10 Best Ab Exercises

Want to know the best ab exercises? The American Council on Exercise performed a study to determine the most effective ab exercises.

I personally use a lot of these different exercises. My personal favorites are Bicycles, Plank, and exercises in the Captain's chair. You might like some of the others better, so that's why I am going to list all the exercises here for you to choose from.

Remember, ab exercises cannot spot tone your abs. If you incorporate these exercises with an effective diet, you can walk away with some sexy abs. We recommend checking out The Abs Diet if you really want to jump start your diet and exercise program.

And the 10 Best Ab Exercises Are...

Bicycles

Coming in at number 1 is one of my personal favorites, the bicycle. Working the rectus abdominus (6 pack) and the obliques for a complete ab workout.

With your back on the floor, places you hands to the side of your head near your ears. Extend one leg while bending one knee. At the same time, twist the opposite elbow towards you bent knee. For example, if you are bending your right knee, bring your left elbow towards your kneew and then switch. Your legs should never touch the ground and the higher you extend your leg, the harder it is. Do 25 each side and you will feel your muscles burning.

Leg Raise

Also known as the Captain's Chair leg raise, it is the second most effective move for both the obliques and rectus abdominis.

Stand on the captain's chair and grab hold of the handles. Jump up so your back is flat on teh pad. Let your legs hang down. Then, bend you knees and lift them towards your stomach. Then slowly lower them down. Do not swing your legs or the momentum will not get you good results. If you want more of a challenge, try keeping your legs straight. 10-15 reps for 3 sets should kick your butt.

Exercise Ball Crunch

Number three on our best ab exercises list for the rectus abdominus.

Place you exercise ball on the ground and sit on it. Slide down so that the ball is resting in the small of your lower back. This will provide the best support. Brings your hands up by your ears with your elbows pointing outwards. You are now going to contract your stomch muscles and curl your upper body towards your knees. Your back should come off the medicine ball a bit. Then go back to the orginal position.

This might be a bit difficult at first. Trying to keep yourself stabilized on an exercise ball is a workout enough for your abs. This really makes this exercise so much more benefitical. 15-20 reps for 3 sets is always a good start.

Vertical Leg Crunch

Lay down on the ground or on a workout mat. Place your hands palm down by your side for support and stability. Crunch your stomach muscle by lifting the top half of your body towards your legs. You should get your shoulder blades off the floor and then comes back down slowly and evenly. Repeat for 15-20 reps for 3 sets.

Torso Track

Be careful with this exercise as it can hurt your back if not done properly. If you have a weak lowr back, I would recommend staying away from this exercise. This exercise is similar to the ab wheel.

From a kneeeling position, take hold of the handles. Tighten your muscles and make sure to keep breathing through the exercise. Slide forard as if you are going into a push-up position from your knees, and then slide back to the starting position. This exercise requires that you have some strength in the beginning. Some of you might be able to roll forward, but not be able to get back.

Long Arm Crunch

Number six on our list of the 10 best ab exercises is the long arm crunch, great for your upper abs.

Lay on the floor and bend your knee. Extend your arms up over your head. Keeping your arms extended, contrat your abdominal muscles so that your shouler blades come off the floor and then slowly lower yourself back down. if this is too much for your neck, you can try just regular crunches with your hands behind your head, or you can try having one arm extended while the other is behind your head.

Reverse Crunch

Reverse crunches are great. Lay on your back and bend your knees. place your hands flat on the floor palm down for balance and support. Contract you abs and lift your legs up off the fllor and bring them towards your chest. Then, slowly lower your legs back down to the floor. Avoid swinging your legs or jsut dropping your legs back down to the floor for a more effective workout. Try and concentrate on using those abs.

Full Vertical Crunch

Kind of like the verticle leg crunch, except your are not going to cross you legs at the top and you will be keeping your legs as straight as possible. Also, you will be lifting the top half of your torso off the ground while reaching your heel towards the ceiling so your butt comes off the ground a bit. Then relax back down.

Ab Rocker or Ab Roller

I think everyone I know had one of these. But it turns out that they were really good at working the abs.

There really isn't a lot to ab rocker. It put you in the right position from the get go. Just sit down, place your hand on the handle bars and contract your stomach muscle. 1-3 sets of 15-20 reps work wonders. Do not use momentum to swing into position and do not your arm muscles to push the handles down. We only want to use the abdominal muscles, so make sure you concentrate on contracting them. I do not know if this is one of my best ab exercises, but it made their list. So who am I to judge.

Plank And last but not least, another one of my favorite best ab exercises, the Plank. Not only is it great for you abs, but also builds strength in your back.

Lay face down and lift your body up on to your elbows. Lift your feet off the ground by balancing on the tips of your toes. Keep your back straight, butt down, and head looking straight down. Hold for 30-60 seconds and release. You should feel your muscle pulsing with this one. It's almost like a push-up position except that your are on your elbows instead of your hands.

And there you have it. The 10 best ab exercises according to the American Council on Exercise. You can find more intense ab exercieses at the 6 pack abs page of our website.