What are some good Ab exercises?

[GoingUp]

Lookin to work out my abs more. What are some good exercises? Specifically I need some good oblique exercises. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

(Yes I know I need to watch my diet as well and you cant spot reduce, thats why I'm on a fitness and workout plan, I just need recomendations for good ab exercises)

<--------- Started at 15.1% body fat in Jan, down to 10.8% bodyfat as of today

 

[GoingUp]

bump

 

[GoingUp]

anyone?

 

[Turkish]

this is the program I am following for my abs every other day. It gave me amazing results. I used to float under 10% as well, and I didn't have this much definition on my abs. I am at ~12% BF right now, and people tell me my abs look a hell lot better than 10%.

However, I recommend upping the repeats to 25. 15 just doesn't do it for me.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Xiety
this is the program I am following for my abs every other day. It gave me amazing results. I used to float under 10% as well, and I didn't have this much definition on my abs. I am at ~12% BF right now, and people tell me my abs look a hell lot better than 10%.

However, I recommend upping the repeats to 25. 15 just doesn't do it for me.

how do u find out what your body fat %?

 

[Spamela]

This is a great one for obliques.

i like to do weighted situps on a decline board for abs.

 

[MBony]

Crunches, and lots of them. Do combos of punching crunches, rotating crunches (similar to punching), elbow to opposite knee crunches. Sit-ups work well too, but crunches will do the job.

Do 3x30 every other night and in 2 weeks you'll see a difference. May not be dramatic, but you'll notice it.

 

[StageLeft]

Cardio 90% of one's abs is their body fat

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Xiety
this is the program I am following for my abs every other day. It gave me amazing results. I used to float under 10% as well, and I didn't have this much definition on my abs. I am at ~12% BF right now, and people tell me my abs look a hell lot better than 10%.

However, I recommend upping the repeats to 25. 15 just doesn't do it for me.

Was about to link the same one...

 

[amcdonald]

Don't bother with doing a million crunches.
Just train them like any other muscle. Low rep, high resistance.
For middle abs do weighted normal/inclince crunches, and hanging leg raises.

For obliques, do weighted side bends and hanging leg-raises to the sides.
Be advised that if you work out your obliques to much you might end up looking thicker than you want.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: MBony
Crunches, and lots of them. Do combos of punching crunches, rotating crunches (similar to punching), elbow to opposite knee crunches. Sit-ups work well too, but crunches will do the job.

Do 3x30 every other night and in 2 weeks you'll see a difference. May not be dramatic, but you'll notice it.

Wrong.

Doing crunches every night will not give definition to your abs.

Abs, just like every other muscle, need some rest.

Do ab exercises every other day, give them some rest to recover.

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: Xiety

Originally posted by: MBony
Crunches, and lots of them. Do combos of punching crunches, rotating crunches (similar to punching), elbow to opposite knee crunches. Sit-ups work well too, but crunches will do the job.

Do 3x30 every other night and in 2 weeks you'll see a difference. May not be dramatic, but you'll notice it.

Wrong.

Doing crunches every night will not give definition to your abs.

Abs, just like every other muscle, need some rest.

Do ab exercises every other day, give them some rest to recover.

Actually, I've heard from a variety of sources that abdominals are one of the muscle groups you can actually workout just about everyday without overtraining. Then again, I do them every other day along with my regular routine, so I have no personal experience with that method.

As far as obliques go, the BEST exercise I've found is weighted side bends on one of those side bend incline/ramp things. You know, the same piece of equipment that you use to work out your lower back. Weighted side bends while standing straight up never really did that much for me, but doing the same thing while propped up on an incline hurt quite a bit more.

I personally do a LOT of crunches to work out the rest of my abs. I'm going to get around to trying the whole cut down rep #/increase resistence strategy sometime, but as of now, the only ab exercise that I do in low numbers are hanging leg lifts...because I can't do more than 20 or so at a time. But I'm probably at about as much of a six pack as I'm going to get. Then again, maybe the increase in weight will help out, so I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: Whisper

Originally posted by: Xiety

Originally posted by: MBony

Crunches, and lots of them. Do combos of punching crunches, rotating crunches (similar to punching), elbow to opposite knee crunches. Sit-ups work well too, but crunches will do the job.



Do 3x30 every other night and in 2 weeks you'll see a difference. May not be dramatic, but you'll notice it.

Wrong.



Doing crunches every night will not give definition to your abs.



Abs, just like every other muscle, need some rest.



Do ab exercises every other day, give them some rest to recover.

Actually, I've heard from a variety of sources that abdominals are one of the muscle groups you can actually workout just about everyday without overtraining. Then again, I do them every other day along with my regular routine, so I have no personal experience with that method.



As far as obliques go, the BEST exercise I've found is weighted side bends on one of those side bend incline/ramp things. You know, the same piece of equipment that you use to work out your lower back. Weighted side bends while standing straight up never really did that much for me, but doing the same thing while propped up on an incline hurt quite a bit more.



I personally do a LOT of crunches to work out the rest of my abs. I'm going to get around to trying the whole cut down rep #/increase resistence strategy sometime, but as of now, the only ab exercise that I do in low numbers are hanging leg lifts...because I can't do more than 20 or so at a time. But I'm probably at about as much of a six pack as I'm going to get. Then again, maybe the increase in weight will help out, so I'll let you know how it goes.

We all've heard the same stuff over and over again... but this only works if you do 1 or maybe 2 ab exercises. If you are going to be doing 6-7 ab exercises every day, you'll simply burn your muscles.

 

[edro]

Good job on the bodyfat decrease!

Leg lifts
Hanging Knee Raises
Torso Twists, with broom stick on your shoulders (obliques)
Crunches, with legs up on bench

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: Xiety
this is the program I am following for my abs every other day. It gave me amazing results. I used to float under 10% as well, and I didn't have this much definition on my abs. I am at ~12% BF right now, and people tell me my abs look a hell lot better than 10%.

However, I recommend upping the repeats to 25. 15 just doesn't do it for me.

how do u find out what your body fat %?

there are several ways, probably the easiest for home use is to get a digital bodyfat caliper. the one I have takes fat "pinch" measurements at the chest, stomach, and leg and calculates a percentage based on your age.

there are scales that give you a bodyfat percentage by measuring conductivity in your body or something like that but they aren't accurate when you get into the athlete fitness level.