The Best Abs Exercises You Can Add to Your Workout Routine

There are about two dozen major muscles between your shoulders and hips that are targeted from every angle when you do ab exercises. Scoring toned abs that will make people drool over your body is more than just cranking out crunches. You need to add a little something extra into your workout routine to make this possible.

To sculpt a more refined and stronger core, your muscles should be trained into submission. Apart from your belly fat, ab exercises target the following areas:

External Abdominal Obliques are the side muscles, which are just underneath your arm and run along your ribcage.

Transversus Abdominus are the muscles that run horizontally deep around your midsection.

Internal Abdominal Obliques are stabilizing muscles, which lie beneath your external obliques.

Rectus Abdominus are the muscles that run from the sternum and down to the pelvis. They flex your spine when you walk. These are superficial abdomen muscles, the ones you refer to as “six-pack” abs.

Let’s take a look at some of the best abs exercises that will help you work out these muscles:

Bent Leg V-Up

As a beginner, always start with a simple exercise. This exercise targets your transverse abs. Here’s how to do it:

• Lie down on your back with your legs in the air, bent and at 90-degrees (your shins should be parallel to the floor)
• Cross your arms over your chest
• Slowly straighten your legs and at the same time, lift your torso up, extending your arms and touch your toes with your hands
• Get back into the starting position and increase your torso curve in the next try

Do 15 reps.

Straight Leg Scissors

Another beginner’s abs exercise, this one targets your external and internal obliques. Here’s how to do it:

• Lay down on the floor, with your legs straight
• Lift one leg up in the air at 90-degrees and stretch your arms straight (parallel to the floor)
• Raise your torso and try to move your hands forward as if grabbing something
• Lower yourself down and switch legs
• Develop a rhythm and move quickly, which will create a scissoring motion

Do 20 reps.

Clap With Leg Raise

Let’s turn up the heat. This exercise targets your rectus abdominus and transverse abdominal muscles. Here’s how to do it:

• Lay down on your back and raise your legs at 45 degrees in the air
• Place your hands by your side, palms down and pressed into the mat
• Raise your legs straight to hip level and curl your upper body while lifting it up and off the floor
• Hold the position for a few seconds and then bring your hands together to clap behind the knees

Do 15 reps.

Overhead Reach Side Plank

This is a difficult level abs exercise, which targets your internal and external obliques and traverse abdominal muscles. Here’s how to do it:

• Lay down on your side
• Slide your left elbow under your ribcage and stack your legs on top of each other
• Raise your right arm straight up in the air
• Lift yourself up by pushing on the left hand
• Raise your chin and look at the fingertips of your right hand
• Slowly, stretch your hand across your head, and at the same time, rotate your chest with your gaze following the fingers

Do 15 reps.

There you have it ― four best abs exercises that you can do at home. Start with the first two and once your body has become accustomed to them, you can proceed to the difficult level.

Check out our blog on ab workouts from home.

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