Ab Workouts for Men

Your abdominal muscles consist of 3 major muscle groups and 4 distinct areas: the upper abs, lower abs, obliques, and transversus abs. Any complete ab workout works all of these abdominal muscle groups. The following basic ab workouts for men consist of four exercises to target these four distinct areas. The more advanced ab routines add a combination abdominal exercise that works multiple muscle groups at the same time.

Just like with any other training routine, your body adapts to your current abdominal workout. Therefore, it is important to change your ab workouts every few weeks to continue developing your core strength and stability. The following article also provides a how to for developing routines that continually challenge and improve your core.

Pre-Designed Ab Workouts for Men

Easy Workouts

Ab Workouts for Men #1: Difficulty Level: Easy

Ab Workouts for Men #2: Difficulty Level: Easy

Easy-Medium Workouts

Ab Workouts for Men #3: Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

Ab Workouts for Men #4: Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

Medium Workouts

Ab Workouts for Men #5: Difficulty Level: Medium

Ab Workouts for Men #6: Difficulty Level: Medium

Medium-Hard Workouts

Ab Workouts for Men #7: Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard

Ab Workouts for Men #8: Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard

Designing Your Own Ab Workouts

Step 1: Select Your Difficulty Level – All of the abdominal exercises listed below are ranked by difficulty from easy to hard. Determine your level of core stability and strength. Then, begin at the level most appropriate for you.

For example:

• If you’re beginning to work your core for the first time or have not worked your core in awhile, start with easy exercises. If done properly, easy exercises will still challenge your core while building a necessary foundation. Do not skip to hard exercises. Beginning with advanced core exercises will lead you to use poor form to compensate for lack of core strength. Not only will this delay your core development but it will also increase your risk of injury.

• If you are more advanced and have been working your core regularly, begin with medium or hard exercises to better challenge your core. If you are unsure of your baseline fitness level, try different difficulty levels to find the core workout that works best for you.

Step 2: Choose your exercises – All of the exercises listed below are classified by abdominal region. Choose one or two exercises from each region to work the entire abdomen. Do not neglect any one abdominal area.

For example:

• If you are a beginner, you will be starting with easy exercises. A complete abdominal routine might include reverse crunches (upper abs), crunches: knees bent (lower abs), side crunches (obliques), and prone plank (transverse abs). As a beginner, try to avoid combination exercises at first, as these tend to be more difficult and potentially risk injury.

• If you are more advanced, you will start with medium or hard difficulty exercises. A complete ab routine might include seated knee raises (upper abs), toe touches (lower abs), hanging leg raises with bent knees: twisting (obliques), exercise ball roll-outs (transverse abs), and bicycles (upper/lower/obliques).

Below are links to articles with videos of lower and upper ab exercises, oblique exercises, transverse abdominal exercises, and combination abdominal exercises. Find all of these exercises listed by abdominal region below.

• Lower and Upper Abdominal Exercises
• Oblique Abdominal Exercises
• Transversus Abdominal Exercises
• Combination Abdominal Exercises

Step 3: If You Have Lower Back Problems, Check that Your Selected Exercises are NOT High Risk – All isolation exercises here are not high risk for back pain sufferers. However, certain advanced combination exercises are not suitable for men with back problems.

Step 4: Order Your Exercises - The order of your exercises in your ab workouts is not particularly important. However, you should change the order of your exercises each session to avoid complacency.

For example:

Step 5: Determine the Number of Sets and Repetitions – The number of sets and repetitions you perform in your ab workouts is not as important as the quality of your technique. Better technique with fewer sets and reps is always superior to poor technique many sets and reps. A general guideline is to begin with 2-3 sets of 10-20 repetitions of each exercise. You can also add additional sets or repetitions to challenge your core before you change to higher difficulty exercises.

For example:

That is it! Five simple steps that you can use to design your own ab workout. Change the workout every 2-4 weeks and gradually progress from easy to medium to hard exercises. This stepwise progression will continue to challenge and develop your core.

How many times per week should I perform my ab workouts?

The answer to this question largely depends on your goal. Three ab workouts per week is more than sufficient to build a strong stable core and give your abdominal muscles time to rest and recover. Additionally, Abdominal exercises do not target/burn abdominal fat. Abdominal exercises target abdominal muscles, making them stronger and frequently larger. In order to burn belly fat, one must perform cardiovascular exercise (See Aerobic Exercise) and/or implement a calorie-controlled diet routine (See Nutrition). Simply put, do not spend countless hours performing abdominal exercises to flatten your stomach. A combination of cardiovascular and abdominal strengthening exercises are necessary to reduce belly fat and improve core strength and flexibility.

Complete Listing of Exercises

Lower Abdominals

Upper Abdominals

Transverse Abdominals

Oblique Exercises

Combination Exercises

EMG’s Exercise Homepage: Exercise for Men

Updated: April 19, 2015