You don’t need to spend money to get a six pack. All you need is a mat, a towel and the floor. With a proper diet and an exercise plan that works for you, you can have those washboard abs you see in the magazines in no time at all. The AB Wheel is optional. You can always use the one in the gym or borrow one if you have to. Use a towel if you have a slippery floor to perform your rollouts.
Follow this AB flattening guide and see your abs pop out for the first time.
- Rotating Planks. Think of a rotisserie grill when doing this exercise. You will be “rotating” yourself while in a plank position, hitting all your core muscles and giving your hips and back an excellent workout.
- Assume a front plank position, with your forearms and toes touching the floor, feet together.
- Keep your body straight and rigid, squeeze your glutes and use your ab muscles to keep you tummy flat.
- After 45-60 seconds in the front plank, turn to your right and immediately do a side plank.
- This should be done without pause and should be seamless, with the only points of contact on the floor being your right elbow, forearm and foot.
- Hold for 45-60 seconds and immediately rotate into a left side plank. Hold it again for 45-60 seconds and return to the front plank position. That’s one rep.
- Do this for 3 – 6 reps.
- V –Ups. V-Ups are great for strengthening the entire core. The time under tension and stretching this exercise provides is great for sculpting a six pack. Be careful with this exercise though, because you can easily pull your back muscles if you do the movement incorrectly.
- Lie flat on your back with your arms stretched and slowly raise your upper body along with your legs, forming a “V”.
- You must be able to touch your toes.
- Slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position. That’s one rep.
- Helicopters. Just as the name implies, this awesome exercise hits upper abs, lower abs and obliques by utilizing circular leg movement. Be sure to wear some flexible leggings, because you will be rotating your entire lower body with this exercise. It’s best not to show some skin.
- Lie on a flat bench up to your butt, with your legs hanging.
- Visualize that your legs are the blades of a helicopter and starting from the middle, rotate clockwise for a full revolution, then counter-clockwise and return to the starting position. That’s one rep.
- Hanging Leg Raises. Hands down, the best exercise for your midsection because it works your entire core, firing up and strengthening your stabilizer muscles and giving your abs a great workout. When you do a hanging leg raise, you effectively target your abdominals because nothing else is there to support the movement of raising your legs. If you can’t do a full leg raise, you can do a knee raise instead.
- Hang from a pull up bar and slowly raise your legs until your body forms an “L”.
- Keep your legs straight and rigid.
- Slowly lower your legs back down. That’s one rep.
- The AB Wheel. You’ll find this gadget in a lot of gyms because it’s cheap -usually $5at Walmart and up to $14at eBay- and it’s very effective. Studies have shown that the abdominals are worked best when they are stretched out as opposed to crunching.
- The AB Wheel works by stretching your whole midsection when you “roll out” and working your entire core when you reel yourself back in.
- Hits your abs, shoulders, arms and back.
- Don’t be fooled by its simplicity, because this machine can and will kick your butt. Your midsection will be so sore the next day; you’ll hardly be able to move.
There you have it, 5 exercises for a flatter tummy. They won’t cost you a dime, (except for the AB Wheel) can be done at home or in the gym and are proven to be effective at tightening and toning your midsection.
