The best abs workouts will help you develop a strong core if added as a routine into your training.
Strong core muscles are essential for all athletes. Six pack abs are not – but they are fun, and also a goal for some people.
CrossFit and functional fitness always put function over looks, unlike bodybuilding for example, which generally prioritises aesthetics over fitness. The former can be a healthier approach to fitness, because your body becomes defined by what it can do, and not just by how it looks.
In the end it all comes down to what you are training for, and what goals you would like to reach. Whatever your targets, these are the best abs workouts to help you forge strong core muscles and six pack abs.
Remember that without the right nutrition, you will not see or experience any meaningful results.
THE BEST ABS WORKOUTS
Superhero Abs Workout Routine
Total Abs Routine
WHAT IS YOUR CORE?
The core is the group of interlinked muscles that make up the trunk of your body and keep your spine in place. These deeper Muscles include your transverse abdominals, multifidus, diaphragm, pelvic floor and internal abdominal obliques.
WHAT DOES YOUR CORE DO?
Put simply, your core is the base for almost all the functional movements you will ever perform. It allows you to:
- Stabilise movement
- Transfer and control force throughout your body
- Protect your spine
- Support your other limbs
The collection of muscles that make up this trunk of your body help to control and transform the force that you create into the movements you want to perform. From throwing a stone into a lake, picking up vegetables from the bottom of the fridge, or hitting a new Deadlift PR, core stability and strength is vital for enabling you to complete a huge array of activities.
The Best Beginner Abs Workouts
Master Pack Abs Workout Routine
HOW YOUR CORE CONTROLS MOVEMENT
Your core provides functional movement across all three planes of motion:
The Sagittal Plane – This divides the body into two halves and weight and movement are transferred up and down along a straight line. Think Thrusters, Squats and Cleans
The Coronal Plane – Here the plane divides the body into front and back and includes all sideways movements. Lateral lunges are a good example of this.
Transverse Plain – Movements along this plane split the body into a top and bottom half. Russian Twists are an exercise that moves along the Transverse Plain.
Your core stabilises and controls all your movement, so think now about a WOD involving heavy Squat Cleans, Handstand walks and legless rope climbs. Each of these exercises requires your core to stabilise and control your body in a different way, and will test its functional capability.
PERFORMING WITHOUT INJURY
Developing a strong core is an incredibly effective measure for preventing you from getting hurt. Athletes with higher core stability have a lower risk of injury, as they are able to operate with strong and controlled movement patterns. When a powerful core is combined with the results of dedicated mobility and strength work, then you start looking at the foundations of a very well rounded athlete.
Understanding this also helps to create a mentality that looks towards long term health. A strong core will not only make you a better athlete now, but will help reduce the risk of injury in the future as well.
Lower Abs Workout
Morning Abs Routine
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORE AND 6 PACK
On a purely aesthetic level, a 6 pack is a combination of good nutrition and well developed rectus abdominis muscles. These are exterior muscles, visible once a person’s body fat percentage becomes low enough. It is fully possible to have a well developed 6 pack yet still have a weak core.
If you work hard on your core, and maintain a strict nutritional plan, then a 6 pack will develop as an ancillary bonus, a side product and a result of the work that you put in.
Sports like CrossFit place functionality first, so as you develop the strength of your core and the effectiveness of your movements, you also train the external muscles such as the external obliques and the rectus abdominis.
EXERCISES THAT FORGE ROCK SOLID CORE STRENGTH
So what do you need to do and which exercises should you add into your programming to create incredible core strength?
1. FULL BODY COMPOUND LIFTS
DEADLIFT
When it comes to core exercises, you cannot go wrong with the Deadlift. It requires absolute stability and taxes your ability to generate and control enough force to shift a large amount of weight – probably more than you can move with any other lift. It does not isolate any particular area within the core, instead stressing your whole body in a highly functional way.
Look at the 20016 CrossFit® Regionals, Event 5 was called ‘Corediac Arrest’, and it involved both heavy Deadlifts and GHD Sit Ups, a huge test for the core strength of the Athletes. The programming for the event placed the Deadlifts right at the end of the WOD to make them even more difficult, and you could see this from the pain and determination etched into the faces of the athletes as they powered through them and completed the workout.
SQUAT
In a similar way to the Deadlift, you cannot Squat well without a tight core. Stability is absolutely essential so that you don’t crumple into poor form when faced with heavier weights.
Your core has to stabilise your spine and keep it in a neutral position throughout the full range of motion, from top to bottom.
Exposing the group of muscles that make up your core to this kind of pressure forces them to strengthen and develop.
The Deadlift and the Squat will both fortify your core in a way that will be extremely helpful for you during other lifts such as the Snatch, Overhead Squat or Split Jerk, as all 3 of these also require significant core strength to perform well.
2. CORE EXRECISES
These exercises will all target and work your core and lower back in unique ways
- L Sits
- GHD Sit Ups
- Planks and Side Planks
- Toes to Bar
- Good Mornings
- Back Extensions
- Handstand Holds
- Russian Twists
- D-Ball Cleans
Abs Exercises: L-SIT
The L-sit hold is a deceptively brutal exercise with benefits that go way beyond the visual. Not only will this exercise help fill out your sleeves and chisel your abs, it will improve the health of your shoulders, help you with your deadlift, and build functional core strength as well. How do you do it? The L-sit hold is best done on a pair of parallettes. Nearly every gym has dip bars, and you can even do L-sits on a pair of push up bars, on kettlebells, yoga blocks, or even on a pair of benches. You just need two sturdy and secure platforms of the same height that will lift your butt off the ground when you lock your arms pushing down in between them.
“L-Sit may be the most effective ab exercise. Athletes that can hold it for 3 minutes subsequently find all other ab work easy” Greg Glassman
To perform an L-sit, position yourself between the parallettes, set shoulder-width apart. Using a firm, neutral grip, push your body off the ground, locking your elbows as if you’re at the top of a dip exercise. Make sure to keep your shoulders down as you lock your knees and hold your legs together tightly, forming a 90-degree angle with your torso. Your legs should be parallel to the ground.
Abs Exercises: FROG CRUNCH
This variation will not only challenge your balance and stability, but also target your lower abs and strengthen your entire core. Start seated with your knees bent out in front of you. Lean back slightly so your torso is at a 45-degree angle to the floor and your shins are parallel to the floor. Keep your abs involved as you straighten your legs and simultaneously bring your arms out to the side. Bring your arms and legs back in to the starting position. Continue pulsing like this as you hold your core steady.
Abs Exercises: BICYCLE CRUNCH
The bicycle crunch is an excellent exercise for building core strength and toning the thighs. It can be performed anywhere with no equipment needed.
Lie flat on the floor with the lower back pressed into the ground. Place your hands slightly either side of your head, do not lock your fingers or pull the head up. Lift your knees to a 45 degree angle.
At first slowly go through a bicycle pedal motion with the legs. Alternately touching your elbows to the opposite knee twisting back and forth through the core, keep the elbows back rather than forward to the chest as this could strain the neck.
Abs Exercises: RUNNING MAN SIT-UP
It’s a bit like if the bicycle crunch got together with a standard sit-up. HOW TO DO IT: Lie flat on the floor with your hands behind your head. Exhale as you curl up, twisting your torso and bending your right knee so that you left elbow crosses over your right knee. Drop all the way back down to the start before repeating on the other side.
Abs Exercises: REVERSE CRUNCH PULSE
Begin lying on your back with your legs up in the air, perpendicular to the floor. Keep your arms down along your side with your palms facing down. Squeeze your lower abs and raise your butt and lower back off the floor with quick pulses. Try not to rely on momentum, but focus on only using your lower abs. You can do it either with legs straight up or legs bent at the knees with shins parallel to the floor.
Abs Exercises: RUSSIAN TWIST
Grab a medicine ball, dumbbell, or weight plate and sit on the floor with your hips and knees bent 90 degrees. Hold the weight straight out in front of you and keep your back straight, your torso should be at about 45 degrees to the floor.
Explosively twist your torso as far as you can to the left, and then reverse the motion, twisting as far as you can to the right. The strength you need to paddle a raft is generated in your core, not your arms or shoulders. This is great for your obliques as well as six pack abs.
Abs Exercises: PLANK
The Plank helps you to build strength in your core, upper and lower body so it is a good full body work out. You do not need any equipment to perform this exercise all you need is a bit of space, and it really helps improve flexibility by stretching muscles and will improve posture if performed regularly.
Abs Exercises: T-CROSS SIT UP
Begin lying on the floor with your legs straight and arms out wide to the sides, making a T with your body. In a slow and controlled motion, sit up, lifting your right leg and twisting to the right to bring your left hand to your right toes. Hold this position for a moment, pulling your abs toward your spine. Slowly roll down to return to the starting position to complete one rep. Repeat on the other side.
