hugorivera

Since I get so many questions on what good abdominal training routines look like, below are three ab routines that can be performed easily from the comfort of your home or at the gym. One routine is for beginners, one for intermediates, and the other one is for advanced bodybuilders. The last routines are for competitive bodybuilders or for highly advanced bodybuilders who want to challenge themselves and try them out.

As always, keep in mind that no amount of abdominal training will give you the “ripped” six-pack look unless you follow a fat loss diet. Abdominal training serves to stimulate and firm up the muscles of the abdomen while the diet along with cardiovascular exercise are the ones that strip off the body fat covering these muscles.

Beginners’ Abdominal Training Routine

Monday
Crunches (preferably performed on Swiss Ball)
Knee-Ins

Wednesday
Lying Leg Raises
Partial Sit-Ups (only go 30 degrees above ground)

Friday
Bicycle Crunches
Modified V-Ups

Training Notes:

Perform 2 sets per exercise of as many reps as you can execute with good form.

Use slow and deliberate movements, pause at the contracted position for a couple of seconds and then slowly come back to the starting position.

Only rest 30 seconds in between sets.

Intermediate Abdominal Training Routine

Monday
Knee-Ins
Modified V-Ups
Tuesday
Crunches (preferably on Swiss ball)
Twisting Crunches (preferably on a Swiss Ball)

Thursday
Lying Knee-Ins
Lying Leg Raises

Friday
Bicycle Crunches
Partial Sit-Ups (only go 30 degrees above ground)

Training Notes:

Perform 3 sets per exercise of as many reps as you can execute with good form.

Use slow and deliberate movements, pause at the contracted position for a couple of seconds and then slowly come back to the starting position.

Only rest 30 seconds in between sets.

Advanced Abdominal Training Routine

Alternate between the following three abdominal workouts. You will perform your ab workouts anywhere from twice a week to every day.

Abdominals Workout #1

Crunches (preferably on Swiss ball)
Hanging Leg Raises
Bicycle Crunches

Abdominals Workout #2

Partial Sit-Ups (only go 30 degrees above ground)
Knee-Ins
Twisting Crunches on Swiss Ball

Abdominals Workout #3

One Arm Cable Crunches
Modified V-Ups
Russian Twists

Training Notes:

Perform 3 sets per exercise of as many reps as you can execute with good form.

Use slow and deliberate movements, pause at the contracted position for a couple of seconds and then slowly come back to the starting position.

Only rest 30 seconds in between sets

Competitive Bodybuilding Abdominal Training Routine

Alternate between the following three abdominal workouts. You will perform your ab workouts anywhere from twice a week to every day.

Abdominals Workout #1

Hanging Leg Raises
Bicycle Crunches
V-Ups
Knee-Ins
Twisting Crunches (preferably on Swiss ball)
Crunches (preferably on Swiss ball)

Abdominals Workout #2

Twisting Sit-Ups
Partial Sit-Ups (only go 30 degrees above ground)
Bicycle Crunches
Lying Leg Raises
Crunches
Twisting Crunches

Abdominals Workout #3

Partial Sit-Ups (only go 30 degrees above ground)[ Rope Crunches
Modified V-Ups
Knee-Ins
Bicycle Crunches
Crunches (preferably on swiss ball)

Training Notes:

Perform the exercises in giant set fashion; one after the other with no rest in between sets. Only rest 60 seconds after all 6 exercises have been performed in a row and repeat the cycle 2 more times.

Perform 3 sets per exercise of as many reps as you can execute with good form.

Use slow and deliberate movements, pause at the contracted position for a couple of seconds and then slowly come back to the starting position.

Only rest 60 seconds in between giant sets.

Tags: ab workouts, abdominal training, exercise routines, fitness author Hugo Rivera

Hugo Rivera CFT, SPN, BSCE. is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, multi certified personal trainer, industry consultant and fitness expert who not only knows training and nutrition theory, but also applies it on a daily basis as evidenced by the fact that he's always in shape and by his awards and high placings at numerous national level bodybuilding competitions. He is also an internationally known best selling fitness author with a very successful franchise of books called "The Body Sculpting Bibles" which collectively have sold over a million copies. Hugo is also author of the very popular “Body Re-Engineering” e-book, which teaches you how to gain lean muscle mass and get lean without drugs, or fancy expensive supplements, using the secrets he devised after many years of weight problems as a child. You can find out more about Hugo from his website at www.hugorivera.net

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 6:10 pm and is filed under Bodybuilding Exercises, Bodybuilding Routines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.