Six Pack Abs Exercises Workout Plan

The following article by Craig Ballantyne explains how to work your abs more effectively by combining explosive and static ab exercises.

I perform the medicine ball slam as part of my explosive ab workout. Here’s how I do it:

1. Start position: Hold medicine ball with your arms extended overhead.
2. In one continuous motion, bring the ball down in front of you like you are chopping wood.
3. You will have to bend at your knees (or squat) to complete this.
4. Drive the ball up to starting position and repeat.

The difference between this ab exercise and the one described by Craig below is that I don’t move my legs. My feet are shoulder-width (or slightly more) apart. These 2 variations of medicine ball slam are equally effective.

Try it out yourself!

******************************************

A new research study showed that doing ab exercises “faster” (aka explosively) lead to more work done by the ab muscles.

Here’s what you need to know about this study, and why this info is both good and bad.

First of all, there are two ways to increase the amount of muscle used in any movement. One is to increase the resistance, and the second is to increase the velocity.

Both require more muscle fibers to produce force, and more importantly, recruit your fast twitch muscles. However, while this is an interesting report about the abs, we have to be careful not to take it to extremes.

First, explosive movements cause more muscle damage, and that means more muscle soreness.

Second, you can’t talk about the abs without talking about the low-back and spine. Your low-back and abs want endurance for health and safety, but we want maximum abdominal recruitment for six pack abs.

So here’s the best way to keep everyone happy…

a) do only one explosive ab movement per workout
b) do at least one ab endurance exercise per workout

Explosive Ab Exercises

-> Medicine ball slams
-> Sledgehammer swings
-> Kettlebell swings
-> Sandbag swings
-> Band pulldowns

A medicine ball slam is just like an angry soccer throw in.

Hold the ball at waist height, step forward with one leg while raising the ball overhead (stretching your abs), as you plant your foot, reverse your arm direction and contract your abs and drive the medicine ball into the ground. Pick the ball up and repeat for 6 reps.

After you’ve done your explosive ab exercise, you can do something like a plank, side plank, or plank with your arms on the ball for your abdominal endurance exercise.

That will help you work more of your abs while supporting your “core” muscles - plus you don’t have to suffer the dishonor of crunches.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training For Abs workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training For Abs website.

******************************************

Share This