Reverse Crunch

Lay flat on your workout surface. Get in the crunch position with hands behind your head. Your head and shoulders should be just lifted off the floor. Have your knees pointing up in the air. You can keep your feet in the air horizontal to your workout surface or you can tuck them by your hips. Without moving your upper body, pull your knees to your head using just your torso. Be sure to squeeze and hold the position for a moment before you release. The movement should be controlled and be sure not to rock. As you bring your knees to your head breath out and as you lower back down to the starting position breath in. The reverse crunch targets the lower abdominal muscles.

Pulse Ups

Pulse ups work your abdominal or your six pack muscles. Start out laying flat on your back with your hands close to your sides with your palms down for stabilization. Pull your belly in (contract your abs in quickly) and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips off the ground about 4 to 6 inches. Your legs should pulse up straight in the air. Be sure to use your abs to pull your hips off the ground and not your arms and upper body. Also keep your legs steady and stable they should not swing back and forth. Done right, you will definitely feel the your abs burn during this one. Be sure to breath out as you pulse up and breath in as you come back down.

Bicycle

There are two popular versions of this exercise. The easier version focuses more on your lower abdominal muscles and hip flexers. Start out laying flat on your back. Bring your legs up 90 degrees from the ground. bend your knees so that your calfs are parallel with the ground. Start the workout by doing alternate legs kicks using the same motion you would to pedal a bicycle. At the bottom of each leg motion or pedal, your leg should be straight but still off the ground about 30 to 45 degrees. About halfway through the exercise time it a good practice to reverse your pedaling direction, which sometimes trips people up a bit because most people are not use to pedaling in reverse. Placing your hands under your glutes makes the exercise easy. Placing your hands behind your head makes it harder. Non-beginners often do not like this version because you end up feeling a lot of the burn in your hip flexers and not your abs.

The second more challenging version of the bicycle works the lower abdominal muscles and hip flexers like the first version but also gets the upper abs involved for a pretty killer ab exercise. Repeat the same starting position for the first version but this time put your hands behind your head and slightly lift your shoulder blades off the ground like you are doing a crunch. When you begin pedaling your legs, rotate your torso and bring the opposite elbow to the knee that is currently in the up pedal position (the bent knee). Repeat with the other leg and other elbow as you go through the pedal motion. It is alright not to actually touch your elbow to the opposite knee when doing this exercise but reach like you are trying to. Be sure to keep your shoulder blades off the ground as you do this exercise. You will definatley feel the burn in your abs when doing this version.

Double Crunch

This exercise targets both the lower and upper abdominal muscles. It combines the classic crunch with the reverse crunch. Lay flat on your workout surface. Get in the crunch position with hands behind your head. Your head and shoulders should be slightly lifted off the floor. Have your knees pointing up in the air. You can keep your feet in the air horizontal to your workout surface or you can tuck them by your hips. In a controlled motion using only your torso, pull your knees toward your head and raise your shoulder blades off the ground thrusting your head towards your knees. Be sure to squeeze and hold the position for a moment before you release. The movement should be controlled and be sure not to rock. On each repetition when you squeeze in be sure to exhale then inhale as you release.

In & Outs

In & outs give the center abdominals a great workout! You can also feel it in the hip flexors. In & outs are done on the butt. Start out with legs off the ground at about 30 degrees. They can either be straight out or have a slight bend at the knees. Your upper body and torso should be straight and about 50 to 70 degrees off the ground. To complete a repetition, bring your upper body and hips up towards each other until they almost touch. Hold it for about a half second. As you bring your hips up bend your knees. return to the starting position in a controlled motion to complete the repetition. Be sure to breath out as you bring your hips up and breath out as you return to the starting position. When your first start doing this exercise it can be a little tough to balance so feel free to put your hands on the ground beside  your butt. As you gain experience try doing it with your hands straight up in the air to put even more resistance on your abdominal muscles. When done correctly, in & outs can really make your abdominal muscles burn.

Banana

The banana exercise focuses on the center abdominal muscles and hip flexors. Start out laying flat on the ground with your legs straight out and your arms straight back like your stretching after waking up. Lift your legs off the ground about 20 degrees. Lift your arms and upper shoulders off the ground so that your shoulder blades are just touching your workout surface. The banana is a static exercise so you just hold the up position for the duration of the exercise. You can add some movement to it by rocking back and forth (not side to side). be sure to hold the banana shape as you rock. Do not to swing your legs up.

Lying Leg Raises

This ab exercise is used extensively in the military and focuses on the lower abdominal muscles and hits the hip flexors. Start out laying flat on your back with your legs straight out in front of you. Begin the exercise by raising your legs straight up in the air in a controlled manner. Now its up to you how high you want to raise them, but it should be somewhere between 45 and 70 degrees from the ground. One thing you want to avoid is swinging your legs up and letting gravity or the elasticity of your body determine how high to raise them. Instead you should set a height in your mind and bring your legs up to the height and stop them there in a controlled motion. Arm placement affects how challenging this workout is. For instance if you place your hands underneath your glutes the exercise becomes a lot easier (good for beginners). The further you move your arms from your legs the harder the workout becomes. Advanced users should place their hands behind their head, but without putting pressure on the back of the head when raising your legs. Adding a bend to your knees makes the exercise easier. Conversely, you can make the exercise harder by pointing your toes (or by wearing heavy shoes). Be sure to breath out as you raise your legs and breath in as you lower your legs.