5 Ab Exercises That Will Make You Sore

Here's a short list of 5 ab exercises that I found surfing the interweb. The follow exercises will make you sore!


#1 - Stability Ball Plank
It's 30 percent harder than a regular plank, but last Friday I used it in a weird way that left my abs sore all weekend. I did a "3 minute stability ball plank challenge". I set a timer for3 minutes and got in position. As soon as I started feeling fatigue,I stopped, rested for 15 seconds, and then got back in position. I alternated between the Ball Plank and short rests for a full 3 minutes...and tallied up the amount of time I spent in the Ball Plank - and next week I'll try to beat that time. That challenge isa great way to make the exercise harder and for the time to fly by.

#2 - Stability Ball Rollout
This is one of my 3 favorite ab exercises, and to make it harder andfor more ab soreness, the key is to do a sloooooow "roll out". Thatwill put your abs under a loaded stretch - which causes soreness. Now of course, you MUST train smart and conservatively...but if youare advanced, you can really extend this to about 5 seconds. If you are an intermediate, don't roll too far out, but take it really, really, really slow. You'll get similar benefits.

#3 - L-Chinup
Okay, this one is super advanced, but for all of my bodyweight compadres out there, dig this: You're basically going to do a chin-up while holding the top positionof a hanging leg raise. Do all your reps like this. At first it willbe really tough, but your reps will increase big time after a coupleof sessions. If that's too tough, I still love the Chin-up with Knee-up exercise.

#4 - Regular Plank
Done to failure AFTER a hard upper body workout I know what you're thinking...how could a regular plank make yourabs sore? Well, there's a little trick to this one...and that is to do the plank at the end of a really tough upper body workout when your arms are pumped and fatigued. Why? Because it will force your abs to work extra hard, because ittakes away a lot of the support that your arms give to a regular plank. So tack a regular plank on to the end of a biceps/tricepssuperset, and your abs will be pleasantly surprised. And remember what I said yesterday about needing to be able to dothe plank for 2 minutes straight. So go for as long as you can with good form, rest 30-60 seconds, and repeat.

#5 - Strict Hanging Leg Raise and Leg Pike
Most folks are familiar with the hanging leg raise. You might evenhave tried it yourself. But you won't get maximum results from thisexercise unless you do it with strict form. That simply means removing as much momentum from the exercise as possible - basically, don't SWING your body and your legs. Instead,brace your abs as hard as possible, start from a "dead hang" positionand raise your legs with muscular control - not momentum. And what's the ab pike? Well, it's an advanced leg raise. In the pike, you'll continue the movement to take your feet all the way towhere your hands are holding the bar. Super advanced.

BONUS EXERCISE - Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
Yes, the simple lying dumbbell triceps extension exercise can causeab soreness. How? By emphasizing the stretch in your abs at the bottom of the movement. You'll need to have your head at the very end of the bench and you'll need to drop the dumbbells a little lower than normal besideyour head to get maximum ab stretching benefits...but done right, this will cause soreness and more sculpted abs if done consistently. Ok, that's it for today. When I find more "sore abs" exercises, I'llbe sure to pass them along.