area of a stomach. Equipment for the Captain’s Chair exercise is commonly found in most gyms and health clubs, plus you can also buy them as part of a home gym.

To perform this exercise, you must first stand on the chair and hold onto the handles for stability. Pressing your back against a flat surface, you must then lift your legs, allowing the knees to reach the chest. You must do this while not arching your back. You then slowly lower your legs back to the starting position and repeat for 10-15 reps.

Exercise Ball Ab Crunch

The exercise ball is an excellent piece of equipment for training the abs and is actually one of my favorite ab exercises. The exercise ball ab crunch focuses on the rectus abdominis.

To perform this exercise, start by lying face up with the ball supporting your lower back. Then, cross your arms over the chest, or placing them behind your head.

The next step would then involve lifting your torso slowly from the ball, keeping the ball stable, without rolling. Then lower yourself back down to the starting position where you will get a good stretch.

Vertical Leg Abdominal Crunch

Somewhat similar to the bicycle ab exercises, the vertical leg abdominal crunch starts by lying face up on the floor, extending your legs up, with the knees crossed.

You then push your chest towards your feet, while keeping the legs in a fixed position. You then lower yourself back down and repeat.

The Torso Track Exercise

With the Torso Track Exercise, caution should be given, as you could injure your back if not done correctly. This ab exercise starts with the exerciser holding the Torso Track’s handles, and is followed by pulling the abs towards the torso, completing the exercise.

So that pretty much makes up the five most effective ab exercises, but if you still aren’t sure how to perform these exercises correctly then look out for exercise videos and exercise illustrations.

One thing to remember though, ab exercises don’t reduce the fat over the abdomen area, nor do they convert fat into "six pack abs".

Raising the body’s metabolism and building more muscles effectively does this while following a healthy diet plan. These ab exercises keep the abs trim and firm, but do not necessarily reduce the fat around the waistline.

Check out: Muscle Building Programs

Filed under: Six Pack Abs

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