Scroll down to find some abdominal exercises you might have forgotten about.
Crunches
Roman Chair Crunches
Cable Crunches
Reverse Crunches
Hanging Reverse Crunches
Hanging Leg Raises
Machine Crunches
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Works: Upper abs How to do it: Lie down on the floor. Place your calves on a bench in front of you. Your hands should be close to your ears. Lift your shoulders off the floor and toward your knees. Don’t lift the entire back – just the shoulders. While in an upper position squeeze for a peak contraction. Return back to starting position without relaxing the shoulders on the floor. Keep them in the air at least an inch. |
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Works: Upper Abs How to do it: Sit on a Roman Chair bench. Keep your arms in front of your chest or close to your ears if you need some extra weight. Start by lowering your body till you pass the 90-degree mark with your hips but don’t stretch all the way. Slowly return back as you squeeze for a peak contraction. |
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Works: Upper and lower abs How to do it: Kneel down in front of an overhead pulley with a rope attached to it. Pull the rope till your hands come close to your ears. I like to lean my wrists against my forehead. Crunch down for a peak contraction only using the ab muscles. Go back up to starting position. Don’t get your arms involved in this exercise. Use your abs. |
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Works: Lower abs How to do it: Lie on a bench. Position your grip to the bench close to or over your head. Flex your legs in the knees and tilt them toward your chest. Start by lifting your legs toward your face with your gluts coming off the bench. Squeeze for a peak contraction. Return back to starting position with your legs tilted toward your torso. |
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Works: Lower abs How to do it: Start this exercise by hanging from an overhead bar with your knees raised to the level of your waist. From this position begin lifting your legs toward your chest. Flex the abs in the upper position as much as you can. Slowly lower your legs to waist level. You will have to adjust your leg raise speed in order to avoid body swings. |
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Works: Lower abs How to do it: Start hanging from an overhead bar. Your legs just slightly bent in the knees. Begin lifting them as high up as you can. Then start lowering back under control. Adjust your leg raise frequency in order to avoid body swinging but don’t sacrifice the quality. Also make sure you don’t use momentum. |
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Works: Upper and lower abs How to do it: Pick out any abdominal machine in your local gym. The secret here is to stay focused all the time. You should feel the abs throughout the range of motion. Never let them relax. It’s also important that you squeeze in a peak contraction for a second. |