Your core is everything. It’s the center of your body, what your legs and arms use to anchor their strength, what gives you balance, solidity, strength and power. Plus it looks great—having a set of rippled abs showing when you pull off your shirt is always a plus, no matter where or why. Of course, you need to burn off your body fat to show them, but here are some killer ab workouts to get those washboard abs ready for the summer.
Plank Oblique’s
Get into plank position. That’s where you go into a push up stance, and lower down onto your forearms. Even that right there is an excellent workout for your abs, holding plank for a minute will have you wobbling like a jellyfish, but we’re going to kick it up a notch. From plank, rotate your body slightly to the right, and then bring up your right knee and lower your right arm so that elbow and knee touch. Hold that and squeeze your core for three breaths, and then turn and do the same for the other side. Really crunch those abs so that you feel the burn, and do as many reps as you feel comfortable with.
Triangle Crucifix
Another brutal ab workout. Get into a push up position once more, and then rotate all the way to the right, so that you’re supporting yourself on your straight left arm, and place one foot ontop of the other. Lift your hand straight up until its pointing at the ceiling, and hold for a beat. Feel that burn? From there, to take it to the next level, bring your right knee up and touch it to your right elbow again. Hold for three breaths, and then switch sides and do as may reps as you can. Brutal!
Killer Crunch
Lie on the floor as if ready to do a regular crunch, hands behind your head, knees up. Draw in your belly button, as if you were trying to push it to the floor, and then and crunch off the floor but pulling to your right, bringing you right knee closer and higher than your left, while simultaneously lowering your right elbow so that they touch. Repeat for the left side, and alternate moving from side to side. Again, hold each position for three breaths, and then alternate.
Remember, one of the key muscles in your core are the obliques, which are the long, lateral muscles that frame your six pack. People who just focus on their abs and don’t work the rest of their core muscles will often find themselves with unbalanced and weak cores—you need to work out all your core muscles! These three exercises will kill your obliques and test your core to the max. Try them three times a week, and see if you can notice steady gains as you work harder to hold them for longer. With effort, time and dedication, you’ll find yourself developing that hard, iron core you’ve been wanting!
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