Lifting to work your abs

  • My abs are a real problem area for me. I have been working out about a month and really notice a change in the muscles in my legs and arms, but I'm not sure what exercises to do to work my abs. Besides sit-ups, I mean. Any ideas?
  • Oh, there's tons of stuff you can do.... I have a hard time explaining anything though, so here's a site....

    http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises.htm



    Hope it helps!
  • Awesome! Thanks!

    BTW, I LOVE your avatar.
  • You might want to try weighted crunches - crunching holding a weight plate/stacked dumbell either behind your head or across your chest.
  • Quote: You might want to try weighted crunches - crunching holding a weight plate/stacked dumbell either behind your head or across your chest.
    I have been doing a few of these at the gym. How many would you suggest doing per day?
  • Do them with your weights routine and however many sets & reps you do for the rest! For eg, if you're doing 3 sets of 10 reps for other things, find the right weight you can handle and do 3 sets of 10. Personally I'm working to "near failure" so am doing low-ish reps with heavy weights. I also only work my abs with weighted crunches once a week, but you might want to try different ab exercise on another day.

    Also the abs are like any other muscle and need rest to repair, so if you're really pushing yourself with resistance on your abs you need to have a day's rest between ab exercises.
  • Ah, I see. Makes sense. Thanks for the tips.
  • I'm addicted to fitball, and try to do an abs session on the ball twice a week, sometimes on my own, sometimes in a class. I love it and have noticed a big difference in my core strength and co ordination since I started using it. Have you got one at your gym?
  • I think we might have one at the gym. My husband and I are actually planning on moving in about a month (farther from the gym) so I won't be able to make it to the gym as much as I do now, so we're going to invest in some exercise equipment that I can use at home on days I don't have time to drive to the gym (like half an hour, 40 minutes away by the time you drive through town), and I really want to get an exercise ball and some dumbbells and maybe an elliptical or something like that.
  • Yup, that's too far from a gym to make a commitment to get there often - IMHO Now the one I go to is 5 minutes from work, 10 from home, so no excuse!
  • Yeah, it's the closest one to us, though. It would only take about 15-20 minutes, but it's on the other side of town, so it takes longer.

    I plan to go to the gym about 3 times a week and then work out at home the rest of the week. We'll see how that goes. I'm much better at making myself work out longer when I go to the gym.