What would you say if I told you there were only 2 ab exercises you need to do in order to get a six pack? In this video, I am going to show you the two ab exercises that should make up the bare minimum of your ab workouts. Not only are these two abs exercises great for building a six pack, but they will also help you develop a strong core.
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Some might tell you that you only need two exercises total in order to build a muscle group. I disagree. I don’t think anyone should be limited to picking just two exercises for a muscle group because each one often has multiple muscle heads as well as multiple functions that can be targeted individually through exercise selection.
In the case of the abdominal muscles with a wide variety of exercises, namely the rectus abdominis and the oblique muscles; you need to train them through not only their functions, but you also need to target the different areas of the core muscles themselves. Believe it or not, you can actually preferentially influence the upper and lower portion of the abdominal muscles based on where you initiate the movement from. Once you add in the fact that you need to include rotation to target the obliques, you can start to build your game plan from there.
Another thing to note is that instead of choosing just two exercises to build a six pack and strong core muscles, you will be choosing two movement patterns with 3 simple exercises (one for each ability level). Not every ab workout needs to include both of these movements, but a complete training plan for your back will at least build off them or include them at some point.
Keep in mind, any body fat that is covering your midsection will prevent the appearance of the 6 pack abs that you are looking to develop. All the most effective ab exercises in the world will never give you a six pack unless you have a solid nutrition plan to remove the belly fat covering your stomach.
That said, the first pattern is to initiate the movement of the abs from the bottom up, or moving the pelvis up towards the upper body. An example of this would be reverse crunches. However, in the pursuit of including the oblique muscles, you need to add rotation to this movement. We choose bottom-up rotation first as that is the more difficult of the two movements. This is because of the weight of your legs acting as extra resistance.
As a beginner, you will be performing a reverse corkscrew with your knees bent. To do this, you will perform the same movement as reverse crunches, but instead of bringing your knees straight to your chest, you will bring them up at an angle towards your side. An important note is that when you are bringing your knees towards your upper body, you want to clear your pelvis off the ground so that your butt no longer is contact with the ground. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement but target your knees to the other side.
For intermediates, you will be performing the same exact exercise as the beginners, but instead you will be increasing the range of motion by keeping your legs straight instead of bending your knees. Remember to get that pelvis off the ground when your legs come towards your upper body.
The advanced trainees out there have a different exercise to do which is a variation of the hanging leg raise called the hanging corkscrew. Hanging from a pullup bar, you will raise your legs towards your upper body and at an angle, just like the beginners and intermediates. The concept of moving your pelvis along with your leg lifts is the same here as well.
The second pattern is to initiate the movement from the top of the rectus abdominis down towards your pelvis with rotation included. That means the traditional crunch as an abdominal exercise won't cut it. As a beginner, lay on your back and put your hands behind your head with your elbows wide. Instead of crunching straight up, you want to crunch in a circular motion. Bring your weight to one shoulder blade, clear them off the ground, bring your weight to the opposite shoulder blade, then have both in contact with the ground before repeating. Keep your neck relaxed as pulling on it will increase the threat of neck strain.
The intermediate core exercise is the power over, similar to a traditional power up (a variation of the basic crunch) but instead of reaching straight up, you will reach with one arm over head to the opposite side, rotating your torso.
The advanced guys will perform a cable crunch pulldown. At a cable machine with a rope attached, kneel down facing away from it while holding the ends of the rope on either side of your head. Crunch down and at an angle to target the upper rectus abdominis muscles and the obliques. No longer relying on body weight, this exercise is guaranteed to increase your core strength, as long as you do it as I show you in the video.
Thank you for educating all of us on all of these exercise techniques ❤
Jeff takes rest days so the weights can recover
I’ve must have seen this comment at least 15 times on his videos
Sheesh , now that’s whole another dimension
Lol perfect
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Calf pain posture issues fix?
I am going to try this
Has anyone won a program ?
Athlean give the lads a code bro
I discovered Jeff during the 1st week of covid lockdown and 3 years later my life’s so much different. at 52years old people mistake me for 35 every day except I look and feel better than I did at 35.
Thank you Jeff for helping me get my life back!
I AM 50 AND LOVE THIS STUFF! HYPNOTARD? What is that anyway?
A wise man said: “being young late keeps us young longer”. I’m almost 42 and never felt or looked better!
His diet suggestions could be better, but I agree, these vids in regards to exercises are outstanding!
Thank you for the information Jeff. I hope everyone can achieve the abs they desire adding this into their workout routine 🙂
2:20 Corkscrew series
3:58 Upper Circle crunch series
Awesome video. Being a senior this helps finding out the right way to do things without getting hurt. Thanks Jeff!
Jeff is the best body builder YouTuber and therapist that helps with exercises to prevent any injuries and creates or finds out about some exercises people have never tried
Great presentation, Jeff. Simple, common sense exercises will generally always be the most effective.
it is way to long of a video in my opinion
Man, your knowledge shared is always right-on! Thanks for making the world a better … and healthier … place. Cheers!
I would love to see workouts that you can do after centralizing the pain from a herniated disc. I used to workout for 6 years until a year and half ago I herniated my L5 disc and it’s been really hard mentally and physically. Every type of body weight workout I was doing would aggravate my symptoms of sciatica to the point where I couldn’t move. I’ve finally found 3 body weight workouts that have been really helping increase my strength for the past month but I’m stuck because I want to include more but im afraid of using the wrong workout and hurting myself. The only thing I’ve been doing is my same workouts but increasing the amount and intensity. Currently I do bridges 25 reps of 3 sets, half sit-ups 25 reps of 3 sets, and side planks for 40 seconds of 3 sets on each side. I do half sit ups because it’s hard for me to do any kind of bending without aggravating my sciatica. If you could make some tips of different intermediate workouts for people with herniated disc that would be amazing
Look into Dr Stuart McGill’s Back Mechanic. A great book that helped me a lot. I have DDD, torn discs and DISH.
Me too… I suffered whiplash 10months ago after I blacked out sitting on the toilet and woke up on my face/neck. I still struggle with neck and cervical spine pain. Its stopped me in my tracks regarding working out. . And it’s not doing my mental health any good being so inactive never mind my physical health
hello i had a herniated disc and reverse hyper extensions saved me
Jeff never ceases to amaze me with his knowledge and no bs approach! I am definitely gonna incorporate these 2 ab exercises in my routine but too bad I don’t see a way to include it as extra in my AthleanX burn fat routine which I’m currently doing.
Perfect timing Jeff, thanks!
I’m trying to step up my abs workout with the least possible exercises. This fits perfectly in my routine.
Finally got a breakdown of the advanced crunch pull-down. Never done it because I didn’t know what to focus on to do it right. Jeff is always the man!
Keep the videos coming Jeff. And we definitely need your full workout session like you did for your pull split.
fantastic information! love these movements, correct,efficient and effective