Best Ab Workouts and Ab Exercises

Best Ab Exercises to Get 6 Pack Abs, Core Exercises, and Home Exercise Videos

Five simple items for better abs exercise videos.

Abs exercise videos are all the craze these days. Dozens of abs workouts promise washboard abs using everything from electrodes to machines that make exercises so easy you won't even feel them (and just how is that supposed to work anyway?). But the best abs exercises are really no mystery, and it doesn't consist of endless crunches. If you want to know how to get 6 pack abs, try these five pieces of simple equipment to make your core exercises hard core.

Abs exercise videos have introduced the stability ball, a piece of gear also known as a Swiss ball, exercise ball, yoga ball, and a host of other names. Core exercises performed on a round surface rather than a flat surface become more intense, engaging the smaller stabilizing muscles and expending more calories. Perform abs workouts sitting on the ball or leaning over it, or use it in a variety of moves demonstrated by fitness experts such as Chalene Johnson—the creator of TurboFire®—who has added Turbo Ball exercises to her routines.

Abs exercise videos also incorporate another hot piece of exercise equipment: the kettlebell. Exercise programs are embracing the kettlebell because its spherical shape allows curvilinear movements and the use of centrifugal force and momentum to build better functional fitness in motion. (IDEA Health & Fitness Association) Exercise DVDs demonstrate the flowing, swinging, and lifting motions that combine cardio workouts with strength training exercises that also make great six pack abs exercises. The best abs exercises are about stabilizing the body, and that swinging weight puts great demand on your core muscles to hold everything together.

Ab exercise videos use the medicine ball to combine many of the best notions about how to get 6 pack abs found with the stability ball and the kettlebell. Ab workouts with the medicine ball include instability exercises such as planks and push ups on the ball, swinging exercises such as seated Russian twists, and side throws that work all those core muscles. Fitness experts such as Tony Horton, creator of the popular P90X® series, employ medicine balls to make intense exercises even better core exercises.