Exercises are the most precise and accurate way of gaining a perfect body figure. Exercise does not only add to the aesthetic appearance of the body but also helps in achieving a healthy and robust mind with healthy living.
The traditional practice of six-pack training is very complicated, which needs long workouts, but the best exercises for six-packs are those which you can practice repeatedly.
While aiming for gym workout or workout for abs, you must keep in your mind four basic core muscles:
1. Rectus abdominal (six-pack muscle which is the outer most layer of abs)
2. Transverse abdominal
3. Internal obliques
4. External obliques
If you want to achieve your goal of perfect abs, then you must perform those activities and exercises which involve all these muscle groups in your work out plan.
In the following section of this article, you will get to know about the best abs exercise which you can choose and practice with proper technique.
Jackknife Sit-Ups
The primary targets of this exercise are lower and upper abdominal muscles.
How to Perform Jackknife Sit-Ups?
· First of all, lie flat on the ground with face towards ceiling and legs extended (straight) in front of you.
· For support, place your hands at your body sides on the ground.
· Now raise your both legs up, by doing a flexion on your lower abs, until they get perpendicular to the surface of the floor
· Now, raise your torso and both shoulders off the floor in a curling movement by stabilizing your back on the floor
· Now try to maintain some tension as you bring your lower legs back to starting position. Bring the shoulders and torso to the initial position as well. Avoid rocking back and forth.
Side Sit-Ups (Assisted-Reverse)
The primary targets of this exercise are transverse abdominals and obliques muscles.
How to Perform Side Sit-Ups?
· Lie flat on the ground by face towards the ceiling.
· Put your maximum weight on your left hip with legs kept in the air at an angle of 45 degrees.
· For support, place your left forearm on the ground.
· Now start bending your knees by bringing them back towards your chest.
· While bending knees, try to lift your chest up as well.
· After one repetition, bring the body to an initial position.
Sit-Ups
The main aim of this exercise is the upper abdominal muscles.
How to Perform Sit-Ups?
· Lie flat on the ground on your back,
· Flex your knees and secure your legs under some support or any heavy furniture.
· Now place your hands over your chest.
· Now start moving your torso by doing flexion of your abdominals.
· Almost gain a sitting position.
· Now retain tension on the abs by slowly lowering your torso to the initial position.
· Maintain a controlled movement throughout the exercise.
· Avoid the movements of rocking back and forth.
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Bent Leg V-Ups
The primary target muscles in this exercise are transverse abdominals and six-packs (rectus abdominals).
How to Perform Bent Leg V-Ups?
· Start by lying straight on your back.
· Keep your legs in the air at the angle of 90 degrees (tibia parallel to the ground)
· Clasp your hands over your chest
· Now start moving.
· In one movement, straight your legs while lifting your torso up, extend your arms and try to reach your toes with your hand.
· After the completion of one movement, come back to the initial position, and repeat the technique.
Leg Raises
The primary target muscle in this exercise is the lower abdominal muscle.
How to Perform Leg Raises?
· Start by lying straight on the floor with face facing upwards.
· Extend your legs and place your hands on the floor at the side of your body for having support.
· Start to raise your leg in an extended position (don’t bend the knee) by doing flexion on your lower abdominal muscles and keep raising until they get perpendicular to the ground.
· At this point, try to retain the maximum tension in your legs and move to the initial position.
· Try to perform the exercise in a controlled manner and don’t sway your legs from the required angle.
Reach Clap with Leg Raise
The primary target muscles in this core exercise are transverse abdominal and rectus abdominal.
How to Perform Reach Clap with Leg Raise?
· Lie on your back at the ground by placing your arms on your side.
· Lift your legs in the air at an angle of 45 degrees
· Now raise up the legs to a level of hips, curl your body off the surface of the floor.
· Now bring your hands forward for clapping behind the knees.
· At the end of the movement, return back to the initial position.
· Perform the exercise in a controlled manner with smooth movement and rhythm.
Knees-in or Lower Ab Workout
The primary target muscles in this exercise are lower abdominals.
How to Perform Knees-in or Lower Ab Workout ?
· Start by sitting on the edge of any exercise bench or chair.
· Extend (straighten) your legs in front of you.
· Hold with your hands on the side of the chair or bench for having body support.
· Now pull your knees towards your chest together until they can’t go in further.
· Now try to maintain maximum tension in this position on your lower abdominal muscles.
· At the end of one whole movement, return to the initial position and perform the exercise accurately with smooth movements.
Toe Reaching (Alternate-Toes):
The primary target muscles in this exercise are transverse abdominal, internal oblique, and external oblique.
How to Perform Toe Reaching (Alternate-Toes) ?
· Start by lying on your back.
· Extend your legs in the air at an angle of 45 degrees.
· Straighten your arms out at the level of your shoulders on the floor.
· Now raise your leg up straight by lifting your torso and touching your toes with the alternating hand.
· At the end of the movement, return to the initial position and repeat the exercise.
You can also perform this exercise by lifting your legs and arms up and touching your toes with both hands simultaneously. In this technique, you will not need to perform alternating movements with hands, arms, and legs, and it will target upper and lower abdominal muscles.
Ab Crunches and Ab Rollers
The primary target muscle in this abs workout is upper abdominals.
How to Perform Ab Crunches and Ab Rollers ?
· The most common exercise for abs
· Start with lying on your back with knees bent
· Place your hands across your chest
· Now try to raise your torso and shoulders up in a curling manner without actually increasing the lower back from the surface of the floor
· Now try to retain the maximum tension in your abdominals. At the end of the movement, bring the body to an initial position and repeat the technique
· Try to maintain a proper position and controlled movement throughout the exercise.
Windshield Wipers in Lying
The primary target muscles in this abs exercise are transverse abdominals, internal oblique, external oblique, and rectus abdominals.
How to Perform Windshield Wipers in Lying?
· Start the exercise by sitting on your tailbone
· Keep your upper body propped up at your forearms
· Lift the legs in the air and rotate towards the top and right corner of the mat on the floor
· Gradually and without movement of the upper body, arch over and up to the top corner of the left side of the mat
· At the end of the movement, bring the body to an initial position.
· Repeat the exercise as prescribed
Reverse Crunches
Upper and lower abdominal muscles are the targeted muscles in this six-pack abs exercise.
How to Perform Reverse Crunches?
· Start by lying straight on the floor with face facing upward.
· Extend your legs.
· For the purpose of support, place your hands and arms at the side of your body.
· Now slowly flex your legs and bring them towards the chest.
· Once you have bent your knees with your chest, raise the torso and shoulders off the floor as far as possible while maintaining a curling movement.
· Don’t raise your back off the floor.
· In the end, bring your body to the initial position.
Russian Twists (Exercises for Love Handles)
Internal obliques, external obliques, and transverse abdominals are the targeted muscle of this exercise.
How to Perform Russian Twists?
· Start by sitting on your tailbone on the ground.
· Bend your legs, elevate your tibia (shins) parallel to the ground, cross your ankles, clasp your hands at your chest, lean back your torso, and rotate to your left side.
· Now squeeze your abdominal muscles and perform a rotation on the upper body to your right side.
· At the end of the movement, return back to the initial position.
· Repeat the movements with accurate technique, proper posture, and with controlled movements.
Side Plank Dips
The primary muscles for this exercise are transverse abs and obliques.
How to Perform Side Plank Dips?
· Start with the left side plank.
· Put your forearms on the floor in a parallel position to the ground, keep your elbows under the shoulders, place your right hand over your hips, and stack your right leg on the top of your left leg.
· Now start lowering your hips toward the floor for a couple of inches.
· After going down, come back upwards.
· At the end of the movement, return to the beginning position and repeat the whole technique in a controlled manner with proper positioning.
Planks
The only targeted muscle for this exercise is transverse abdominal.
How to Perform Planks?
· Start by getting into a low plank position.
· Start by involving all four limbs and gradually lower down yourself onto your forearms, keep your elbows under your shoulders, extend the legs behind your body, balance yourself on the balls of your feet and form a straight line from the area of the head to the heels.
· Now slightly gaze in the front of your face, try to engage your abdominals, and keep the position for almost 30 seconds at least.
· At the end of the movement, relax, and repeat again.
Nutrition and Diet for Abs
· While opting for any specific exercise and muscle group, first and the foremost factor is your diet. For a perfect look of your six packs, you need to cut down on your fats. Try to burn the carbs in your diet instead of drastically cutting on it.
· Keep the intake of your carbs constant until the abs are properly visible because you need them to perform the exercises with energy and stamina.
· The biggest mistake which beginners make is to drastically cut down on their carbs intake, which leads to the skinny fat syndrome in which your force and energy are reduced instead of burning the right amount of fat.
· In your diet, increase the protein content by an estimated 50 to 60 grams of proteins and 10 to 20 grams of amino acids per day with supplementation.
· Increase the intake of vegetables in your diet.
· For the reduction of excess water weight in the body, try to add food products as cranberry, uva ursi, and green tea extracts, which are diuretic-based foods.
· Make sure to burn the higher amount of fat by actively engaging in diet planning along with workout.
· While being on a diet, make sure to avoid foods and drinks which contain high sugar content as cold drinks and beverages, or fatty foods.
· Make a proper schedule of eating.
· Instead of eating full meals 3 times a day, try to eat small proportions of the meals throughout the day.
· Don’t starve.
How to Train?
For the purpose of training, you need to be serious about your routine and workout plan. Start by several short, rest training programs by training your muscles.
The mass building comes on a later stage once you have cut the fat content of your body, and the maintenance phase has been achieved after it, you will observe worth it results.
The best approach for training is:
· Four exercises, four sets, a minimum of 12 repetitions per body part.
· According to your body stamina and capacity, you are advised to engage in 5 or 6 sets, and if still, it isn’t very uncomfortable for you, then you can increase it further.
When you are doing a workout for the abs, then you need to show patience because it is a time taking and high energy-consuming procedure.
Try to challenge yourself with at least 4 counts per repetitions for your abs daily.