Best workout for abdominals?

[Jeff777]

Are ab rollers, bowflex machines, ab loungers etc. really necessary? What have YOU personally found to be the best avenue to a rock solid 6 pack? And please, state your routine and diet.

[DuB]

Bicycle crunches. Tip: When doing these, count the number of minutes, not the number of crunches.

[ninja9578]

Hang from a pullup bar, raise your legs. Alternate between bringing them straight up and twisting. Also running. To have a six-pack, you have to have about 6-8% body fat, where the average (in shape) person is at about 12%. (Male)

[Jeff777]

Bicycle crunches. Tip: When doing these, count the number of minutes, not the number of crunches. Will definitely incorporate these. Thanks DuB. Hang from a pullup bar, raise your legs. Alternate between bringing them straight up and twisting. Also running. To have a six-pack, you have to have about 6-8% body fat, where the average (in shape) person is at about 12%. (Male) Thanks ninja! And wow.. did not know that. @_@

[Invader]

Having a low fat diet helps a ton (and a high metabolism to boot, if you're lucky ). What I do is use parallel bars. I'll sit on one bar and put my legs under the other, and "lay flat" to that the abs are supporting all of the upper body. From there you can either bend further backwards and do your situps from there, or you can bend from side to side, or do twists. I also do the pullup thing ninja mentioned. A pullup bar for the home is a good, cheap investment.

[grasshoppa]

Try to keep good posture throughout the day. No matter how much ab workouts you do you will struggle to have nice abs if you dont have good posture. Also, once your abdominals get strong proper posture will come a lot more easily and naturally. Generally I do leg lifts, situps on a decline bench, and oblique twists with legs in the air. Push ups are also good, benches, and any lower back exercise will help. Ab rollers are also pretty legit, very very tough though

[Spenner]

Leg lifts, crunches with legs up in the air, holding a flexed position (say, while reading a book- that's what I do ) and I don't know what they're called, but leg lifts and crunching at the same time (though your knees can bend), and yeah, bicycle crunches. I have a six pack, but I also do plenty more than just work out my abs. They sort of come as a product of working your entire core, so it melts body fat AND builds muscle.

[Catbus]

Bicycle crunches. Tip: When doing these, count the number of minutes, not the number of crunches. Jesus, I underestimated how intense those would be.

[Oneironaut Zero]

Ab...Ripper...X!! Part 1 Part 2 More information [/thread]

[TamiDoll]

I do 1 hour cardio. A bunch of varying upper and lower ab reps. I up the numbers gradually. But so far, I've been lazy. So I'm not a good example.

[Lucidness]

Situps with no fat.

[Man of Steel]

Bicycle crunches are amazing. I finally remembered to try them out Saturday, and they're pretty damn intense.

[Dannon Oneironaut]

I lay down and point my toes. Then I lift my feet up six inches and my head up and look at my toes. Then I lift my feet ten inches, then 15 inches, etc. until I get to 90 degrees. then I hold the position with my feet 10 inches off the ground and do the bicycle, but without crunches. The thing with sit-ups and some other ab exercises is that you can tighten your psoas muscles too much (the psoas go from the inside of your spine around your guts to the inside of your groin). Look it up on anatomy picture. With tight psoas they pull on the small of your back making your belly come forward and your chest cave and your head hang forward. This leads to poor posture and lower back problems.