subject: Top 10 Ab Workouts [print this page] Are you l tired of leg lifts and stomach crunches? Perhaps you are frustrated because you have not seen any results. That is because, while ab workouts do strengthen your stomach muscles, the results are more often than not hidden by a layer of fat, (which is the real problem most people have with their abs). This is because you cannot spot reduce fat on your stomach any more than you can reduce it on your chin.
So how do I go about melting the fat and revealing my abs? The trick is that you must reduce your over all body fat percentage. Men must be below 10% and women must be below 16%. To do this you are going to do some workouts that you never would have guessed. These workouts do not focus on your abs at all. But, they do raise your resting metabolism rate so that you are burning more calories over a longer period of time.
Consequently you will reduce your over all body fat percentage while working your abdominal musculature indirectly.
The best way to do this is to do weight lifting exercises because the more muscle you have the more fat you will burn. But, it is very important that you focus your efforts on the right type of workout. Do not spend time on workouts that isolate muscle groups like curling for biceps or flys for pectorals. By doing compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once you will be getting an all over body workout and raising your metabolism as well. These are exercises like dead lifts, clean and jerk, bench press, dips and squats. As I said before, these exercises will also inadvertently strengthen the core muscles of your torso which include your abs.
The above exercises are ideal when using a barbell. However, a device called a kettlebell (KB) is also very effective in working your abs. Because of its design it is ideal for swinging between your legs which actually targets your abs like no other exercise. When swinging the KB you will be winded pretty quickly which brings an added cardiovascular element to lifting weights that is usually missing with barbells.
So, without further adieu, the top 10 ab workouts.
1.Squats
2.Dead lifts
3.Clean and jerk
4.Dumbbell (or kettlebell) snatch
5.KB swings
6.Renegade rows (using DB or KB)
7.Figure 8 (using KB)
8.Around the body pass (using as heavy a KB as possible)
9.Halos (using KB)
10.Turkish get up (using BB or KB)
These ten exercises will hot your abs from every angle possible and boost your metabolism so that you are building muscle and burning fat long after the exercise is over.
