Let’s face facts here. We all would love to walk around with our rock hard well-toned abs hanging out. But no matter how much weight you lose or how often you hit the gym, the abs can be a real problem area for many people when it comes to getting into shape. Well today I have a few of the best exercises. Using these are certainly going to hit your abs from all angles. One thing that I will say before we move onto the exercises is that abs are half made in the gym and the other half made in the kitchen. While these exercises will tone and strengthen your abs you will also need to make sure your diet is in check so you can see all the hard work you have done on them.
All these exercises can be done in your own home without any exercise equipment. All you need is your body and a flat surface and you are good to go! These are all fairly basic exercises that are a great way to help your journey of getting tight, toned abs.
Exercise To Tone Abs : The Bicycle
No I am not talking about the one you have in your garage you have used like twice! 🙂
- Lay on your back on the floor, put your hands behind your heads with your fingers gently supporting the weight. You do not want to be yanking on your head. Just use your fingers for support.
- Now lift your left knee towards your chest, at the same time rotate your chest slightly and bring your right shoulder towards your left keen. As you are doing this straighten your right leg.
- Once you do it with the left knee and right shoulder switch to the other side. You do this in a peddling motion. To start with I would do 5 on each side and then try to build up from there.
Exercise To Tone Abs : Vertical Leg Crunch
Anyone who has tried to work their abs has heard of crunches!
- Lie flat on your back with your fingers gently supporting your head (just like before) and remember no pulling on your neck?
- Lift your legs straight up into the air and cross over your feet.
- Now lift your shoulders up of the floor towards your belly button, not all the way just a few inches. You will feel your abs working here!
- Once you get the hang of the exercise, try tensing your abs when you reach the top of the exercise.
- 1 would do 3 sets of 8 repetitions when starting out.
Exercise To Tone Abs : Long Arm Crunch
Here we are with some more crunching action
- Lie flat on your back with your knees bended, but your feet still flat on the floor.
- Put your arms straight and behind your head with your hands touching each other.
- Tighten your abs and lift your shoulders off the floor while keeping your arms as straight as possible.
- Try not to strain your neck when doing this, but if you are struggling with this then just keep one arm behind your head and use your other hand to support your head.
- Starting out try doing 2 or 3 sets of 8-10 repetitions.
Exercise To Tone Abs : Reverse Crunch
Yes, another crunch, but this one is for your lower abs
- Lay flat on the floor and place your hands flat on the floor also just next to your butt.
- Bend the knees around 90 degrees until they are pointing at your chest.
- What you need to do here is contract your abs so that your hips are coming up of the floor and your knees are coming closer to your chest.
- Now this is a very small movement and it’s very easy to just swing your legs rather than using your abs. So make sure it’s your abs doing the work and not your legs swinging.
You can also check out this related article:Â Five Exercises To Tone Up Those Arms