4 Great Core Exercises To Help Flatten Your Abs
Everyone wants flatter abs, and a lot of people try to “spot reduce” by doing ab exercises to try to get them. The problem is, you aren’t going to lose fat from your midsection by doing 1,000 crunches. It’s just not going to happen.
What I like to do instead is Core Exercises. You see, you need to achieve overall fat loss before you will see the results you want around your abs. In order to do this, you need more complete workouts. By doing core exercises, you will find that you are working more than just your abs, which are very small muscles compared to most others in your body. By working larger muscles, and muscle groups, you are far more likely to see the fat loss results you are aiming for.
7 Reasons Core Exercises are good for your personal training routine:
- Core exercises improve your balance and stability
- Core exercises don’t require specialized bulky equipment
- Core exercises can help tone your abs
- Stronger core muscles make it easier to do almost all other physical activities
- Core exercises can be done at your own pace
- Core exercises can be done from the comfort of your own home
- Core exercises can help you reach plenty of your other fitness goals
Now it’s time for the workout. Perform the following as a giant set. A giant set means you go from one exercise to the next with no rest between exercises. After the last exercise (double crunch), rest 1-2 minutes and repeat. Perform 3 total giant sets for as many reps as possible on each exercise.
Breathe freely and deeply during each exercise. Focus on tightening your deepest abdominal muscle — the transversus abdominis — during each exercise. This is the muscle you feel contracting when you cough.
Click on the exercise name to see a video demonstration of the exercise.
FITBALL CRUNCH
Start – From a seated position on the ball, walk your feet out until the ball is fully supporting your mid to lower back region. Cross your arms over your chest or place your finger tips lightly on the sides of your head.
Movement – Contracting the abdominals, raise your upper body about half way up until you feel a full contraction. Slowly return to the starting position.
Key points – Exhale while raising your body. Inhale while returning to the starting position. Be sure to keep your head and neck relaxed.
Caution – The ball should not roll forward and back – it should remain stationary. For added support spread your feet wide the first time you try the exercise.
REVERSE AB CURL
This exercise is for the lower abdominal region and is very challenging.
Place all your focus on the lower abdominal area contracting. It may be difficult to initially concentrate on the area, but once you master the movement with the correct mental concentration, you’ll really feel the area being worked
Start - Begin on your back on a mat with your back relaxed and your hands on the floor by your hips. Raise your legs into the air and focus on keeping your upper back pressed into the floor throughout the exercise.
Movement – Contracting your abs, raise your butt and gently roll your hips off the floor, stopping when you feel a full contraction of your abdominals and can no longer lift your hips. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat.
Key points – Exhale while lifting your hips. Inhale while returning to the starting position.
Caution – Do not swing your legs.
BICYCLE MANEUVER
Research consistently rates the Bicycle Maneuver as one of the most effective abdominal exercises.
Start – Lie on your back on a mat keeping your lower back in a comfortable position. Place your finger tips lightly on the sides of your head and lift your knees up to about a 45 degree angle.
Movement - Slowly go through a bicycle pedaling motion alternating your left elbow to your right knee, then your right elbow to your left knee.
Key points – Your legs and shoulders should remain elevated from the floor during this exercise and the lower to the ground that your legs bicycle the harder your abs have to work.
Caution – Do not pull on your head and neck during this exercise. Do not perform this activity if it puts any strain on your lower back.
DOUBLE CRUNCH
I like the double crunch exercise because if performed correctly, you can isolate the lower and upper region of the abdominals. Please note, contrary to popular belief, we do not have separate upper and lower abs.
Start – Lie on the floor face up. Bend your knees until your legs are at a 45 degree angle with both feet on the floor. Your back should be comfortably relaxed on the floor. Place your finger tips lightly on the sides of your head or have your hands crossed over your chest.
Movement - Contracting your abdominals, raise your head and legs off the floor toward one another. Slowly return to the starting position stopping just short of your shoulders and feet touching the floor.
Key points – Exhale while rising up. Inhale while returning to the starting position.
Caution – Keep your eyes on the ceiling to avoid pulling with your neck. Your hands should not be used to lift the head or assist in the movement.
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These all sound great! There is no better feeling than working out your abs. I don’t think there is a burn quite like it. I’ll have to take these into my morning workout tomorrow! Thanks for sharing!
nice post….sharing is sexy..:)
Nice post and Thanks a lot for sharing your ideas. Its quite necessary to follow this type of exercise regime with nutritional food for sustainable weight loss. As abs is one of the area which certainly require more workout in most of the cases. Keep sharing !!!
great article… i must say you have a really good blog
Too many people forgot about working out the core
One must remember in order to get abs you can see you must lose weight as well as work your abs. This post mentions that but weight can be lost by exercise and diet. I advise doing circuit training which can work that area and get more cardio in the exercise, which would lose more weight and show off the abs more.
http://feelinggoodinthecollegehood.blogspot.com/search/label/Exercise
I absolutely agree with you about using circuit training.
I’ve been commenting as Trikkerguy which Is in fact is what I’ve been doing for almost 9 years, trikking. The trikke gets me outside, it takes me places while working all of my muscles, including the core big time. I also use weights, more specific, Hammer equipment which I started using January. The change IMO was needed after using all free weights for many years, the body needs to be stressed in different ways. Bottom line crunches and all of the other core exercises are great, but gets real boring quick, get outside, ride on something to the gym, or aywhere, but ride!
I absolutely agree. I think you need to change your routine/activities often in order to keep getting the desired effects. Plus, it helps to keep everything entertaining.
I have looked into getting one of the trikkes myself, but haven’t tried them yet.
There are thousands of comments on the trikke both positive and negative on what was “Trikke Talk”, now “Ridephoria”. Most agree that it’s addictive and doesn’t feel like exercise, it’s one of the few human powered vehicles that works all of your muscles including the core, IMO a great cross trainer that gets you out doors taking you places.
I got one last week. I’ll be posting about it soon, still getting the hang of it. But having a blast doing it.
Dancing and trikking have allot in common since your moving your whole body as opposed to sitting on a bicycle and just spinning your legs. The key is to lean with the trikke which demands trust of the machine, the more you lean and use your legs similar to skating, the faster you go. Follow the column with your body leaning the trikke, practice by pushing the handle bar down left and right which will lean the trikke, again trusting the trikkes ability to lean is the most important step. You’ll soon find your body responding without thinking about it as you go places by working all of your muscles, including your core big time.
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Anyone starting an exercise program should get a physical check up, once you get the OK, go for it. Do not let the age thing stop you, besides it’s an excuse like I don’t have enough time. Even after cancer most can improve their condition, you just need self induced motivation. Working out is the bodies youth waking up.
in order to show your abs, a man needs to be around 9% bodyfat and a women around 14% bodyfat (men typically carry excess weight around their waist while women carry it in their lower body)… but core excercises are important and even if you can’t show the abs, you’ll be protecting your lower back from injury. If you want to get to a low bodyfat %, eat five to six meals per day 2 1/2 to 3 hours apart and eat protein (up to 50 grams per meal) along with veggies for three of the meals and you can substitute two of the meals with a protein shake. If you do this, you will supercharge your metabolism… on the other hand, if you only eat a couple meals per day, regardless of the quality of what you are eating, your metabolism will slow to a crawl and you will store fat. Finally, a big key is to drink plenty of water… 1 gallon per day is recommended to flush the fat! Obviously some type of physical activity is important!!
Great read nice job!!
It’s so funny that you mention people wanting to lose fat from their mid sections. I just wrote a blog post about that specific thing and how people think they can “target” the weight. However, it’s impossible to do that, you lose weight all over your body not just your stomach. It would be funny though to see a fat person with 8 pack abs, and a skinny mid section. How weird would that look? Anyways I just posted a killer blog post on how sunscreen causes skin cancer, it’s pretty interesting. Damn those free radicals in zinc oxide!
Study after study proves resistance training burns more calories than most other forms of exercise. Lifting weights will help to burn calories up to 36 hours later. That’s not to say cut down on aerobic activities, cross training is the best way to go IMO. From Yahoo Sports, The Post Game dated June 19 there are some great ab exercises without getting on the floor, but the key is concentrating on your whole body without becoming a fanatic on certain parts of you.
can always find time for a good ab workout. I like the ab workouts at bodyfitnest.com
Howdy! This post could not be written any better!
Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate!
He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him.
Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
Core exercises are also vital as you get older. They are the difference in keeping you on your feet for longer.