Exercises for abs are an important way to strengthen your midsection, also known as your core, and to give you stability and awesome looking abs.
Everyone thinks that there is some kind of a secret but really the best way to build a great set of abs and get that stable core is to diet, stretch, and work the right muscles in the right way.
First things first, even with a great set of abdominal muscles you are going to have trouble showing them off if you have even a thin slab of fat covering them up. So it is important to keep your down.
Next comes stretching. I want to make sure that you have a useful set of muscles when you have strengthened them. One of the best ways to have great muscles is to make sure that you have been stretching so that you can have the range of motion that goes along with the increased strength and stability that the following exercises will give you.
Finally we get to the exercises themselves that will help get you stronger.
There are three parts that you want to work on in your abdominal area. There are the upper abs, lower abs, and the obliques, which are the muscles on your sides right above your hips.
Exercises for abs – Upper Abdominals
The way to work your upper abdominals is to exercises that lift your upper body off of the ground. This could be as simple as doing crunches, situps or a curl up.
These exercises will put pressure on your upper abs. As far as sets and reps go you will want to do 2 sets of 20-25 reps 3 times a week. Some people say to do ab exercises everyday but this will lead to overtraining I believe.
Exercises for abs – Lower Abdominals
To work the lower abdominals you need to lift your legs off the ground while lying down. There are a few exercises that I like and those are leg raises, and seated knee ups on a bench.
Again the best way to work your your core is to do 2 sets of 20-25 reps of each exercises, 3 times a week on non-consecutive days.
Exercises for abs – Obliques
Your obliques are on your sides and the best way to work these muscles is to make sure that you are putting pressure on your sides by lifting or twisting on each side.
The easiest exercise to start with is by standing up straight and leaning to one side, then straight back up, and then leaning to the other side.
This may seem easy but you will feel it tomorrow.
Another exercise that works well is twists, just sit on a bench and then rotate around facing one side and then rotating around to face the other side.
Again a couple of sets of each of these exercises are quite doable and should not be very hard or tiring, you will feel it the next day though.
If you are doing these ab exercises every two or three days they should not take you more than about 10 minutes a workout. This will get you in better shape and you will notice big changes within 3 to 4 weeks at most.