HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR COMMUNITY!

Best Exercises for Abs

Best exercises for abs. How do I get abs? What’s the Best Exercise for Abs(abdominals)? Very popular questions as we are getting closer to the summer time. 

Here’s the short answer:

There is no single best exercise for abs, but we’ll give you three things you can do to lose body fat, improve core strength, and increase muscle definition.

Eat Right 

Everyone has abdominal muscles. They’re just covered up for a lot of people. Those who have visible abs generally have lower levels of body fat.  There are exceptions but for the most part lower body fat = more visible abs.  

If you’ve heard the saying “abs are made in the kitchen,” I’m here to confirm that fact.  For abs to be visible, you’ll have to eat food that will support your training but not higher levels of body fat. A nutrition coach can help you figure out the best plan to bring out that six pack!  

Water

One of the easiest ways to cut calories – and to cut sugar, is to drink more water.  Since adding more water to my diet I have noticed that I get less cravings.  With less cravings – it is easier to lose weight and easier to eat right. 

Also by using salt packets like LMNT if you are craving something add some salt to your water and drink that.  This has worked great as a recovery method after workouts.  As a result, cutting out the cravings after a workout.  Win, win situation! 

Lift weights – heavy weights – often 

Lifting weights, and especially heavy weights will work your core to a greater effect than laying on the ground doing endless crunches.  

For example, box squatting is going to utilize a bigger weight than doing standing bicep curls.  The core is going to work harder to stabilize the spine in the squat.  As a result the abdominal muscles are going to get stronger faster than by doing bicep curls. 

Other examples of great abdominal building exercises include the deadlift, sumo deadlift, standing press, amongst a lot of others that we utilize here at OG.  

The similarities between all of these movements are that they allow a person to use bigger weights than abdominal specific movements and they all have the person standing.  

Weighted Carries 

Finally, one of the most neglected abdominal exercises is doing a variety of weighted carries.  The load carried by utilizing sandbag carries, kettlebell carries, is going to be more effective time wise than doing endless crunches laying on the ground.  

Second, the benefit of doing weighted carries is you may train your aerobic capacity at the same time, which is a great low stress way to help improve your physique.  At OC we utilize carries in a variety of ways having everyone rotate carries while keeping their heart rate between 135-150 beats per minute.  30 minutes of work like this will do amazing things for your abs! 

Again, if time is an issue then don’t skip out on the weighted carries.  For most people they want results as fast as possible.  The weighted carries are going to provide those results faster than a lot of exercises you will see on social media channels. 

I love my ab exercises – what are the best exercises for abs?

Besides what we already mentioned above, things that tend to get good results and look more like ab exercises are abmat sit ups, Toes to Bar, Hollow rocks, Hollow Hold and every variation of planks.  

A good coach is training your abs with many different exercises with a plan in place.  Throwing random numbers or random exercises isn’t going to be effective training your abs.  

Remember

To get abs – eat to sustain your movement and not to store fat.  Increase your water intake daily.  Train the movements that allow you to move the most amount of weight.  Focus on training your abs with the “big” lifts and carrying weights.  Use abdominal specific exercises mainly for supplemental purposes not as the focus.

Need help?  Book a Free Consultation and let one of our trained Coaches help you get your abs showing for summer time. 

Thank you for checking out OG. OG is central Oregon’s premier Personal Training, Sports Performance and CrossFit gym.

fill out the form below to get started!

Take the first step towards getting the results you want!