10 Exercises For Toned Abs

By Jessica Smith for SHAPE.com

Get flat abs fast with this routine from SHAPE’s Pink Power: Flat Abs 5 Ways DVD!

Related links:
Abs Workout: The Fastest Way to Lose Belly Fat
20 Tricks to Get Tight, Toned Abs Faster
Celebrity Pics: The Best Abs in Hollywood

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Weighted Bicycle

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According to a San Diego State University study, the bicycle is one of the most effective abs exercises you can do, and this weighted version will have your rectus abdominus working overtime. How to do it: Start lying on your back with both knees bent. Extend your arms overhead, bending your left arm behind your head and holding onto your right arm, just above your elbow, with your left hand. Bend your right knee and press your right foot on the inside of your extended left leg (left leg should be off the floor and low). Lift your right shoulder off the floor and turn it in towards your left leg, while you lift both legs up about 45 degrees. Lower back to start position, that's one rep. Perfrom 15 reps on each side. Bonus tip: Exhale as you perform the movement, and think of drawing your belly button in deeper to your spine on the hardest part of the move.

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According to a San Diego State University study, the bicycle is one of the most effective abs exercises you can do, and this weighted version will have your rectus abdominus working overtime.

How to do it: Start lying on your back with both knees bent. Extend your arms overhead, bending your left arm behind your head and holding onto your right arm, just above your elbow, with your left hand. Bend your right knee and press your right foot on the inside of your extended left leg (left leg should be off the floor and low). Lift your right shoulder off the floor and turn it in towards your left leg, while you lift both legs up about 45 degrees. Lower back to start position, that's one rep. Perfrom 15 reps on each side.

Bonus tip: Exhale as you perform the movement, and think of drawing your belly button in deeper to your spine on the hardest part of the move.

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Comments

[NicksFlickPicks]

11:04 PM on 10/25/2011

Can someone who understands the 7th exercise re-articulate it in a way that makes sense? I'm sorry if I'm being dense but I don't see a "letter U" anywhere in that illustration, and don't grasp from the description how my body is meant to form one. Though I'd like to try!

[refreshrate]

05:37 PM on 11/01/2011

maybe: start with knees up and to the right and come down some and then go up and to the left?

[notsotupelohoney]

04:52 PM on 10/25/2011

I don't get 8, and I think 10 would be more challenging if you don't go all the way back to the floor
with each rep. Keep your abs flexed by allowing only the mid-back to touch the floor.

[Mokum]

10:30 AM on 10/25/2011

Mh looks like watered-down yoga to me

[RB Yapok]

04:30 PM on 10/24/2011

Wow, this is badly written. These exercise descriptions read like 1970s Japanese stereo instructions. "Pike your hips"? Pike is not a commonly used noun and is a less commonly used verb. I have no idea with what motion or in what direction I am supposed to "pike" my hips. (Is hip piking even legal?)
I can't imagine being on the floor with my laptop trying to follow these directions.

[Lorrie Krebs]

03:20 PM on 10/24/2011

Thanks for that, samknox. But I will add, from personal experience, that along with a healthy diet, these moves will aide in and develop that 6-pack. I'm living proof...and it only took me about 6 weeks.

[samknox]

10:20 PM on 10/22/2011

It looks like I get to be the first one to say that...there are no exercises that will give you a flat stomach, with the possible exception of the "vacuum" (isometric contraction of the transverse abdominus).

A flat stomach comes from a lack of visceral fat. A "six-pack" comes from a lack of subcutaneous fat.