Work Your Abs To Exhaustion With These 5 Exercises

3. BICYCLE CRUNCH 

• Lie on the floor on your back with the hands behind the head and then raise the legs and bend them at 90 degrees.
• Switch both sides by bringing the left elbow to the right knee and the right elbow to the left knee. Do that for one minute.
• Strive to hold the crunch position counting to two on both sides to elicit a slower and more concentrated effect.

By doing this exercise you stimulate all the three areas simultaneously. It combines the standard crunch, the side to side movement which stimulated the oblique muscles and the reverse crunch which stimulated the lower ab area.

4. CROSS CRUNCH

• Lie on the back with your legs and arms spread out diagonally in the form of an ‘X’.
• Keep the legs and arms straight, bring the left hand to the right foot, then the right hand to the left foot, lift the head, neck, and shoulder off the floor.
• You’ve done one rep. Do one set of 10 reps total.

This is a very simple movement, it’s very safe since you are fully supported on the floor. When the legs rise off the ground, you have stimulated the lower ab area. And since you do that at a certain angle, you target the obliques and rectus abdominis too.

5. ROLLOUT WITH A SWISS BALL

• Kneel on a mat and place the hands on a Swiss ball.
• Keep the back rigid and straight and the abs tightened and then start rolling the ball as far away from you as you possibly can and then return slowly to the starting position.
• Strive to do 2 sets of 10 rollouts.

This exercise is very similar to the ab-wheel rollout, however, it’s been proven to be a lot easier and safer for the lower back area. It stimulates the rectus abdominis since you are only moving in one plane. If you like to add more difficulty to the movement, start rolling out at an angle of 45 degrees to the right and left which will target the obliques.

                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                    

This article originally appeared on : fitnessandpower.com