Unorthodox yet Most Effective Exercises for Abs

Unorthodox yet Most Effective Exercises for Abs

Before we get into the exercises for abs let me first cover the most crucial part of getting a shredded mid-section; diet. You can do endless repetitions of crunches but if your nutrition plan isn’t set in place, you’ll be wasting your time which will become clear as you simply won’t notice any results from all your efforts. There are a few reputable programs out there with solid diet information that will help you achieve you goals.

There are a ton of exercises for abs and variations of ab exercises that you can perform that will target your abs. However, what I’m about to tell you is not what most would expect for ab training. Many people think that endless crunches, sit ups or targeted ab machines will do the trick and they will indeed work to some degree. But the best way to really hit your abdominal muscles is by doing powerlifting movements. In theory, every exercise you perform in the gym will work your abs as you should be keeping your stomach region tight throughout each movement. These muscles act as a stabilizer allowing you to focus on proper form and also preventing lower back strain or injury.

A few basic powerlifting movements that also serve as great exercises for abs are squats, deadlifts and bench press. You’re entire body is working to some degree during these lifts, especially with squats and deadlifts. But your core is working extremely hard during these exercises. You should be keeping your stomach muscles (and actually your entire body) tight throughout these lifts. These are powerful lifts and you’re pushing a lot of weight overloading your ab muscles including your entire core. Aside from powerlifting movements, you’ll also notice your abs being forced into contraction when doing cable pushdowns or rope extensions for triceps.

Effective Exercises for Abs

I know what you’re thinking; I’m not saying you need to become a competitive powerlifter. But a tremendous part of losing body fat and getting shredded abs is building muscle. So it makes perfect sense to hit all of your muscles intensely and effectively. Doing compound movements that recruit a series of muscle fibers is a sure means of doing that, and your abdominals will certainly be recruited. This also doesn’t mean you have to lift a ton of weight. Sure, you want to get stronger, but you need to use a weight that you can perform the exercise with proper form. I’m not advising against performing targeted ab exercises crunches, ab machines and so forth. But if you’re frustrated with the lack of results you’ve gotten from standard ab workouts doing more of them is probably not the answer. Rather, it may be time to change up your routine a little. Give these a try for exercises for abs.