Ab Workouts

A few people have asked me what I do for abs, so I'll post some good links here! There are so many things you can do without workout equipment to strengthen the core! I like to do abs about 3x a week. Normally my trainer has me doing them on my cardio only days.

My personal favorite are hanging leg raises. There are two ways to do them. I don't have the arm strength yet to do them completely hanging, so I do them on a parallel bar. Most gyms have this equipment available.I do 3 sets of 12 with my legs going straight out and 3 sets of 12 lifting my knees.

If you have access to an exercise ball, pull ins are freaking awesome. I do 3 sets of 20, but if you're just starting out you may not be able to do many. I suggest doing what you are comfortable with and working your way up to doing more.

Decline crunches are nice, but if you have back issues like me, you may not be able to do as many as you would like. I only go about halfway down due to my back cracking, but I set it on the highest incline and can still feel my abs working. If you ever feel pain like that, it's best not to continue that particular exercise. I can normally manage to do three sets of 15 without too many problems.

If you don't have any gym equipment, planks are an awesome way to strengthen your entire core. My trainer started me slow with doing them for 30 seconds, progressing up to a minute and beyond. The most important thing is to make sure your back and butt are completely straight. If you are having issues holding yourself up, put more weight on your elbows and rock back and forth slightly on your toes. This reduces the strain on your back slightly.

There are several varieties of crunches to do if you don't have gym equipment. Don't just do straight crunches 500 times a day. Make sure you have enough variety that you are working your muscles in different ways. Just doing crunches will never give you a flat stomach or a six pack. This article has a lot of good exercises. I highly suggest switching up your routine frequently to make sure you are getting the most out of it and working yourself in different ways. Whether it's adding weight, adding time or reps or simply adding a few more challenging exercises, you can't go wrong with mixing things up occasionally!