Think back to grade school gym class and you’ll probably be reminded of the classic sit up or crunch.  While this may not been one of the best ab workouts, many people haven’t advanced much past these primitive ab exercises, yet they wonder why they’re not getting the 6 pack abs that they seek.  The problem is these old school ab exercises can still be effective, however they cannot be your only strategy for getting 6 pack abs!

The reality is that abs are made in the kitchen, so let’s all assume we have the perfect diet and nutritional knowledge for right now. Training your abs is about feeling your abdominals contract when performing the motions. However, if you are going through the motions and making simple small mistakes, your results will simply be nonexistent and even the best ab workouts won’t help you get 6 pack abs! Let’s review 3 ways you can improve your ab workout:

Don’t lock your feet down.  The number one problem is people tend to lock their feet in during a sit-up (or on an ab exercise machine). By doing this you think that you are concentrating on the abdominal area, but that’s just not the case. By locking your feet during an abdominal exercise, you end up pulling your knees forward with your hip flexors instead of using all the force from your abdominals.  Instead, try lying backwards on a decline bench and hold your upper body in position when you perform a reverse sit up. In doing, this, you will be placing more of the work on the abdominal region instead of using your hip flexors.

Rotations and oblique crunches don’t cut it.  Have you been spending so much time on rotations that you feel like your doing the twist and shout? You need to be spending more time focusing on traditional abdominal training. Of course movements that incorporate rotation are beneficial for a strong core, but we’re trying to get those washboard abs remember? Try training your midsection in a circuit by incorporating Swiss ball crunches, planks, and traditional crunches for three sets of 20 reps of each exercise with no rest. Do a few rounds of that circuit, and move onto another abdominal exercise that doesn’t focus so much on your core.

Keep it interesting to keep your abs engaged for the best abs workouts!  To really maximize gains in your abs, you need to make sure you progress forward. The same concept goes for if your training your biceps; you continually get stronger by increasing the amount of weight you can curl. Instead of getting down on the ground and doing the same exercises with the same number of reps, you should aim for new records or trying more dynamic moves. When you seem to think you’re reaching the plateau, its time to modify your routine. Try movements like wall planks and oblique twists to ensure modification.