How to Train Your Abs

This article will give you the truth to achieving awesome abs to show off during the summer months. There are three main points to consider to achieve awesome abdominals.

1. Abdominal training

2. Diet

3. Cardiovascular exercise

This article will focus on number one, abdominal training. Once your diet and cardio program is in check, you want to treat your abs like any other muscle. You have to train them with resistance.

People seem to train their ab muscle different than any other muscles. This is a big mistake, you wouldn't build your biceps by doing 100 reps, so why would you think you will develop your abdominals by doing 100 crunches or more?

Some great exercises are cable rope crunches, weighted flat crunches, weighted incline crunches, seated leg lifts, reverse crunches and hanging leg raises. These hit all the muscles of the abs and will make them hard and strong. Do 2-3 exercises, 2-3 sets and 10-12 reps once a week. Once a week is enough if you're training your abs with resistance. Like any other muscle they need time and nourishment to recover and develop.

The second edition to your abdominal training should be the use of a Stability Ball. You might have seen them in your local gym and wondered what they are for.

Not only are they awesome for working the entire musculature. They allow you to build overall core strength and stability by bringing into play all the little stability muscles that you cannot stimulate through regular resistance exercise. You can do almost any weight training exercise on them using dumbbells. Most professional athletes today are trained on this piece of equipment to develop functional core strength.

3 sets of 10-12 reps of Swiss ball crunches and leg raises should give you the results your looking for. Keep both abdominal workouts 2-3 days apart to allow for rest and recovery.