6 moves to pave the way to perfect abs

1. Always work until fatigue. Yes, this means only stop once you can no longer complete the exercise. Then, take a small rest (30 seconds or so) and continue.
2. Don’t do abs every day. Lets try for abs every other day instead. I used to fall into this trap until I learned more about how the muscles work. If you fatigue your muscles every day, breaking down the muscle fiber, you are giving those poor and tired muscles no time to rest and re-build the muscle tissue in order to get stronger and to reveal their awesome definition.
3. The secret to getting great abs lies in endurance (lots of repetitions, and little rest). It is still awesome if you do 300 sit ups, but if you do them with large amounts of rest in between sets of 20 or 30, then your muscles aren’t getting the same workout. Let’s try to do as many as we can, with as little rest (30 seconds – 1 minute maximum in between sets) as we can. Plus, who doesn’t like to shorten their workout time and get on with the rest of their day quicker? Efficient and in shape? I like it!
4. Always switch up the position of the rest of your body while doing abs. This creates a completely different chain reaction in your “kinetic chain” of muscles. In other words, if you put your arms in a slightly different position, you are engaging a completely different set of muscles while doing a similar exercise. This changes the challenge and throws off your abs so they never plateau. Always challenge them in a new way, so they don’t get lazy.
5. Form is key. The less you move the rest of your body, anchoring your hips into the ground, for example, means you’ll feel a deeper burn in your abs.

Alright, let’s do it:

Reach for the stars sit-up
Form is essential on this one – with your arms directly overhead, completely straight, without letting them come forward, keeping them completely perpendicular to the ground, try to sit up completely. If you can only sit up two inches with your arms in this position, thats okay! Eventually you will be able to sit up all the way with your hands overhead. Practice, practice.

Cross body crunch
Bring your opposite arm and leg together, touching your opposite foot with your opposite hand, sitting up across your body.

Knee tucks
Either holding the ground behind you with your hands, or leaving your hands suspended next to you, bring your chest to your knees and your knees to your chest. Bring everything together, then let everything straighten out.

Touch-your-toes crunch
Start with your knees bent in the air, calves parallel to the ground, and try to sit up as far as you can, trying to touch your toes. 

Arms crossed sit-up
This is your ordinary sit up, except you must keep your arms completely crossed across you the whole time. Letting them slip won’t challenge your abs in quite the same way as putting your arms in this new position the whole time.

Dipping side plank
Start in a side plank position on your one elbow and forearm, hips held high, creating a triangle between your body and the ground. Dip your hips toward the ground, and lift them up again.

Any favorite ab moves we missed? Tell us down in comments!

By M