Rock a Six-Pack

Your abdominals are the core of your body.  As a function, they support and stabilize your spine, but in reality we all obsess over how they look.  There are a few keys to sporting the perfect six pack abs: Eating right so that you don’t have any extra fat hiding your muscle below, perform exercises that strengthen your muscles, and mix- up your routine between cardio and weight training.  Below is a great abs workout that I have refined over the years – this one does not involve any equipment just your body.

At the risk of appearing a bit narcissistic (posting a picture of my abs) I am doing so to validate that this abdominals work out actually works.

I complete this routine about 3-4 times a week following some sort of cardio.  As a bonus, while performing your cardio, think about a string going from the bottom of your center that is pulling you upright through the center of your head.  This will keep your core engaged and elongate your abs.  I wish I had the sound effect of what my old ballet teacher used to make for that explanation of lifting from your core – she had the best “slurp” zipped-up sound for it.

move #1: The crunch

The slow: Lie on your back, knees up, hands behind your heads and keep your elbows out. Concentrate on sucking in your stomach to the floor.  As you lift your head up, you should be breathing out and when you lower down even slower, break in thinking about sucking in your abs to the floor still the whole time. Do 20 like this.
The fast: same motion as above, just faster and complete 100

move #2: The Butterfly crunch

Open your legs into a butterfly position, lying on your back again, and hands behind your head.  Slowly complete a crunch as described above and remembering not to relax between reps.  Again, you should aim to do about 20 like this.

move #3: Revers Tabletop Crunch

I do these slowly as well.  It is the same motion as the crunches above – making sure you keep thinking about your belly button being pulled like a magnet to the floor. You should start to feel your abs burning at this point. Another 20 reps here.

move #4: Plank + leg extensions

Basic plank is a great way to break up your crunches and add the extra scorch to your routine.  It is a great exercise for your core and stabilizers and will be very effective in helping to define your 6-pack. Start on your stomach, resting on your forearms and palms flat on the floor.  Push off onto your tip toes and elbows (as shown above). Remember it is imperative in this position to maintain the integrity of your back by tilting your pelvis and contracting your abdominals to prevent your bum from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle.

This is where you can mix it up and have a little fun.  Either do a basic plank and hold for anywhere from 45 – 90 seconds or what I like to do is a plank for 30 seconds and then raise one leg as shown above for 30 seconds and alternate to lift the other and then come down for rest.

move #5: Tabletop Alternate Leg drop

Start in a tabletop on your back and lift your shoulders/ head up to hold the crunch position. Slowly, drop one leg to the ground barely letting your toes touch and bring it back up, alternate and drop your other leg.  This is a slow motion – not quick – you will feel the burn… about 20 alternations. Concentrate on keeping your core engaged and the stable leg in the same position during this exercise.

Turn over – stretch out your abs and repeat if you can…. Good luck! :)