Give me an ab exercise

jacquelyn_erika · March 2012

that will cause me to hurt the next day. You know, the kind where if you cough or sneeze you can really feel it in your abs.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong when I workout my abs, but I rarely feel it the next day...:(

KimH313 · March 2012

I have one for you.... hopefully this makes sense. Sit down on the floor with your knees bent, position your hands right behind your butt with your fingers forward (like your fingers will be pointing at your butt and your wrists will be pointing behind you) then lift your knees up so that they are parallel to the ground. then bend your arms so that you are lowering yourself down and straighten your legs at the same time, then bring your legs back and lift yourself back up with your arms. you should feel it in your core and its also good for triceps. what i like to do is shoot my legs out to either side and that really works the obliques. do as many as you can and you will definitely feel it. my yoga teacher taught me that. and also yogi bicycles she calls them which are just laying down with your legs up, arms behind your head doing crunches while moving your legs back and forth, right leg comes in when you're lifting off the left you know what i mean. oh and ANOTHER one is get into a high plank. and try to lift your leg up and touch your knee to your elbow. those are tough you can do them on your knees in plank position too. hope that helps! ok so maybe that was more than one lol.......

jacquelyn_erika · March 2012

I have one for you.... hopefully this makes sense. Sit down on the floor with your knees bent, position your hands right behind your butt with your fingers forward (like your fingers will be pointing at your butt and your wrists will be pointing behind you) then lift your knees up so that they are parallel to the ground. then bend your arms so that you are lowering yourself down and straighten your legs at the same time, then bring your legs back and lift yourself back up with your arms. you should feel it in your core and its also good for triceps. what i like to do is shoot my legs out to either side and that really works the obliques. do as many as you can and you will definitely feel it. my yoga teacher taught me that. and also yogi bicycles she calls them which are just laying down with your legs up, arms behind your head doing crunches while moving your legs back and forth, right leg comes in when you're lifting off the left you know what i mean. oh and ANOTHER one is get into a high plank. and try to lift your leg up and touch your knee to your elbow. those are tough you can do them on your knees in plank position too. hope that helps! ok so maybe that was more than one lol.......

I will be doing these for sure! Thank you!

rbrannock · March 2012

I'm looking for the same thing.....it seems like every time I do crunches, I don't feel it in my abs the next day, therefore I give up thinking its not working, or I'm obviously not doing it correctly. It shouldn't be that hard.....but for some reason it is.

clickmaster · March 2012

that will cause me to hurt the next day. You know, the kind where if you cough or sneeze you can really feel it in your abs.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong when I workout my abs, but I rarely feel it the next day...:(

If you want DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) in the rectus abdominus and you can't get it there are two reasons why.

1. Your abs are extremely well trained so you cannot make them sore.
2. You're not training with sufficient intensity.

If you do a few sets of ab crunches with weight keeping the reps down to 10 or so with complete muscle failure, you should experience DOMS for 24-72 hours. In short, if they're not burning like hell when you're working them, you're not training with sufficient intensity.

For more about building your six pack, check out these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95xRTID478I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKg_cdwq9l4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPKQdboezNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ChP373H6HA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxLCNiEXywo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQds_kvhEHo&playnext=1&list=PL20C6576172463D02

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZeOqM7zt3U

Personally I think ab exercises are a waste of time for people with no specific abdominal needs (sports, boxing, etc). After all, your abs are working for you all day every day when you stand up, sit down, lift things, cough or sneeze or strain, etc. Your core musculature is what keeps your vertebra from collapsing like a stack of poker chips so they have to support the weight of your upper body in all activities much like steel belted radials keep a tire supporting a car. Working them out more will not do much for most people. Six packs come more from diet than exercise.

Good luck and good health!!

♠

cutmd · March 2012

I agree with the pp. Great abs are about engaging your core by pulling your belly button in towards your spine (transverse abdominus) in everything you do (squats, etc) and getting to a low body fat (I used to have decent abs before the pregnancy anyway). But for straight up soreness I love burpees or really any bodyrock.tv workout and the winsor pilates series (Hundred, teaser, etc) http://www.self.com/flat-abs-guide/6-moves-for-pilates-abs-slideshow

Hope that helps.

addisondisease2 · March 2012

Front pause squats = ab rape.

shaycat · March 2012

Try some of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_J8btnIEKQ

I dont think it hurts to work your core if you are burning calories at the same time.

Rboch · March 2012

P90X- Ab Ripper X-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh1Ol3RpOEc
- watch the video, all of the moves are listed in the description part below it, take breaks if you need them but try to get through as many moves as you can

gadzukks · March 2012

cable crunches!

clickmaster · March 2012

Great abs are about engaging your core by pulling your belly button in towards your spine.

Just to clarify, your abs or rectus abdominus (the six pack) have nothing to do with pulling your navel toward the spine. They pull your pubis and sternum toward each other. The muscles that suck in the belly are the transverse abdominus and internal and external obliques.

Good luck and good health!!

♠

cutmd · March 2012

Great abs are about engaging your core by pulling your belly button in towards your spine.

Just to clarify, your abs or rectus abdominus (the six pack) have nothing to do with pulling your navel toward the spine. They pull your pubis and sternum toward each other. The muscles that suck in the belly are the transverse abdominus and internal and external obliques.

Good luck and good health!!

♠

True I guess it depends on what you consider nice abs. I like flat abs with a little definition for a woman, and I do feel most people are not missing the rectus abdominus so much as they are covering it in fat and failing to engage the ta and obliques. You cut off the rest of my thought where I talked about lowering body fat. PBut we are talking to ourselves cause that's not what the op asked about

gtunlimited · March 2012

I always find ab wheel and slow bicycle crunches and laying flat on your back with your legs just off the ground are good ab killers

rkr22401 · March 2012

P90X- Ab Ripper X- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh1Ol3RpOEc
- watch the video, all of the moves are listed in the description part below it, take breaks if you need them but try to get through as many moves as you can

^^This! I work with a guy that could probably have done 1000 situps before P90X. He said the first time he did Ab ripper X he could hardly get through it and was sore for days. I am in phase 3, which means I've been doing this for 2 1/2 months and I can almost do the entire routine without stopping.