Abs Exercise Advice

After you’ve finished a jaunt on the treadmill and enough sets of biceps curls, don’t head to the locker room for a shower -- instead, spend time working on your abdominal muscles. Your abs work in conjunction with other core muscles, the lower back, hips and pelvis, to keep your body balanced and stable. While the goal to improve your abdominal strength might be purely physical, exercising your abs properly also offers other benefits, including improved stability and balance, better posture, reduced risk of injury and the ability to complete daily tasks more easily.

  1. Work Your Whole Body

    • Your abs work so closely with other parts of your body that it’s more effective to train them in conjunction with other muscle groups. Rather than powering through hundreds of crunches in an attempt to spot reduce your midsection, try a program such as Pilates. This strengthening program focuses on your core muscles, but also works your arms, legs, back and glutes at the same time. It also targets each section of your abs -- the rectus abdominis, internal and external obliques and the transversus abdominis -- to provide a full abdominal workout.

    Breathe Properly

    • Your muscles need enough oxygen to work at full capacity, according to “Shape” magazine, so don’t hold your breath while engaging in ab exercises. To breathe properly, inhale on the easier part of the move -- when doing a crunch, this is on the way down -- and exhale when you’re exerting the most force.

    Add Isometrics

    • The time you spend sitting at the desk or commuting to work could be used to do isometric exercises, also known as the Weider Iso-Tension Principle, according to Muscle & Fitness. Flex a body part -- in this case, your abs -- and hold it for six to 10 seconds. Relax for another six to 10 seconds, and then flex again. Repeat this pattern 10 to 20 times to make your time spent sitting down much more valuable.

    Incorporate Cardio Exercise

    • You might build muscle through strength-training exercises, but your abs will never have the defined appearance you crave if there’s a layer of fat on top of that muscle. To blast the fat away, engage in at least 45 minutes of cardio activity three to five times a week; moderate-intensity exercises include running, biking, swimming, dancing or play a fast-paced sport such as tennis or soccer.