Abdominal muscles are the muscle groups that are really hard to grow but nice to look at. 50% reason is because people don’t like training abs even though they want to have ripped abs and the other 50% reason is because abs are the muscles that are very stubborn when it comes to grow and the place where abs are situated in our body is where most fats store. So to bring out your abs, all you need to do is to train abs hard enough with the most effective and best exercises for abs and stay in a clean diet. Remember, abs are not only made in the kitchen but also made in the gym. With clean diet, you need to train hard enough to grow the ab muscles. The clean diet is what makes abs visible by reducing the extra fat from your abdomen area but the training is what makes the abs grow bigger and more detailed. Without further ado, let’s discuss about all the 5 best exercises for abs.
Hanging Leg Raises
Hanging Leg Raise is one of the best exercises for abs that has become really popular in the recent years among the professional athletes and even the common gym-goers. It is really effective for targeting your abs especially the lower abs which are very stubborn to grow. When you raise your legs in the hanging position, the squeezing and extending of your abdominal muscles are excellent for pressurizing them to grow more.
The only disadvantage this outstanding abs exercise possesses is that it is not beginner-friendly because you really need a good amount of forearm strength to hang steadily for the duration you need to perform the exercise and most beginners don’t have that forearm strength. But if you are already in an intermediate level and possess a decent amount of forearm strength then you should not miss hanging leg raise that can help you grow your abs tremendously.
Rope Crunches/Cable Crunches
While hanging leg raise can take special care for lower abs, rope crunch on the other hand can target the upper abs most effectively. Unlike most other abs exercises, you can use weights of the machine to your advantage in order to put more emphasis on your abs while contracting those muscles.
This will add more muscle mass on your abs. That is the reason, this exercise is way more effective than the traditional crunches. For beginners, we would suggest that first master the standard crunches and then after few weeks, you can go for rope crunch which is the advanced version of this exercise and certainly, one of the best exercises for abs.
Sliding Tucks
You have already realised that to grow and bring out your abdominal muscles, you don’t always need weights or heavy resistance exercises like we need to do for other muscles rather in most cases, some bodyweight abs exercises are more than enough like hanging leg raises, decline sit-ups, captain’s chair leg raise, levitation crunches, dragon flags and even this exercise called sliding tuck.
This is another awesome bodyweight abs exercise which only needs two things to perform. One is a pair of socks and two is a slick floor. Not many people are fans of this exercise and the reason is very clear: it is not as easy-to-do as it looks like. But the effectiveness and flexibility of this exercise make it one of the best exercises for abs. So, how is it flexible? Well, flexible in the sense, this exercise is great for all the rectus abdominis muscles but if you wish to target more lower abs then you can add a slight turn at the bottom and pull your knees. That’s why, there is no reason to miss this brilliant exercise if you want to grow abs.
Dragon Flags
Dragon flags are so fun to perform that you will fall in love with this exercise and if you perform it correctly then it will give you a set of ripped abs as this exercise allows you to target the whole abdominal muscles equally and the contraction of muscles it provides is just incredible. It will also strengthen your lower back and obviously your all the other core muscles because you have to lift all the lower body with the help of your lower back and your core muscles including abs and oblique muscles specifically.
It may not be very easy-to-use for the beginners but not that much hard to do so if you are a beginner then don’t worry. Perform crunches, plank and other basic abs exercises and within a few weeks, your ab muscles should be strong enough to perform dragon flags. Anyway, if you want a set of ripped abs then you should better include dragon flag in your workout routine.
Decline Sit-ups/Decline Crunches
Decline sit-up or crunches are as good as rope crunches or maybe even better because not only you can put more emphasis on your abs by using a decline bench for sit-ups or crunches but also this exercise is flexible enough to allow you for more emphasis on muscles. How? You can even do decline sit-ups with a weight on hand which is professionally called weighted decline sit-ups.
So, this exercise comes with more flexibility than you can expect and that flexibility allows you to grow your abs more by using more resistance. For this reason, there is no doubt decline sit-up or decline crunch (whatever you want to perform) is one of the best exercises for abs that you should include in your abs day. If you are a beginner, first master the standard lying crunches just like we already said in the rope crunches point.
Conclusion
Therefore, these are the only 5 best exercises for abs that you need if you want beautifully visible set of ab muscles. There are tons of other exercises out there that you can try but we recommend you these 5 exercises because based on all our experiences and knowledge, most of the abs exercises are either useless or can’t even target your abs. Funny right? That’s why, in our opinion, these 5 are the best for growing the abs muscles and we can guarantee you that if you maintain clean diet and train hard enough with all these exercises in your abs day then you will get pretty visible abs within a few months. Without a strict clean diet and proper amount of training, you can’t expect to get those beautiful muscles. Anyway, hope you have found this article about best exercises for abs helpful enough. If it’s really so then don’t hesitate to express your valuable thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for visiting and appreciating our work.