Getting Abs
If you want to develop a ripped midsection, you will need to perform the best exercises for the abdominal area. These exercises include movements for the upper and lower abs, as well as the obliques. Here are the top 5 ab exercises in no particular order.
Crunches - This is the most basic
Top 5 Ab Exercises
of the top 5 ab exercises. To do them you simply lie down on your back and raise your upper body a little using the abs. To do them correctly you must concentrate on contracting the ab muscles on every rep. Crunches are usually done on a flat surface like a bench or mat. However, performing them on a core ball will allow for a deep stretch in the abs at the bottom of every repetition. You can add a twist to alternating sides on crunches to hit the ab/oblique area. You can also add some resistance by holding a light medicine ball.
Leg Raises - These will target the lower abs and are certainly among the top five abdominal exercises. Doing them involves raising the legs to activate the lower abdominal muscles. You can do them while hanging from an overhead bar, while on a back-supported piece of equipment specifically made for doing them, while seated on the edge of a bench, or while lying on a bench.
Decline Sit-ups - One of the top 5 ab exercises is to perform sit-ups on a declined bench. You get on a declined ab bench, then raise the upper body using the ab and hip flexor muscles. Doing decline sit-ups will give you a much better ab workout than performing normal sit-ups will. This is one of the best exercises for twisting to each side on alternating reps on. This is another exercise you can use a medicine ball on for added resistance.
Side Bends - If you want to target the obliques, side bends are one of the top 5 ab exercises. The obliques are the muscles on the sides of the midsection and should be trained for optimal abdominal development. To do them you bend to the side with weight held on the opposing side. These are best done with dumbbells or cables.
Ab Roll-ups - This is among the top five ab exercises because it will work the abs in a different way than other abdominal exercises. The most popular way to do this exercise is to use an ab wheel (a small wheel with handles on each side). You grip the handles with your knees on a mat and roll the wheel forward - lowering your body until it's cloor to the floor. You then return to the starting position using the ab muscles. You can also do ab roll-ups with a core ball by putting your arms on the ball and rolling it forward.
On all of the best 5 ab exercises you should do high reps on all of your sets. While you want to develop the abs, you don't necessarily want to train them overly heavy. High rep sets are perfect for the abs to build the muscles without going to the point where they appear "blocky".
You can also try performing supersets on most of the five greatest ab exercises. When you do crunches on a core ball with a medicine ball, you can drop the ball when you reach failure and continue doing reps with no weight. Another one I like is to do a set of hanging leg raises followed immediately by a set of leg raises from the edge of a bench. You also perform drop sets on side bends. Doing any of these things will add high intensity to your ab workouts.
If you take advantage of the top 5 ab exercises, you will almost certainly see great results.
