There are many ways to strengthen your core and make it dynamic. Not all ab workouts are the same. You need to be strategic in your ab exercises if you want to build a strong core. If your goal is to build a strong core, it’s not enough to do a few crunches.
Ab workouts that are varied will help you build a strong core. It is important to choose ab exercises that target all aspects of the core. For long-term results, it is important to use ab exercises that target the entire core and all the smaller muscles that make up our core.
By strengthening the core, we can achieve greater success in all other lifts, sports, and daily life. The core is more than just your six-pack muscles. This means that you should invite your glutes and lower back extensors to the party. He says that training your abs is only half the battle. You need a well-balanced core to stabilize your whole body and make you more athletic.
Let’s take a look at our top ab exercises that you should include in your ab routine. These ab exercises will help build the core strength and dynamicity you desire, as well as improve your ability to do everything else.
The Ab-Strengthening Exercises
Plank
Planks are something you have probably done in your training. But you must ensure that you do them correctly. This means you should not rest on your elbows or toes, with your shoulders and back rounded. The plank is all about tension.
Your core should be squeezed, as you will not have a straight line between your shoulders and your heels. Keep your back straight. Take about one minute to finish your planks. Tensions should be high enough to make it difficult to hold for too long.
Mountain Climbers
This movement will begin just like the plank, but it’s only the beginning. The perfect plank position is where your hands are flat on the ground with your wrists below your shoulders. Keep your knees bent and alternate between your legs. As if you were sprinting, keep your strides in order. To get started, do 3-4 reps in 30 seconds.
Hollow Hold
The hollow body position is a fundamental gymnastics maneuver because it’s very efficient at strengthening core strength and correcting posture. To do this exercise, flex your abs and press your lower back against the ground while you lift your arms and legs high into the air.
This will ensure that you can maintain the correct position throughout the hold, without worrying about spinal flexion which can occur during crunches. You can do up to three to four reps, holding the position for 45 seconds or less.
Bird Dog
Focus is the key to this deceptively difficult ab exercise. This may seem like a simple stretch, but it’s a challenging exercise that requires focus. With both your hands on the ground, take a four-point stance. Your spine should be straight with your shoulders directly above your wrists. Keep your knees in line with your wrists. Keep your neck neutral.
Next, squeeze your abs and raise your opposite leg and arm straight up. Keep your hips and shoulders facing the ground and move slowly to avoid falling. To master balance, you can work on each limb individually if that seems too difficult. You can do 3-4 sets of 8 reps.
Ball Slam
This exercise is not just for ab-burners. It can also be a fun and effective way to burn calories while working out.You should use all of your body to perform the movement. Start by grabbing the ball in a deadlifting position.
Next, lift the ball as high as possible with both your hands and then lift your feet up to triple-extension. Once you have reached the top, drop down into your heels and squat down. Then swing your arms down to smash the ball into the ground.
Off-Center Ab Series
Grab a dumbbell and get to work with this core blitz. To make it more difficult, the series uses the concept of “offset loads”. You can hold a dumbbell with one hand. However, the uneven resistance will continue to try to pull you from the hollow body position. Your abs and obliques need to lock in to prevent that from happening.
Corkscrew Hollow Rock
This corkscrew hollow-rock series will push your abs to a new level. The hollow body position requires you to contract your obliques as you rock. This is the only way to keep your elbows and knees connected. This exercise will force you to use your abs in order to rotate your body. It is a completely different feeling from other ab exercises that often push you against rotation.
Superman Plank
Superman plank is a more challenging version of the standard plank. It introduces a resistance band to pull you off-center. You must be able to lock in your core, fight that band, and balance your plank on one forearm. This is your challenge. It will build strong abs and obliques, as well as challenge your lower back muscles.
Pallof Press
Pallof press uses tension from a cable or band to fire your core muscles, forcing them to work together. The key is to feel the pull of the cable or band. You will need to brace to keep your body in the correct position.
You can make the movement more difficult by standing on your feet and kneeling on either one or both of your knees. Start with three sets of eight reps, regardless of whether you are standing or kneeling, or using a band or cable.
Partner Hollow Body Pallof Games
You don’t need to make core work boring. This game will spice up your core training. Grab a friend and a resistance bracelet. Your goal is to get your partner off-center using the resistance band. Then, challenge them to take on the hollow body position. This is a great way to do some abdominal work with your partner.
Kettlebell Decline Core Crush
To take your standard decline situp to the next level, add a pair of kettlebells to it. This variation of the decline situp will add muscle to your midsection. You can also add an anti-rotational element by raising one dumbbell and keeping the other at your chest.
Three-Step Core Getup
Turkish getup can be a difficult and complicated move to master. If you aren’t ready to lose weight, this simplified version will help. Instead of standing straight up, raise your hips and torso above the ground. You’ll still be moving so you’ll use your glutes and abs as well as your obliques to accomplish this feat. You can start with a light load to get the form down. Then do 3 sets of 8-10 reps.
Cable Crunch
Your abs, like other muscles, need to be challenged by a load in order to grow. So, if you are serious about building your strength and size, don’t limit yourself to just body weight. It doesn’t have to be about lifting heavy weights. You can use moves such as this cable crunch to resistance bands.
This routine has a twist! It also includes static holds to increase tension and stimulate core muscles. You can count up to five seconds for each set. To build your abs, do three sets of count-ups up to five-second holds.
Dragon Flag
A workout that is both incredibly fun and a challenge to your core. You can also use this dragon flag variation to improve your lower body coordination. As you move your legs forward and backward, it mimics a running stride. Be sure to brace your core, and lift your legs high. You can do 3 sets of 8-10 reps with this burner.
Decline Dumbbell Ab Fryer
Samuel’s move puts you on the decline bench. Then, you ask your core to balance you, along with your lower back muscles and obliques, as you keep weight to one side. The weight creates a long lever that tries to rotate your body to the side. Can you stop that? This is the challenge when you do situps all throughout.
Plank Pull
You are already familiar with how to do the plank. You can make it more difficult by adding a dynamic element to your static move by pulling on some weight. This exercise is dual-purpose. It will not only work your core but also challenge your arms and legs.
While isolation moves are great, you will have more success if you mix them up to target multiple muscle groups. You will need to find a good distance to pull your pulls. Then, you should reel off three sets per arm.
Gator Rolls
You can make hollow holds even more challenging by adding movement to them. This animalistic variation can be even more challenging and can help you focus and control.
This exercise will throw you off balance, from the awkward rolls to the rocking maneuver to the offset arm position. You’ll be stronger if you focus on your form. You can try 3 rounds.
Hollow Circuit
To make this hold even more difficult, you can use resistance bands. This workout will shut down your training sessions. You won’t be able to move again.
- Place your body in a hollow position in front of the anchor, keeping your legs straight and your arms out behind you.
- Hold the band in your right hand. Perform 8 straight arm pulldown reps. Pull the band down to your waist by grabbing your left hand.
- Do 8 reps. Now, raise your arm straight up with the band so your arm is parallel to your torso. For 8 seconds, hold.
- Hold for 8 seconds and then perform 8 flutter kicks.
- Continue the series on your left side.
Battle Ropes Core Workout
Your ab work does not have to be added at the end of your workout. Battle rope routine uses core crushing moves for the entire 10-minute duration. Warm up with gentler movements and then you can start twisting and slamming to burn belly fat and build muscle.
L-Sit
Are you ready to do an impressive, abs-centric move? The move can be a hard workout, but once you are comfortable with it you should only practice it once or twice per week.
Russian Twist
The Russian twist is a core move that forces your abs into rotation. It’s easy to do anywhere. If you do it right, your abs will be able to get a good workout even with only body weight.
You can do it with a med ball, dumbbell, or other resistance. However, you have the option to be more creative. You don’t need weights. Do you need weights? Grab a gallon of water and get in a good workout.
Dragon Flag Medball Challenge
This is more than an ab exercise. It’s also a challenge for your core. Because the dragon flag trains your core in an integrated way, your abs, lower back muscles, and glutes must work together to maintain a perfect position.
To make it more challenging, add a medball. All those core muscles will need to work even harder to withstand the extra resistance. Although this is not an easy exercise, it can be fun and a great way to add variety to core training.
Double-Explode, Single-Arm Incline Press
Is a bench press an ab workout? To prevent your torso from rotating off the bench, your core must be fully locked in. This is what happens with the single-arm incline press: Your abs struggle to keep your torso on the bench, while the weight attempts to rotate you downwards.
This is a good way to keep your abs from feeling sore. If you focus on your hips and shoulders straight, you will have a terrible core problem that can lead to you gaining weight.
TRX Reach Row to Perfect Row
These two core functions are key: They’re supposed to create a torso and resist rotation. This TRX move will allow you to do both. It’s a back move that will also fire up your abs. Your core must create rotation when you do the reps that push your body to go as high as possible.
Your core must fight rotation when you do the “perfect” reps. It constantly switches between these two ideas, which is the best part. Samuel, the creator of the move, says that it forces you to work your abs and build stronger mind-muscle connections. It also makes you think about how you use them.
Front Squat
The front squat is the most challenging squat variation. This forces you to engage your core and stabilize the bar in front of you. You can instantly turn your workout into an ab session by adding front squats. They will also help you to hammer your quads and hamstrings.
