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Abdominal muscles must be trained like any other muscle group to become more toned and to grow in size. Sit ups or curl ups can be done anywhere, incorporating a variety of tempos, angles and resistance to stimulate muscular development. Performing sit ups at a gym enables you to do the exercise on a decline bench for added variety and stimulation. The rectus abdominus is the primary abdominal muscle engaged during sit ups or curl ups, with a little help from your hip flexors.

Basic Sit Ups

Step 1

Anchor your feet under an immovable object. Place your arms across your chest, sitting upright with your elbows off of your chest.

Step 2

Lower your trunk until your shoulder blades touch the floor, then return to the start position; your elbows should touch your knees at the top of the movement. Repeat for nine more repetitions.

Step 3

Perform the same movement, increasing the speed in which you do sit ups. Complete one set of 10 reps.

Step 4

Do one more set of sit ups, using a 2-second count for the ascent phase and a 4-second count for the descent phase.

Weighted Sit Ups

Step 1

Lie on your back as you would for basic sit ups, with your knees bent and the bottoms of your feet flat on the floor.

Step 2

Hold a 5-lb. medicine ball between your hands. Straighten your arms behind your head, in line with your body.

Step 3

Draw the ball over your chest and upward as you sit up.

Step 4

Slowly lower your body, eccentrically contracting your abdominal muscle, which means your muscle is contracted, but lengthening instead of shortening. Repeat for three sets of 10 repetitions.

Diagonal Sit Ups

Step 1

Position your body on the floor as if to do sit ups.

Step 2

Interlace your fingers at the level of your chest with your palms facing your thighs; your elbows should be out to your sides.

Step 3

Raise your trunk upward, simultaneously twisting your right shoulder toward your left knee. Return to the start position.

Step 4

Raise your trunk upward, simultaneously twisting your left shoulder toward your right knee. Return to the start position and continue to alternate the direction of your twists, completing three sets of 10 total repetitions.

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Roman chairs — a common fixture at many gyms — come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Most feature the common elements of a padded seat or table mounted on metal legs with various padded bars for the hands or feet. Whether big, small, high or low, the majority of Roman chairs focus on working out the back, abdominal muscles and glutes. Before getting on the chair, be sure to stretch and drink plenty of water.

Sit-Ups

Perform sit-ups, a classic exercise for targeting the abdominal muscles, on a Roman chair. Sit on the surface of the chair with your feet hooked under the padded bars. Cross your hands over your chest or put them behind your head. Lower your body backward so that your hips are almost extended. Now raise the body back up to a sitting position, driving the movement with your abdominal muscles rather than your chest, neck or head. Your spine and neck should stay straight in line. Hold for a count and repeat the motion in sets. For a more intense exercise, add wearable weights — such as a weighted vest — to the Roman chair sit-up.

Back Extensions

For Roman chair back extensions, lie down on your stomach with your feet secured under the padded bar. Support your upper body with your spine as the bench holds your lower body. With your hands crossed over your chest, bend downward at the hips, lowering your chest toward the chair’s legs. When your body reaches something close to a 90-degree bend, straighten to the starting position using your ab muscles. Throughout the exercise, keep your abs tight and your back straight. This exercise targets the abs and lower back. You can also hold weight plates during this exercise to increase resistance.

Hanging Knee Raises

High Roman chairs with hand grips, devices that look something like chin-up bars mounted on the ground, are excellent for hanging knee raises. Grip the handles and let your body hang straight, with your spine and neck in line. Raise your knees as high as you can toward your chest, driving the motion with your abs and pelvis. Hold this pose for a count and lower your legs. This exercise targets the lower abdominals and stretches the hamstrings and glutes. For an additional challenge, perform hanging leg raises without bending your knees.

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The core muscles, also known as the abs, are the muscles around your trunk and pelvis. It is important to work the abs to improve balance, improve low back pain, and to help you reach your fitness goals. New exercises for your core also burn more calories and work the entire body. Remember to take a day off in between exercises to allow for adequate muscle recovery.

Under The Bridge

This exercise will work all of the abs and can be done anywhere. Start by lying on your right side with the right elbow on floor in alignment with your shoulder. Lift the hips, keeping them stacked and forming a straight line with your body from your head to your heels. Your left arm will rise above your shoulder. Once in the side plank position, bring your left arm under your body. Return your left arm to starting position, counting as one repetition. Repeat six to eight times, then switch to your other side. Both sides count as one set. Repeat for one to three sets depending on level.

Straight Leg Crunch

You can do this exercise with or without free weights depending on your level. Take a pair of lightweight dumbbells, then lie on your back with your arms behind you. For a starting position, extend your legs at a 45-degree angle. Bring your arms up over your chest and lift your shoulders off the mat while raising your legs until they’re perpendicular to the floor. Without letting your legs touch the floor, return to start counting as one repetition. Repeat for eight to 12 reps and one to three sets.

Bicycle

Start the bicycle by lying on your back with your knees bent 90 degrees. Keep your feet lifted and hands behind your head for support. Extend your left leg about 45 degrees to the floor while bringing your right knee toward your chest. Keep your arms wide, head lifted, and rotate your left shoulder toward your right knee. Automatically switch sides, counting as one repetition as you bring your right shoulder toward your left knee, and extend your right leg. Repeat for eight to 15 reps and one to three sets.

Nose to Knee Crunch

This exercise can be done on the floor, or on a stability ball. Get into plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart either on a mat below you, or on top of a fitness ball. As you balance, bring your right knee toward your chest. Hold and then return to plank position. Switch to the other side and bring your left knee toward your chest. Both sides will count as one repetition. Repeat six to eight times and one to three sets.

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Bent-knee crunches are a popular exercise to work the abdominal muscles. You can target your main ab muscle, the rectus abdominis, and your side abs, the obliques, with bent-knee crunches. Although somewhat effective, bent-knee crunches are not as effective at engaging your abdominal muscles as other body-weight abdominal exercises.

Execution

A bent-knee crunch is done in a supine position with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Position your arms across your chest or behind your head, but do not pull on your neck with your arms as you crunch. Keep your head and neck in neutral alignment with your spine. Your lower back should stay pressed into the floor throughout the movement. You only crunch up high enough to lift your shoulder blades off the floor.

Effectiveness

The American Council on Exercise, a national fitness organization, sponsored a study that tested the effectiveness of the crunch compared to other popular abdominal exercises. Researchers used electromyography equipment to measure the activity of the rectus abdominis and the obliques during each exercise. The standard, bent-knee crunch was the control exercise and was rated at 100. Of the 13 exercises tested only two abdominal movements performed worse than the bent-knee crunch.

Results

In the study, the bicycle maneuver, the vertical leg crunch, the long arm crunch and the reverse crunch all activated the rectus abdominis more than the bent-knee crunch did, although some of these movements only slightly outperformed the bent-knee crunch. The bicycle maneuver was the top rated exercise, activating the ab muscle 148 percent more than the bent-knee crunch. Researchers voted the ball crunch the best overall abdominal exercise because it does not involve the leg muscles as much as the other exercises. However, the ball crunch requires extra equipment, as did some of the other tested exercises.

Bottom Line

Although less effective than other abdominal exercises, the bent-knee crunch still has its place in a workout routine. It is the most basic crunch and allows beginners to learn proper form and technique. Other abdominal exercises, such as the bicycle maneuver and the vertical leg crunch, are advanced abdominal exercises that require more strength and coordination to do correctly. Learn the fundamentals of proper form with the bent-knee crunch, then advance to more difficult crunch variations.

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The AB Coaster is an exercise machine designed to help strengthen and tone the body’s abdominal muscles. The device consists of a sliding seat assembly, a pair of rails, hand grips and a digital console; once assembled, the all-steel frame has a maximum weight capacity of 300 pounds.

The AB Coaster works by using your body weight to provide resistance as you exercise. As you build muscle strength, you can increase the difficulty of your workout by adding weights to the seat assembly.

Assembly

Step 1

Bolt the rear foot to the bracket located near the rear end of the curved track. Bolt the front foot to the bracket located underneath the front post.

Step 2

Bolt the bracket located near the front end of the curved track to the holes located near the upper end of the front post. Bolt the crossbar located on the lower end of the front post to the bracket located partway up the curved track.

Step 3

Bolt the console unit to the two brackets located at the top of the front post. Cover any exposed bolt heads with the black plastic caps that came packaged with the device.

Step 4

Plug the counter wires into the connection points located on the console and at the end of the crossbar. Place the protective covering over each connection point.

Exercise

Step 1

Stand by the left side of the device and grip the handles. Bend your right leg and lift your right shin onto the far side of the seat.

Step 2

Use the handles to support your body weight as you bend your left leg and lift your left shin onto the near side of the seat. Shift your knees forwards until you are able to hook your feet under the rear edge of the seat.

Step 3

Use your abdominal muscles to perform a forward lift by slowly bringing your knees forward until the seat carriage nears the front end of the rails. Slowly return the carriage to its original location, then repeat the exercise as desired. Maintain an upright posture throughout the exercise.

Step 4

Pull out the locking pin located on the rear of the seat carriage. Twist the seat to the left, then replace the pin; adjust the positioning of both seat and pin until the latter locks into place. Perform a new set of forward lifts, then reset the seat to the right position and perform an additional set of lifts.

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Coming up with a workout plan for your abdominal muscles is an important first step to simultaneously strengthening your core and improving your appearance. Neglecting parts of your abdominal muscles can lead to uneven muscle development and delayed progress. Perform a complete workout routine that targets your upper, lower and oblique abdominal muscles for optimal effectiveness.

Upper Abdominal Exercise

Perform crunches or sit-ups to target your upper abdominal muscles. You can perform these with minimal equipment, as all you need is floor space and a mat for comfort if necessary. Lie down on the floor with your knees bent. Lift your entire torso off of the ground as if trying to bring your chest to your knees for sit-ups. Merely lift your upper back off of the ground for crunches. You may also opt to perform weighted crunches using a crunch machine at your local fitness center.

Lower Abdominal Exercise

Perform leg raises to work your lower abdominal muscles. Lie down on the floor and point your straightened legs up into the air. Lower your straightened legs until they nearly touch the floor. Raise your straightened legs to the initial 90 degree angle. Keep this motion slow, steady and controlled. You may also perform leg raises by suspending yourself from an elevated raise machine at your local fitness center. Lift your knees as if trying to bring them to your chest and lower them from this position.

Oblique Abdominal Exercise

Perform Russian Twists to work your obliques from home without any additional equipment. Lie down on the floor in the sit-up position, with your knees bent. Lift and hold your torso to a 45-degree angle with the ground. Extend your arms fully and clasp your hands directly in front of you. Turn to the left or right, keeping your arms straight to exercise your oblique abdominal muscles in accordance with the motion’s direction. You may also use an abdominal rotation machine at your local fitness center.

Total-Body Workout

Because general health is important to any strength and conditioning or weight-loss regimen, you must have an effective total-body workout plan already in place if you expect to see results from your abdominal exercise. Perform a total-body workout that includes cardiovascular exercise and training for all of your muscle groups. Do not focus on your abdominal muscles alone.

Diet

Feeding your muscles properly is imperative to any workout plan. Eat protein from sources low in saturated and trans fats, such as lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and legumes. Replenish your muscles with post-workout meals or snacks that incorporate a mix of protein and low glycemic index carbohydrates, such as oatmeal and rice. You may occasionally replace the meals with protein supplement shakes that include carbohydrates.

Safety

Consult your doctor, nutritionist, personal trainer or other health professional before beginning an abdominal workout plan. They can help you come up with a safe plan that meets your fitness goals while taking a litany of potential health risks into consideration. Stop exercising and contact your doctor immediately if you experience pain or discomfort during your routine.

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The abdominal area is one of the most challenging parts of the body to tone. When you initially start a weight-loss program, one of the first places you reduce in size is the stomach. However, the actual toning of the abdominal muscles tends to take more work. For this reason, both weight-loss hopefuls and avid exercisers often aim to work out this large muscle group on a daily basis. This type of routine is not necessary to obtain strong and lean abdominal muscles. In fact, daily ab exercises may actually do more harm than good.

Benefits of Strong Abs

A lean abdomen does more than to make you feel good about yourself. According to the American Council on Exercise, strong ab muscles correlates with a strong back. You will can reduce back pain and help improve your posture as a result of abdominal exercises. Plus, having a strong core helps prevent athletic injuries. A smaller mid-section also decreases your risk of chronic illnesses such as heart disease.

Types of Exercises

Crunches alone will not tone your abs. There are no specific exercises that target any one particular spot. For example, you cannot work out in hopes of toning your lower abdominal muscles exclusively. The key to a successful routine is to perform different types of ab exercises that will tone your entire core, while remain challenging for the muscles. You can include crunches as well as leg lifts and toe reaches.

Amount

MayoClinic.com recommends performing ab exercises no more than every other day for best results, and to prevent injury. When working on your abdominals, you will not gain better strength in numbers. Doing multiple repetitions of a certain exercise is not an ideal workout plan, particularly if you do the exercise incorrectly. The American Council on Exercise recommends performing no more than three sets of any ab exercise, with 10 to 25 repetitions. Rushing through the exercise is also a common mistake. If you aren’t getting results after doing several sets of abdominal exercises a day, then you are likely doing them incorrectly. During the set, you should remain challenged, and have difficulties at the end of the last set.

Considerations

Overall body fat reduction is another factor in achieving lean abs. This is achieved only through aerobic exercises. Examples include walking, running, stair-climbing, swimming and bicycling. Incorporate regular aerobic activity in addition to ab exercises for maximum results. The Diet Channel recommends five 30-minute sessions a week at the very least. Overtime, the expulsion of energy through cardiovascular exercise causes the body to eat up fat to maintain energy levels. The first place you will likely lose this fat from is the stomach. Reducing stomach fat allows your ab muscles to become more prominent. Ask your doctor before exercising, particularly if you are a newcomer, or if you have an underlying health condition.

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Joseph Pilates developed his system of exercises as a means of strengthening the center of the body to improve overall health. Classical Pilates teachers refer to five of his exercises as the abdominal series. If you only have 10 minutes, do this series, recommends master Pilates teacher Romana Kryzanowska, author of “The Pilates Method of Body Conditioning: Introduction to the Core Exercises.” Talk to your doctor about choosing an appropriate exercise program for you.

Single Leg Stretch

This beginner exercise stretches your lower back and lengthens your leg muscles, according to Kryzanowska. Lie on your back with your knees tucked against your chest. Draw your belly in, and flatten your spine against the floor. Place both hands on your right knee, and press your left leg out at a 45-degree angle. Switch your legs back and forth for 10 kicks on both legs. Pull the bent knee in deeply, and extend your other leg fully.

Double Leg Stretch

The double leg stretch strengthens what Joseph Pilates referred to as the powerhouse, the center of your body, as well as your legs. Lie on your back with your knees tucked against your chest. Place both hands lightly on your shins. Inhale as you raise your arms back by your ears. Simultaneously extend your legs at a 45-degree angle. Exhale as you tuck your knees in and sweep your arms out to the sides and in to your knees. Move as if you are pushing water with your arms. Repeat this exercise five times.

Single Straight Leg Stretch

This intermediate exercise works your powerhouse more deeply, while stretching your legs. Lie on your back with your knees tucked against your chest. Extend one leg toward the ceiling, and grab as close to your ankle as possible. Extend your other leg forward, about 12 inches above the floor. Pull the higher leg toward you in two tiny pulses, and then switch your legs. Repeat this exercise 10 times on each leg.

Double Straight Leg Stretch

Begin the double straight leg stretch on your back with your legs pressed together and extended toward the ceiling. Place your hands behind your head with your elbows wide. Flatten your spine to the floor. Lower both legs about 12 inches. Do not allow your back to arch off the floor. Exhale as you pull your belly in and raise both legs to upright. Repeat this exercise five times, increasing the range of your leg movement by 2 to3 inches with each repetition.

Crisscross

This exercise helps eliminate love handles by stretching and strengthening your waistline, according to Kryzanowska. Lie on your back with your knees tucked against your chest. Bring your hands behind your head with your elbows wide. Flatten your spine against the floor and draw your belly in. Extend your right leg out at a 45-degree angle. Twist your torso to the left, slowly peeling your shoulder blade off the floor. Inhale and then exhale as you switch your legs and your torso twists. Repeat this exercise 10 times to both sides.

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Joseph Pilates is the originator of the exercise moves that bear his name. Since their origin just after World War I, the core-based Pilates has become known for working the abdominal muscles. Many ab exercisers are based on the Pilates principles. Before spending money on any of these, check with your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough for this type of workout.

The Pilates Ab Exerciser

Both Bally and Everlast have made Pilates Ab Exercisers. Though neither is now being produced, both can be found for purchase on the Internet. These two pieces of equipment look the same and are simple to use for strength training that specifically tightens your abdominal muscles with only a few minutes of exercise each day. Each has an adjustable strap for users of all heights and include a guide to moves that can be done with the Ab Exerciser.

The Reformer

The Reformer is the main piece of Pilates equipment that is used to sculpt your body and especially your abdominal muscles. This exerciser is constructed to conform to the original machine created by Joseph Pilates. It’s made to be used at home and many of them can even fit under your bed. The Reformer comes with instructions on how to do ab tightening moves. Keep in mind, however, that even the simplest Reformer can cost more than $1,000.

Other Options

It is possible to purchase an entire selection of Pilates abdominal exercise equipment for much less than the cost of The Reformer if you want to get a little creative. Fitness balls — which you can purchase at your local department store for as little as $20 — can be used to work your stomach muscles through balance or to enhance crunches. Resistance tubing and bands are also in that same low price range and will help strengthen your abs when used with Pilates moves.

On Your Own

The entire principle of Pilates is based on strengthening your core, the center of which is the abdomen. You can do many Pilates moves without any special equipment. Exercise instructions that will help to flatten your abs are available on free websites such as Balanced Body. You can also take classes at many health and fitness centers if your area does not have a Pilates studio.

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The truth about abs and the training you do for them is not working because the abs are part of the bodies core. And the core is the seat of your bodies power. Arthor Saxon said the loins or the core is the seat of power, the lower back, sides of the waist, and the hips. And he should know. He bent press over three hundred pounds. And that is enough for me.

A man’s waist is suppose to be thick and strong just look at pictures of guys like Saxon, Arco, Hackenschmidt, Jowett, The Great Apollon, Eugene Sandow and Thomas Inch and the weights these guys were lifting back in the early 1900’s. These guys did not use belts and support gear. No crunches and ab machines. Train your waist hard and heavy like it was meant to be trained.

The statues of Hercules by Michelangelo to see what I am talking about. Thick and dense muscle. I promise you that the power look that gives you is not created by endless sets and reps of crunches. The guys of the past like Saxon and Inch trained alot of one handed lifts. The bent press, one handed lift. The swing, one handed lift. The one handed deadlift, the one handed snatch, the one handed presses with a heavy dumbbell. There was a lot of lifting over head from the floor. As you can see full body movements.

The snatch, the clean and jerk, Turkish get ups, side press, the bent press, the overhead press. All these exercises developed a thick and dense muscular waist that was as strong as it looked. If you lift over three hundred pounds in the bent press like Saxon did then you are going to have a strong waist no questions asked. The old timers knew the truth about abs, train the core. Train the core muscles exercises heavy, like Otto Arco doing a Turkish get up with 175 pound barbell in the early 1900’s.

A v taper is nice but not when the waist is small and thin. A man’s waist is suppose to be strong and powerful built on endless amounts of time lifting heavy with full body exercises.

You will get bigger shoulders from lifting big weights overhead and bigger shoulders help to create the v taper without giving up the powerful waist. And how did you build those bigger shoulders, by presses overhead, and that will cause a thick and powerful waist. One exercise and two benifits. So what are you waiting on. Starting lifting from the floor to overhead today for a powerful core and now you know the truth about the abs.

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