Three simple "six pack" exercises you can do at home?

[Lark]

Any top tips for the three greatest six pack exercises you could easily do at home?

I'm really going to start working on this in the gym as the stones drop off and I get to proper weight but I was wondering what there is for the days I dont make it to the gym, what I could do in the morning or at night to really get defined abs and "armour up" my mid rift.

I'm also curious as to whether or not the same exercises are a waste of time if you've not reached your BMI yet and consequently do not have a flat stomach to begin with if you know what I mean.

 

[Stanton Moore]

The best thing is probably to just 'put the fork down.'

Seriously, losing weight happens through diet mostly. You can work your abs all you want but they wont show until you are pretty lean, and most people cant reach that level.
It doesn't mean you're not fit though. You can't seem my six pack, but I'm more fit than friends who is much leaner.

 

[wolfy]

Some kind of crunch, some kind of leg raise and some kind of hover.

 

[Lark]

Some kind of crunch, some kind of leg raise and some kind of hover.

I know crunches and leg raises what is this "hover"?

 

[wolfy]

I know crunches and leg raises what is this "hover"?

Called plank as well.

 

[Lark]

Called plank as well.

Oh yeah, I can do those, with relative ease too, I always wonder if I'm doing them wrong.

 

[kyuuei]

Changing up the same 'type' helps. Also, cutting is a HUGE part of six-pack gaining. You can have BADASS abs but never see them if there's no cutting. You pretty much need to be at a really low fat percentage, especially for men since the stomach is where they tend to carry weight.

- Diets that are designed to cut
- Crunches, raises, and endurance drills like planks: wolfy was spot on on those.

We changed them up a LOT. So floor work one day. Ball work another day. Machine work a third day (including doing drills with pull-up bars like leg lifts and tucks) and so on. Your abs can take a lot of abuse and workload, you can exercise them pretty much daily without hurting them. But once you develop the muscle, it still won't show without loss of fat in the entire body.

 

[Lark]

I've got some definition in my legs and arms now, well, more than I had but I think I've still got three or four stone to lose to be BMI.

BMI is my starting line for proper development if you know what I mean. Just thinking of what I can actually do now and besides one machine that I know of abs arent going to be created by resistance training or cardio training either so fare as I know.

 

[Anew Leaf]

the plank is my favorite exercise actually.

it really helps strengthen your back, sides, and stomach... the whole core package. there are a bunch of variations to do too.

 

[Lark]

the plank is my favorite exercise actually.

it really helps strengthen your back, sides, and stomach... the whole core package. there are a bunch of variations to do too.

I dont know them all, I've seen something like it which is creating and holding an X pattern and then lifting an arm or leg one at a time, then an arm and a leg both.

 

[Eugene Watson VIII]

I see some of my friends still going to the gym, not knowing where their money might go and where they're better off. Idiots.

My advise is...it's all at home. Food is just a paper weight now. You put it on the table, but not on the plate; you'll now be eating curls. Treadmill? how about just do it on the lawn, it's a free country. Your property has anything imaginable that's in a gym, + your money: put that where your stomach knows best. treat yourself mang.

then you'll have your abs.

Enjoy your free country.

 

[wolfy]

Oh yeah, I can do those, with relative ease too, I always wonder if I'm doing them wrong.

You can make them more difficult by lifting arms and/or legs.

 

[kyuuei]

Yeah. A typical floor day for us:

3 sets of the following:
- 20 crossfit situps (cross your legs, lay back, sit up without lifting the legs and feet from the ground.)
- 20 moderate speed bicycles
- 10 Leg lifts
- 10 Toe touches (legs in the air straight up, back on the ground, lean up and try to touch your toes.)
- 10 V-ups (Hands over your head, extended straight, legs straight as well. Lift yourself up into a "v" then set back down.)
- 1 minute of planks, alternating between lifting left leg/right arm and right leg/left arm.

Rest for a minute or two, and repeat.

 

[Udog]

I've been on a program for the past 10 weeks that emphasizes core work. Things to look at:

1. Plank
2. Side planks

When the plank is easy:
1. Plank on stability ball
2. Back and forth / circles / figure 8 plank on stability ball: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTdCuZ0Mfio

And recently, the following two exercises have been added, and they KILL me.
1. Spiderman Crawl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K7rv_vFOWM&feature=related
2. Lateral Crawl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzIZjRXGUcY

 

[Seymour]

The best thing is probably to just 'put the fork down.'

Seriously, losing weight happens through diet mostly. You can work your abs all you want but they wont show until you are pretty lean, and most people cant reach that level.
It doesn't mean you're not fit though. You can't seem my six pack, but I'm more fit than friends who is much leaner.

I entirely agree.

• A visible six pack is all about an absence of fat. Everyone has a six pack, but for most it's obscured by excess weight.
• There's no such thing as "spot" or "targeted" weight loss. People have predispositions to gain weight in certain areas, and specific exercises don't change that.
• Given the above, specific exercises can make your abs bigger or add definition to them. However, unless your stomach area is mostly fat free, that's not going to help.
• Therefore, diet is the primary means to a six pack, followed by cardio exercise and weight lifting, then other core/ab exercises. (That's not to say the core exercises aren't good for other reasons.)

If you don't lose the fat, you're never going to have a visible six pack no matter how fit you otherwise are.

 

[Lark]

I've been on a program for the past 10 weeks that emphasizes core work. Things to look at:

1. Plank
2. Side planks

When the plank is easy:
1. Plank on stability ball
2. Back and forth / circles / figure 8 plank on stability ball: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTdCuZ0Mfio

And recently, the following two exercises have been added, and they KILL me.
1. Spiderman Crawl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K7rv_vFOWM&feature=related
2. Lateral Crawl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzIZjRXGUcY

I've done those last two things before, years ago when I was doing Karate, and I also did something called the crab, in which you have your back towards the floor and hands and feet on the ground and sort of "run" sideways, I like those and dont have difficulty with them (which is surprising considering I cant do press ups).

 

[Lark]

I entirely agree.

• A visible six pack is all about an absence of fat. Everyone has a six pack, but for most it's obscured by excess weight.
• There's no such thing as "spot" or "targeted" weight loss. People have predispositions to gain weight in certain areas, and specific exercises don't change that.
• Given the above, specific exercises can make your abs bigger or add definition to them. However, unless your stomach area is mostly fat free, that's not going to help.
• Therefore, diet is the primary means to a six pack, followed by cardio exercise and weight lifting, then other core/ab exercises. (That's not to say the core exercises aren't good for other reasons.)

If you don't lose the fat, you're never going to have a visible six pack no matter how fit you otherwise are.

The whole reason I want a "six pack" is because I see it as the final evidence that I have beaten my body fat issues once and for all but I dont think that simply losing weight will make it materialise, my arms and legs did not have muscle definition until I did weight training or resistance training and they dont really have that much muscle or definition yet, just the beginnings of it or potential.

Diet might be important, at least in the sense that you need to proper fuel which is perhaps neutrition rather than "diet", but I think exercise is what promotes so called "weight loss", you can starve or switch up what you're eating all you like, it'll probably be a good way to mess up your blood sugars but it'll achieve nothing.

 

[Udog]

Seymour is right. 6-pack abs are entirely a function of body fat percentage. Very low body fat percentage... Generally the 8% range, plus or minus, for males. If you can do planks and those exercises I mentioned easily, you have enough abs for a 6 pack. You just gotta focus losing the fat that covers them.

Nutrition and diet are extremely important as well. Exercise triggers your body to try to make changes like burning fat or muscle fiber hypertrophy, but it's the right nutrients at the right time that enables those things to happen. Exercise without proper nutrition is mostly a waste of time, and slows your progress at best and leads to pleatues, or fat gain, at worst.

 

[Lark]

Seymour is right. 6-pack abs are entirely a function of body fat percentage. Very low body fat percentage... Generally the 8% range, plus or minus, for males. If you can do planks and those exercises I mentioned easily, you have enough abs for a 6 pack. You just gotta focus losing the fat that covers them.

Nutrition and diet are extremely important as well. Exercise triggers your body to try to make changes like burning fat or muscle fiber hypertrophy, but it's the right nutrients at the right time that enables those things to happen. Exercise without proper nutrition is mostly a waste of time, and slows your progress at best and leads to pleatues, or fat gain, at worst.

Well so far the exercise is working for me, I feel great and am shedding weight in fat.

 

[Udog]

Well so far the exercise is working for me, I feel great and am shedding weight in fat.

Awesome! Diet doesn't have to be perfect. IF you start stalling with weight loss, then you might want to look into it. But certainly no need to fix whats working.