Ab Workout ( Do 4 days a week for maximum results)
Only rest when you absolutely must, so take a short (10-15sec) rest between two sets of the same exercise, but none between lower and upper abs. Try to take about 1 second for each rep, except for ab crunches which you do slower (2 secs/rep) for a better contraction and 1/4 crunches which you should do fast (2 reps/sec) because you're hardly moving.
LOWER ABS Reverse Crunch (15 – 30 reps) x 3 This exercise can be done on the ground or on an incline sit-up board. All you need is something behind your head to hold. If you use the incline board, use it with your feet lower than your head. Lying on your back, hold a weight or a chair leg (if lying on the floor) or the foot bar (if using the situp board). Keep the knees slightly bent. Pull your pelvis and legs up so that your knees are above your chest and then return to beginning position.
Vertical Lying Leg Thrusts (15 reps) x 2 Initial position:
Lie on your back. Put your fists under your buttocks to form a cradle. Raise your legs in the air 20-30cm (10-12") off the ground, knees slightly bent. If you feel any strain on your lower back, bend your knees a little more. Raise your head and shoulders off the ground slightly if you can to help keep the abs stressed.
The exercise itself has four phases: 1. Raise your legs until your feet are above your pelvis; focus on contracting the abs. 2. Thrust your heels to the ceiling, breathe out, keep contracting the abs raising the pelvis out of the cradle of your fists. 3. Lower out of the thrust back to your fists, leaving your feet above your pelvis. 4. Lower your legs back to the initial position. Hanging Knee Raises (15-30 reps) x 3 Grab the bar with both hands with a grip a bit wider than your shoulders, cross your ankles and bring your knees up to your chest (or as close as you can get). Your pelvis should rock slightly forward. Pause at the top of the movement for a second and then
slowly lower your knees by relaxing your abs. Don't lower your legs all the way. Repeat the movement using just your abs to raise your knees. Make sure that you don't start swinging. You want your abs to do the work, not momentum. It's important that you don't move your legs too far or your psoas muscle will be doing a lot of work and possibly causing back problems as in a situp. Make sure your pelvis moves, your lower back stays neutral or slightly rounded, not arched, and that your abs are doing the work, not your hips. Sit-Up - Jack Knife ( 8-10 reps) x 2
Lie on the floor with your arms extended fully behind your head and your legs straight. Bend at the waist while raising your legs and arms straight up. Continue until your arms and legs touch each other above your abdomen. Return to the starting position.
UPPER ABS Ab Crunches (15-30 reps) x 3 Lying on your back, put your knees up in the air so that your thighs are at a right angle to your torso, with your knees bent. If you like you can rest your feet on something, like a chair. Put your hands either behind your head or gently touching the sides of your head. Now, slowly raise your shoulders off the ground and try to touch your breastbone to your pelvis, breathing out as you go. If you succeed in touching your breastbone to your pelvis, see a doctor immediately. Although the actual movement will be very small (your upper torso should move through less than 30 degrees) you should try to go as high as possible. Only your spine should bend, your hips should not move. If the hips move, you are exercising the psoas. Do these fairly slowly to avoid using momentum to help. You can increase the difficulty of the exercise by extending your hands out behind your head instead of keeping them at the side or by holding weight plates. Make sure you don't jerk your hands forward to help with the crunch, keep them still. Three Zone Reach Ups (15 reps each position) x 2 Feet flat on the ground with hands out in front of you. The overall motion is to complete a crunch motion while alternating the hand destination. Part 1: Brings hands up over the top of your knees. Part 2: Bring hands past the right side of your legs Part 3: Bring hands past the left side Part 4: Shoot hands straight up in to the air while raising your lower back and shoulders off the floor
1/4 Crunches (30 reps) x 3 Same as an ab crunch except that you raise your shoulder up, instead of pulling them toward your pelvis. You can do these quickly, in fact it's hard to do them any other way. Cross-Knee Crunches (15-30 reps) x 3 Like ab crunches, take the lying, bent-knee position, but this time crunch diagonally so that you try to touch each shoulder to the opposite hip alternately. At the top position, one shoulder and one hip should be off the ground.
Do not skip these ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Back Extensions ( 15-30 reps) x 2 Lie face down with hands either behind the back or lightly cradling the head. Lift upper body off the ground a few inches, keeping head and neck in alignment. For a challenge, then lift feet off the ground keeping legs straight (knees don't have to be together), hold for 2-4 counts and lower. Balancing Ab Twist ( 15-30 reps) x 3 Begin by lying on your side and push up so that your body is supported by right arm, feet stacked. Straighten left arm and balance for a moment, then sweep the left arm down and twist the body, turning it towards the floor while keeping the rest of the body in place. Squeeze the abs and hold for 2 seconds, then go back to starting position.
Bridge with Leg Lift ( 15-30 reps) x 3 Lie face up on the floor, knees bent. Push body into a bridge position, supporting your weight on your feet and arms. Straighten one leg up, heel flexed and slowly lower leg out to the side a few inches WITHOUT moving the rest of the body. Use the abs to stabilize your body and don't hold your breath. Do all reps on one leg, then switch sides.