Ab Workout Routine: All the Information You Need About A Good Ab Workout Routine

At some point or another, just about every person has looked at a pair of six-pack abs and wished they could have some of their own. Everybody, thick or thin or somewhere in between the two has issues with their own body and the abdominal area seems to be a sore spot for many people. Finding an ab workout routine is a good way to overcome issues with one's stomach, but who wants to commit to something like that? Crunches and sit-ups and funny contraptions are just not the cup of tea that many people are going for, yet people still struggle for those rock-hard abs.

It is all too easy to put such things off, promising oneself that they will take care of them tomorrow or the next day or perhaps the next-simply because ab workout routines are not so simple. Believe it or not, there are non-appearance related reasons for working out your abs. Here are three of the most important reasons why an ab workout routine is key to your overall health.

The items below are, of course, some good exercises for you to train your abs. All of these exercises are highly effective and highly centralized to create the perfect set of six pack abs that you've ever seen. However, you must also keep in mind that you must mix these exercises into your regular workout routine as well as eat properly.

There are a few books out there that will help you to do this properly and effectively. Below are the books I recommend.

The Truth About Six Pack Abs is a great book that gives you some great ab workout routines. On top of that, there are some full body exercises in there. Check it out, I give it an A, or check out my review here.
The Truth About Six Pack Abs.

You can Buy It Here

Turbulence Training

The other one I would highly recommend is Turbulence Training. You can check out this ab workout routine website here (and even better, it offers full body routines as well!)

You can buy Turbulence Training Here.

If you work out your ab muscles, the likelihood of you having better posture is that much greater. It strengthens the muscles in your stomach and the muscles in your stomach support the muscles in your back, helping you to stand up straighter. Your mother always told you to stand up straighter, and an ab workout routine is a surefire way to get that done!



Closely related to your posture, incorporating ab workout routines into your fitness regimen can drastically reduce the chances of you causing some type of injury to your back in the long run. Whether you move furniture for a living, play a rough and tumble sport or just teach the fourth grade you expose yourself to debilitating back injuries each and every day, and you can decrease the likelihood of having any of these to deal with if you can strengthen your abs now.

No matter how you slice it, a fat tummy is fat period. Even if you are fat nowhere else on your body, having a fat tummy can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other illnesses that you would much rather prevent. Increase the likelihood of you having a healthier life and get to work on your ab workout routine!

Outside of the fact that great abs are hard to come by, there are many reasons why it is a good idea to make sure to include an ab workout routine into your fitness regiment. It just leads to a better, healthier lifestyle overall for you!

People are constantly on the lookout for different ways to go about strengthening and adding definition to their abs, and with good reason. Outside of the fact that it looks really great, having great ab and a good ab workout routine is perfect for those who want better posture or have back problems or those who experience back problems in their family that they never want to be like. Using an exercise ball for your abs workout routine is a great way to add something different to your workout to help make it more appealing and a great way to get off of the ground doing those crunches as well. Not everybody can make the exercise ball work for them but if you can, you can rest assured that you are on your way to a well-defined set of abdominal muscles that are built to last."

With so many different ab exercises out there, it is often hard to know which ones to follow. Many people find that most of the exercises they try just don't seem to work for them. So how do you know what really works and does doing 100 push-ups and sit-ups a day really lead to rock hard abs?

While you do need to do some amount of exercise to get the abs that you want, it is not about doing hundreds of sit-ups and push-ups a day. Crunches, gadgets and most ab exercises are generally ineffective if used on their own. It is basically a myth that doing hundreds of ab exercises a day will give you the perfect stomach and great abs that you are after. So if you want to get abs fast then overdoing it on the exercise will not work; make sure, instead, that you have an effective ab workout routine.

5 Common Ab Myths

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com"

Ab exercises aren't the only thing you have to do in order to get your six pack. You also have to work hard on your diet as well, sticking to a fat-burning, muscle-building diet all year round.

Here's a list of 5 common myths about abs.

Myth 1) You don't need to watch what you eat

Diet is first and foremost the key factor when trying to get 6-pack abs. Plan your nutrition in advance, to avoid dietary downfalls.

Myth 2) As long as you do a lot of ab workout routines and repetitions, it doesn't matter how well you do them

It is important to do all repetitions with good form. Focus on quality, not quantity. Avoid sit-ups and an excessive number of crunches. Both exercises can damage the lumbar spine in your low back, and crunches are rarely effective anyways.

Myth 3) You can "Spot reduce" the fat on your abs with crunches

No matter how many crunches you do, you won't be able to get rid of your ab fat with crunches alone. You need a good diet and an increase in your calorie burning from strength training, a good workout routine, and interval training.

Myth 4) Infomercial products will help you get a six pack

You've probably seen dozens of ab gadgets on TV, but none are magic bullets. You can't expect anything you order from TV to help you get a six pack. You have to do the hard work with nutrition and training to get results.

Myth 5) You must do an ab workout routine every day

You don't need to do abs every day. Instead, train them twice per week and use non-conventional exercises such as Mountain Climbers and Stability Ball Jackknives to reduce the stress on your low back.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men's Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

The Bicycle Exercise

The bicycle exercise is definitely one of the best exercises to add to an ab workout routine in order to get abs fast and easy. It targets both the waist and the rectus abdominals, which are basically better known as the six pack muscles.

In order to perform the exercise properly, you need to lie on your back with your hands behind your head. Slowly bring your knees into your chest so they are at a right angle and then bring your shoulders off the floor, ensuring that you are not straining your neck. Next you straighten out the left leg to roughly a 45 degree angle and turn your body so that your left elbow touches the right knee. Repeat on the other leg once you bring the left leg back into you, using your right elbow against your left knee the next time. You should do roughly 12-16 repetitions of this move to make sure this ab workout routine is effective.

What is an Exercise Ball?

Many people have seen the exercise ball before, whether it is on television or in your local gym, or perhaps in the corner at a friend's house collecting dust as so many do. They are large inflatable balls that are used to do exercise with, and they are great for building core strength-especially if incorporated in an ab workout routine. Many people center their whole ab workout routine around their exercise ball and for good reason as it is a great way to build strength and definition without ever having to lay down on the floor and do even one crunch.

Using the Exercise Ball

It must be said that learning to use the exercise ball is half the battle when it comes to this type of workout routine. Part of the reason why the ball works so well is because it takes so many of the core muscles to even get the exercise ball to be steady. If you want to try things out the easy way, have someone hold the ball for you or prop it up against the wall or something else that will keep it from rolling around on you. Normally, the rolling would add to the intensity of the abs workout routine but for those who are just starting out by using this ball it is important to get help so as to not get so discouraged too easily.

What Ab Workout Routine Can You Do Using the Ball?

There are many different abdominal workouts that you can do as part of your workout routine using this ball. They aren't hard to do, but they do take a lot of strength to do so depending on how strong you are and how confident you are on the ball, it may take some time for you to get the different abs workout routines right when using this ball. Using the exercise ball you can crunch, you can balance, you can press weights, and you can do anything that you wish. Using the ball you elevate yourself from normal abs workout routines to awesome abs workout routines just by adding that one simple element.

The exercise ball crunch is used to mainly target the rectus abdominals and it really helps to strengthen all of the abdominal muscles. In order to do the exercise properly, you need to lie on your back with an exercise ball resting underneath your mid/lower back area. Place your hands behind your head or cross them over your chest if that would be more comfortable. Then contract your abs so that your torso can easily be lifted away from the floor and pull the bottom of the ribcage down towards the hips. Lower your back down and then repeat the exercise for another 12-16 repetitions. By doing this consistently, you will get abs fast and see results; maybe faster than you think.

Try to ensure that while you are doing the exercise, the ball does not roll around. The idea is to keep it as stable as possible in order to get the best result.

People are constantly on the lookout for different ways to go about strengthening and adding definition to their abs, and with good reason. Outside of the fact that it looks really great, having great abs is perfect for those who want better posture or have back problems or those who experience back problems in their family that they never want to be like. Using an exercise ball for your ab workout routine is a great way to add something different to your workout to help make it more appealing and a great way to get off of the ground doing those crunches as well. Not everybody can make the exercise ball work for them but if you can, you can rest assured that you are on your way to a well-defined set of abdominal muscles that are built to last.

How to do the Abdominal Leg Lift

Starting Position: On back, parallel to floor. Hands grasping something above or behind your head for stabilization. (Couches and beds work well for this)

Movement: Bring your legs all the way up so that they are at a 90 degree angle with your body, and then SLOWLY bring them back down, stopping just before they touch the ground. Proceed with movement again.

How to do the Abdominal Leg Hold

Starting Position: On back, parallel to floor. Hands grasping something above or behind your head for stabilization. (Couches and beds work well for this)

Movement: Simply lift your legs up off the ground about an inch from the floor, keeping them parallel to the ground. Hold until failure, and repeat.
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