Best Ab Exercises Youve Never Heard of.

[ThePolishHammer]

Alright, as a recreational gymnast, I know some pretty deadly ab exercises you guys might want to try. There harder then anysort of crunch, or leg raise. Guarenteed.

Slide outs:
Get in the push up position, arms straight, not out to your sides. Put your feet on a floor matt (something that will slide) And slide your feet out (or walk them out if you dont have a matt). Continue to slide as far as you can go. Try to get to a point you can hold for 15-20 seconds. Then get back up, slide down to that depth, and hold again. Continue this untill youve reached 60 seconds. Eventually you should be able to slide out so far, that your nose will almost touch the ground.

Timed L-sits
Similar to a leg raise, but harder. Sit on the ground with your legs together and infront of you. Place your hands down beside you and push up. You can do this on your fingers or fists if you want to give yourself some more height to work with. Keep your legs elevated off the ground and straight. Hold this for as long as possible.

Timed V-sits
One step above l-sits, and signifigantly harder. The same thing this time, except you bring your legs to your face (or as close as possible), and hold for as long as you can. A little bending of the knees is acceptable. But try to keep it minimal.

Reverse Handstand/Headstand.
If you cant do a handstand dont worry. You can do this against a wall. Kick yourself into a handstand against the wall (back facing the wall), and lower your feet down till they touch the ground. Or as far as you can bring them. If you have trouble balancing get a spotter to help guide your toes. If a handstand is too hard you can do this in a tri-pod headstand, or a headstand against the wall. Do these to failiure.

These are some of the best ab exercises ive been introduced to. Some of em a real bitch. but try a few, its worth it

-The

 

[bignate73]

as a gymnast in high school, i am pretty familiar with those. also studying martial arts through high school as well, leaves one wide open to "experiencing" all sorts of ingenious ab terrors. its a damn shame i havent been as dilligent in my ab work these past couple years...

i used to have very good ab endurance.

another good one are seated "L"'s on the ground. basically like a gymnast would do on parallel bars or rings in the L position but elevate yourself off the ground. very good for shoulder stabilization, tricep endurance and of course abs/hip flexors.

 

[Nonerz]

i used to have very good ab endurance.

Don't worry baby, your endurance is just fine!

 

[Zyglamail]

Slide outs:
Get in the push up position, arms straight, not out to your sides. Put your feet on a floor matt (something that will slide) And slide your feet out (or walk them out if you dont have a matt). Continue to slide as far as you can go. Try to get to a point you can hold for 15-20 seconds. Then get back up, slide down to that depth, and hold again. Continue this untill youve reached 60 seconds. Eventually you should be able to slide out so far, that your nose will almost touch the ground.

-The

An alternative to this that I like is to simple lay flat on stomach, toes bent so balls of feet are on floor. Put arms up over your head then contact and lift mid section off floor a couple inches and hold. Ideally you should only be able to hold this for 5 seconds, if you can hold it for more you need t move arms out in front of you farther. Once you get out to a full arm extension and can do 5 sets of 5 reps with ease time to get the "wheel" (you know, those little lawnmower wheels with a handle sticking out each side). Hold one out at arms length and snap up to a standing position. Ive seen it done and its quite impressive.