What's the Best Abdominal Exercise For Your Ab Workouts

Since I am a personal trainer, I am often asked ... What is Abdominal Training?

And my answer often depends on the goal.

Now, I know most people want to know what is best to do to get rid of fat in their stomachs, but unfortunately ab exercises alone do little to help eliminate belly fat.

This is known as the place reduction myth. Because of the powerful marketing companies, consumers still think they can work in their place and magically melt fat from that place, but that's not how the body works.

Abdominal exercises are helpful in supporting good posture, preventing lower back pain, and improving function and performance. Abdominal exercises are not good for reducing belly fat.

Okay, back to the best abdominal exercises.

There is a study done called finding the safest stomach challenge that measures work to compression ratio. This study looked at nine exercises and compared muscle work in abs to lower back pressure during each exercise.

According to this study, workouts that work the hardest of the abdominal muscles as well as the lowest pressure on the lower back are crunches with the feet on the bench or ball. When the leg is released, it takes some arches at the bottom and takes pressure off the joints.

In addition, workouts that work on the hardest of the abdominal muscles also put the highest pressure on the lower back and the exercise is a double leg lift.

To determine which exercise is best, you must consider fitness goals. For example if someone has a lower back, crunches with the legs can be the best abdominal exercise as they work the abs really hard but don't put a ton of pressure on the lower back.

However, if you are an athlete looking for serious core strength, a double leg boost may be the best abdominal exercise for you.

And what about the oblique muscles. External and internal oblique muscles really work hard when you move forward, such as in crunches or sitting, but to maximize muscle work in obliques, you must include rotation, rotation, or bending.

So if you want to find the best exercise to strengthen your obliques, you can do sideways, bike crunches, or oblique crunches.

Almost all exercises have benefits, so the most important thing is to be active and exercise. The best exercises for you may be the ones you like the most because you can do them consistently.

Whatever exercise you choose, continue well and stay consistent!

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