7 Best Ab Exercises That Help Work the Muscles of Your Core

Often, people confuse abs exercises with fat-burning workouts, but they are not the same.

Abdominal muscles are one of the most important muscle groups in your body, as they help in the movement of your body and provide for stability of your back. Abs are part of your core, so strengthening these muscles entails various benefits. That makes working and engaging the core muscles a sensible fitness goal.

Looking good is just one of the many advantages of strong abs and core muscles. A strong core will help you do other training and weightlifting workouts effectively. It will also help in reducing back pain and providing greater stability to your body.

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Best Abs Exercises for Engaging your Core Muscles

Here are seven best abs exercises to engage your core muscles:

1) Plank

This abs exercise will help you in building your core strength along with providing for better coordination and balance in the body. Plank also helps in building the alignment of the body and working on your core muscles. You should include a plank in your workout regime for stronger abs and core muscles.

How to do it?

• Get down on the floor. Position your elbows in line with your shoulders while extending your legs. Make sure your body forms a straight line.
• Keep your body weight on your toes and elbows.
• Squeeze your core and glutes for a better impact.
• Hold on for a while.
• Repeat.

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2) Russian Twists

This abs exercise can help in deeply engaging your core muscles as well as working on your shoulders. You can also do this exercise with some weight.

How to do it?

• Take a seat on the surface with your knees bent.
• Angle your spine at 45 degrees, and form a V shape with your thighs and torso.
• Bring your arms in front, with your abdominals twisting your body to the right side.
• Take your body towards the centre, and twist your abdominals on the other side.
• Repeat.

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3) Mountain Climber

This abs exercise can help you seriously engage your core muscles and increase your heart rate. The Mountain climber also helps in promoting the functional fitness of the body along with building mobility.

How to do it?

• Initial position – Stand on both knees and hands on the ground.
• Push one knee towards the chest while extending the other leg behind.
• Smoothly alternate between your legs at a decent speed while keeping your arms in the same spot.
• Repeat.

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4) Hanging Knee Raise

This abs exercise can effectively help in engaging your core muscles and controlling the abdominal muscles. Additionally, hanging knee raises can enable muscular development and building of functional strength.

How to do it?

• With an overhand grip, hang on the gym bar.
• With lower abs, start bending your knees and raising your legs upwards.
• Once your thighs correspond to the ground, start lowering your legs with control.
• Repeat.

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5) Hollow Hold

This abs exercise can help in building strength in the glutes and abs. The Hollow hold pose also works on the core muscles that stabilise your lower back.

How to do it?

• Lay flat on the ground, with your arms straightened overhead and legs straight.
• With control, raise your legs, head, shoulder blades and arms off the ground.
• Maintain this pose for a few seconds before returning to the initial position.
• Repeat.

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6) Lateral Bear Walk

This abs exercise actively targets all your core muscles. You should include a lateral bear walk in your workout routine.

How to do it?

• Assume the position of the bear plank - stand on all your fours. Raise your knees approximately one foot from the ground, and keep your eyes on the ground.
• Keeping your head aligned with your tailbone, move a couple of steps with your feet and hands towards your right side.
• Do the same for the other side.
• Repeat.

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7) Shoulder Tap and Jack

This abs exercise helps strengthen the core muscles and provides for better mobility.

How to do it?

• Assume the plank position.
• With your core engaged, jump your feet towards the outside as you tap on your left shoulder with your right hand.
• Power to the initial position.
• Repeat.

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Takeaway

To engage your core muscles, you need to regularly do abs exercises. The exercises mentioned above can help you work on your core muscles and provide several benefits, such as better mobility, reduced back pain, toning of the body, getting a chiselled look, strengthening of the muscles, and so on.

These exercises can do wonders if they are actively included in your workout routine. Be cautious of the position you assume to avoid straining on any muscles. You can also take the help of fitness specialists to work on your posture during these exercises.