Abdominal Exercises - What You Need To Know

Abdominal exercises are one of the most talk about topics in the fitness industry. Many times at the gym, I hear people ask about what the best ab workout is. The market is flooded with ab machines or gadgets as everyone seeks to have ripped or six pack abs.

Unbeknownst to many people, most of the abdominal exercises found on the internet, in magazines, fitness books, etc are not the best way to achieve six pack abs. Most people already have some decent abs hidden by excess stomach fat. The key to having visible six pack abs is to lose excess belly fat that is covering them up.

You should not focus on abdominal exercises unless you have low body fat. Instead, you should concentrate on losing body fat through a combination of high intensity and full body workout. Exercises that work large muscle groups of the chest, back and legs are the most effective for losing belly fat. Performing these multi-joint exercises in high intensity super-set, tri-set or circuit fashion maximizes your metabolism and accelerates fat burning.

What is another common mistake that most people make when performing abdominal specific exercises? They do hundreds of crunches, sit ups and other useless ab exercises that provide the little resistance to work against. If you can do more than 20-25 reps of any ab exercises, it means those exercises do not give enough resistance to the abs and so, don't waste your time! Abdominal exercises that can only be performed in the 6-15 rep range per set provide sufficient resistance for developing visible abs.

Generally, higher resistance abdominal exercises that provide a much larger stimulus to the abs come in the form of workouts that involve raising or curling the legs and pelvis either upward or inward closer to the trunk. These exercises include hanging leg raises or knee raises using a "pelvic curl up" and lying hip thrusts. It is not surprising that the same people can do 50 or 100 crunches but can't even complete more than 2 or 3 properly executed hanging leg raises.

In summary, here are 2 points to bear in mind:

1. If you want ripped or six pack abs, you must lose the excess belly fat FIRST.

2. When it comes to abdominal specific exercises, always choose higher resistance exercises that involve curling or raising the legs and pelvis upward or inward as these are most effective for developing the abs.

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