ZEPROG!

Are you tired of doing endless crunches, day after day, waiting for those six-pack abs to appear – then it’s time to shake things up with a new routine. So what do you do to get washboard abs? It’s time to move on to plank exercises. The planks exercise is a great way to really develop those core areas in place of the usual crunches. It may not be the sexiest exercise for you « manly men, » since planks are a yoga movement, but plank exercises are certainly one of the most effective ab exercises around.

Prior to going into the details of the exercise, I want to talk about why crunches are not the best abs exercise. The first problem you need to look at is belly fat – there’s no one exercise, not even crunches, that will reduce the fat in just that specific area. In order to see your abdominal muscles, you have to drop the extra weight by combining high intensity interval training workouts with a healthy, low fat diet.

You also need to have an exercise program that effectively targets the abs, which crunches do not do. Most people don’t realize that abs are part of your core muscles – their purpose is to straighten your spine and stabilize the body. Crunches involve the exact opposite movement, whereby you flex your spine and « crunch » at your back’s weakest point. As such, it adds tension to the lower part of your back and your posture gets worse.

A better alternative are situps, since you are at least forced to keep your back straight. But, situps do not target the abs and only focus on the muscles of the lower part of the back. And you end up with the problems you had before, lower back pain and bad posture. If you’re still not convinced, think of the age old advice of how to lift a heavy object. Bend at the knees and use your legs. By not doing this, you will be putting undo stress on your back muscles.

On the other hand, plank exercises will work your abdominal muscles and that’s why they’re one of the perfect core exercises. Planks force you to find and stay in a stable position, which requires strong abdominal and back muscles to be successful. A significant advantage of planks in terms of developing better looking abs is that they work the transverse abdominus (that holds in the rectus abdominus), while crunches focus on the rectus abdominus alone. In addition to back discomfort, if you only perform crunches, you will notice your abs protruding when you are turned sideways.

But with several plank exercises available, you can develop all the core muscles and avoid all these problems. A great one to begin with is the basic plank. Lie down as if you were preparing for a pushup, but instead of resting your weight on your hands, fold your arms and place the weight on your forearms. Once you lift up, you’ll want to hold your back as straight as you can while you keep your abdominals tucked in. This might not seem very difficult, but as you hold the exercise over time, you will notice it becomes more difficult. You might start with 30 second sets and work your way up to 2-3 minutes.

You only need to perform this routine 2 or 3 times a week. Remember, your muscles need to rest as well or you may end up causing more problems. Keep in mind that you will use your abs when you do other workouts too.

If you want to add more ab workouts, you might use other exercises that focus on strengthening your core and abs like leg raises (Convict Conditioning style…just like in a prison workout) or renegade rows. Renegade rows require you to be in a pushup position and perform a one-arm row while stabilizing yourself. You might also perform lying leg lifts or leg lifts. If you take your time when you do these, your back and ab muscles will be targeted.

The real path to washboard abs is through a strong core. The plank exercise is part of the best abs workout for women and men. A simple 5-10 minute routine performed 2-3 times per week is all it takes to increase core strength. You do not need to do crunches any longer, except if you want to get back discomfort, bad-looking abs, and a slouch. And make sure you’re spending plenty of time on fat burning workouts so you can eliminate the body fat that’s been concealing your core.