Get Great Abs Without Ever Doing A Sit-Up Again

By Wendy Morley
Photos Of Janna Breslin By James Patrick

Sit-ups were once the gold standard of abdominal work, but, as working out became more and more popular in the fitness boom of the 1980s, they fell out of fashion. While exercise science showed they do a great job working the hip flexors, few people have ever been intent on building that muscle group. The isolating crunch took over top spot, but crunches didn’t quite do the whole job either.

Mike Shaw, BA, triathlete, former bodybuilder, and president of New York Personal Training, says the focus on the crunch was misguided.

“Magazines would feature bodybuilders performing only crunches, reverse crunches, and oblique crunches,” he says. “What they didn’t show was that those walls of ripped abs were also built with exercises that worked other stabilizing core muscles. Crunches were simply used to further define an already strong and developed core, imperative to complete development.”

A solid, tight midsection is the cornerstone of a sensational body, serving to highlight the development above and below. But aesthetics is only one of many reasons to want an optimal abdominal region. Your abs perform important functions and, as with many things in life, you may not fully appreciate them until they’re not functioning properly. Abdominals help you stand upright, they help you bend, they hold your insides inside, and they even help you breathe. Together, with other core muscles such as the erector spinae and longissimus thoracis, your abdominals stabilize and support your entire body while you perform pretty much any daily activity or exercise.

For all it does, don’t you think it’s only fair to repay this critical muscle system with the treatment it deserves? Thought so. Here’s how to build a core that’s strong, tight, attractive, and effective — all without ever resorting to a sit-up.

The Workout

Customize your workout by choosing one or two moves from each category: R, for an exercise that primarily targets the rectus abdominis; O, for an exercise that targets the obliques; and I, which is an isometric exercise. Some exercises work more than one area of concern, in which case you can use them for either category.

Dumbbell Crunch

Lie on your back, legs perpendicular to the floor. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, arms straight toward the ceiling. Lift your shoulders off the floor in a crunch motion, reaching the dumbbells toward your shins.
Tip: Perform each rep slowly, exhaling on the way up and compressing your sternum (breastbone) toward your belly button.

Side Jackknife

Lie on your side, legs stacked. Use your bottom arm for balance; place your other hand on the opposite shoulder, elbow bent at about 90 degrees. Raise your upper torso in a side crunch while lifting both legs as far as possible.
Tip: Keep your body in a

straight line and don’t lean back; that makes the exercise less effective.

Alternative Dumbbell Crossover

Lie on your back, holding a dumbbell in each hand, arms beside your ears. Raise your right leg until it’s perpendicular to the floor. Lifting your shoulders from the ground, bring the dumbbell on the left side to your right ankle. Return to the start, and alternate with the left leg and right dumbbell.
Tip: For added difficulty, do not lower your shoulders or your heels to the floor between reps.

Crunch and Reach

Lie on your back, legs raised perpendicular to the floor, with your feet about a foot apar t. As you lift your shoulders in a crunch, reach to the side of your left leg. Without letting your shoulders touch the floor, crunch again, bringing your hands between your legs. Crunch again, twisting to the right and reaching beside your right leg. Your pattern should be left, middle, right, middle, repeating it for your entire set.
Tip: Shaw suggests keeping your eyes and head square to the ceiling and move as if you are wrapping your rib cage toward your centre line.

Plank

Come down onto the floor with your weight resting on your forearms, hands clasped together or in fists. Lift your body up in a straight line from head to heels, with your body weight supported by only your forearms and your toes. Do not allow your buttocks to lift or sink. Hold for as long as possible, even if your body shakes.
Tip: You can also do a plank with straight arms and your weight resting on your hands.

Core Rotation

Kneel on a mat, knees about three inches apart, upper legs and torso in a straight line. Hold a weight plate at your chest. Lean back about 20 to 30 degrees, and rotate your torso from side to side.
Tip: You must hold your abdominals in tightly in order to not strain your back.

Stability Ball Knee-In

Place your shins on a stability ball. Hold yourself in a plank position with straight arms, your body in a line from head to heels. Pressing your lower legs into the ball, bring your knees in toward your chest, rolling the ball in with them, and then out again.
Tip: Pressing your shins hard into the ball will not only work your abs, but keep you from falling off the ball, too.

Stability Ball Rollout

Kneel on a mat with a stability ball in front of you. Place your hands flat on the ball. Pushing forward, roll the ball away from you. Your upper body will lower as you roll out, and the ball will move up your arms. Keep your body straight from head to knees throughout the movement. Extend as far as possible, and then roll back to the beginning.
Tip: Once you’ve rolled all the way out, press your elbows down into the ball and hold a knee-to-head plank for a few seconds.

Stability Ball Plank

Lean your forearms on a stability ball; you can clasp your hands or keep them side-by-side in fists. Bring your body out in a straight line by stepping your feet back, keeping your weight on only your toes and forearms. Keep your buttocks in line with your body, and hold.
Tip: Your abs work harder when you perform a plank on a stability ball because they are doing what they’re made to do: keeping you stable.

Reverse Plank

Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. Place your hands, palms down, on the floor beside your buttocks. Lift your buttocks while sliding your feet forward until your body is in a straight line from your shoulders to your feet. Hold for as long as possible.
Tip: While the reverse plank does target the abdominals, it is especially good for the core muscles of your lower back, too.

High Plank To Knee-In

Start in a straight-arm plank position with your body in a straight line from your shoulders to your heels and your weight on your toes and palms. Lift one foot and bring that knee toward the elbow on the same side, crunching your upper body in the direction of your knee at the same time. R eturn to the starting position and repeat. After completing the reps on one side, lift the opposite knee to the elbow of that side.
Tip: If you experience pressure in your neck, forego the crunch and only move your legs.