Best Abdominal Exercises

Sedentary lifestyle with wrong eating patterns and no exercise causes fat around the abdominal region. Abdominal fat is one of the most stubborn fats to fix. Along with proper diet, you will have to do the best ab exercises, to get back in shape. These exercises will help you not only to get back in shape, but also to stay in shape.

Best Abdominal Exercises at Home

To reduce the flab around the abdomen region, you do not necessarily have to go to the gym. You can do the best abdominal exercises at home as well and get the same, if not better results.

Abdominal Crunch
This is one of the most trusted exercise and hence, also one of the best abdominal exercises for men and women. The steps to do this exercise are:

• Lie flat on the exercise mat, bend your knees and keep your feet on the floor. Make sure your feet are firmly pressed down on the floor.
• Support your neck, by placing your hands behind your neck. The fingers of the hands should be interlocked with each other.
• Contract your abdominal muscles and lift your head, shoulders and back off the floor but your lower back should not be raised.
• It is important that you use the abdominal muscles and not your neck muscles, else you will not get the desired result from the exercise.

Vertical Abdominal Crunch
This exercise helps in working the rectus abdominis and the obliques. Let’s see how to do it:

• Lie on the floor facing the sky, keep your legs extended straight but cross them at the knees.
• Contract the abdominal muscles and lift the shoulder blades off the floor, as if you were to touch your chest to your legs.
• Your legs should not move and like I have mentioned in the previous exercise, you need to work the abdominal muscles and not your neck muscles.
• Slowly lower your shoulders, but do not lower your legs. You may want to read on best exercises to flatten abs.

Abdominal Bicycle
This exercise is rated as one of the best exercise for the abdomen because the exercise works both the rectus abdominis as well as the waist. You may want to read on best ab workout.

• Lie flat on the floor with your hands placed under the head.
• Fold your legs and bring the knees towards your chest.
• Now, lift your head off the floor and move your legs backwards and forwards, as though you were to pedal the bicycle.
• When you are pedaling, you should try to reach the right elbow to the left knee and left elbow to the right knee.

Best Abdominal Exercises with Weights

There are a number of ab exercises, which you can do using weights too. Along with the below mentioned exercises, you can also do the ab crunches with weights. In that case, you will have to place some weight on your abdomen, when you do the exercise.

Leg Raises
This is one of the most effective and best abdominal exercises for women and men alike. It helps in working the lower abdominal as well as the upper abdominal region. The steps to do this lower abdominal exercise are:

• Tie ankle weights to both your legs and lie with your back on the floor. Support your lower back by placing your hands under the lower back.
• Contract the abdominal muscles and raise both your feet off the floor to about eight to ten inches.
• Hold in the position for 5 to 7 seconds and then slowly lower your legs.
• When you are doing this exercise, you will have to make sure that your back is firmly placed on the floor otherwise, you can injure your lower back.

Reverse Crunches
To do this exercise for the lower abdomen, you will needs weights. Read more on best lower ab workout.

• Tie the ankle weights to both your ankles and lie flat on the floor.
• Place your hands next to your buttocks on the floor.
• Slowly lift your feet off the floor and try to bring your knees to your chest. When you are lifting your legs, make sure you do not jerk, else you can injure your lower back.
• Hold in the position for a few seconds and lower your legs. Repeat the exercise.

For more information, read on:

• Abdominal Exercises with Ball
• Abdominal Exercises During Pregnancy

If you are facing any problem, while doing the best abdominal exercises, you should seek professional guidance. Any time while doing the exercise, if you have a cramping feeling, stop doing the exercise immediately. You may not be doing the exercise properly. Talk to your fitness guide, so that he will be able to fix the problem.