8 Simple and Effective Ab Workouts for a Stronger Core
When it comes to ab workouts, many people think of squats and endless crunches. However, strengthening your abs depends not only on local muscles but also on strengthening your entire core, including your shoulders, back, and glutes. In other words, you need a set of exercises that engage all the major muscles and alternate the load on them. Here are some exercises that do just that.
1. Bear Crawl
The bear crawl is excellent for simultaneously engaging your core muscles and connective ligaments, as the primary function of the core is to coordinate movements. Transferring your main weight to four limbs will help strengthen your spine, glutes, and abs.
How to perform: From a standing position, bend over and place your hands on the ground. Keep your legs straight and your hands at an angle to the floor. Slowly start moving your limbs, moving forward and then backward.
2. Cross-Body Mountain Climbers
Your core muscles are also responsible for quick reactions, running, walking, and overall mobility. This exercise involves cross-body movements that strengthen the oblique muscles and improve coordination.
How to perform: Stand straight with your hands behind your head, elbows bent. Alternately lift your knees to your chest, touching them with the elbow of the opposite hand.
3. Bird Dog
Add a bit of yoga to your workout with the Bird Dog exercise, which is great for engaging all your core muscles at once. Don’t be fooled by its simplicity.
How to perform: Get on all fours. Start by rounding your back, pulling your abdomen in, and reaching your shoulders upward, shifting your weight only to your hands and legs. Then relax and return to the starting position. Now, with a straight back, extend your right leg back and your left arm forward. Both limbs should be straight, and the supporting arm and leg should bear the weight. Keep your back straight.
4. Bridge
Bridges are very beneficial as they stimulate the muscles supporting the vertebrae and the muscles responsible for the upper part of the torso.
How to perform: Lie on your back with your knees bent. Lift your hips off the floor, raising your torso at an angle to the floor without lifting your neck and shoulders. Your hips should reach upward toward the ceiling. Then lower yourself down. To make this exercise more challenging, straighten one leg on the next lift and raise it upward as well, then repeat with the other leg.
5. Russian Twist
This exercise not only strengthens your core and abs but also stimulates the abdominal muscles and their walls, which is very beneficial for circulation and better organ function.
How to perform: Sit on your hips with your knees slightly bent. Clasp your hands together. Twist your torso relative to your hips, keeping the latter stationary. Touch the floor on the opposite side with your hands to ensure your torso twists.
6. Windshield Wipers
This exercise strengthens the abs like no other, as it transfers the maximum load through the coordination of the limbs. Despite the fact that in this position your torso will tend to twist, it is necessary to keep it straight.
How to perform: Lie on your back with your arms out to the sides. Lift your straight legs at a 90-degree angle to your torso. Alternately move both straight legs to the side, trying to touch the floor with your thigh. Do not bend your legs or twist your torso. Then you will feel how your abs work. Repeat the exercise on both sides.
7. Simplified Ab Exercises
If the previous exercise was too difficult for you, you can try a simpler but equally effective version, for which you will need chairs. With this exercise, you can pump not only your abs but also strengthen your hips.
How to perform: Place the chairs in a line and lie on your stomach so that your hips hang on the floor. Now lift your legs up so that your body forms a straight line. Remember that your abdomen should be tucked in so that the load does not transfer to your lower back. To do this, control it with your back muscles. Lift your legs by loading your hips, not your lower back muscles.
8. Mountain Climbers
Ab and core exercises can be very dynamic, as core movement involves constant contractions, stretches, and other aerobics.
How to perform: Start in a standard plank position. Bend one knee, pulling it to your chest by tensing your hip, then return your leg to the starting position. Now perform the exercise with the other leg. Then return to the plank position.
