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The Best Dumbbell Ab Workouts

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Many people strive to improve their abdominal muscles to get that 'beach body' look. Though it isn't all that easy as working on the abdominals can be hard work, as well as time consuming.

 Abdominal exercises will improve your core strength and help with balance. They will also help you to get a flat stomach as long as you watch what you eat.

 The majority of stomach exercises rely on your own body weight resistance, which means they can get tedious once you overcome your own weight. Performing dumbbell abdominal exercises will increase this resistance. This will reduce the amount of repetitions you have to do, and also strengthen your stomach muscles more effectively.


Dumbbell Crunch

Dumbbell crunches work on the muscle group called 'rectus abdominus', which runs from the bottom of your rib cage to your pelvis.

 How To:-
  1. Lie down on the floor with your legs rested on a bench at roughly 90 degrees. 
  2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at either side of your head.
  3. Lift your shoulder blades slightly off the ground/bench. This is the start position. 
  4. Raise your upper body by crunching your abs, keeping your arms straight. Hold this position for 1-3 seconds, then slowly lower yourself back to the start position.

 Breathing: Exhale when raising your torso, inhale when lowering.

 Warning: This exercise poses a high risk of dropping the dumbbell onto yourself, this would certainly ruin your day. Ensure that you can hold the dumbbell securely and don't use more weight than you can confidently handle.



Dumbbell Side Bend


The dumbbell side bend work on the oblique muscles, which are often forgotten regular workouts. The oblique muscles are located at the sides and lower back. Working on this muscle will increase core strength and help to burn off those 'love handles'.

 How To:-
  1. Hold one dumbbell at your side with your palm facing towards your body. This is the start position.
  2. Keeping your back straight, tilt your body at the waist towards the side in which you are holding the dumbbell.
  3. Hold for a moment, then tilt your body back to the start position.
  4. Complete desired number of reps/sets and then switch hands.

Breathing: Inhale when tilting downwards, exhale when tilting back to the start position.

Warning: Only bend until you feel your obliques stretching slightly, do not tilt too far or you may find it hard to return to the start position.
Additionally, you should consider applying a technique known as the afterburn effect to your workouts. If you would like to find out more about afterburn effect training, you can get all the info you need at http://www.afterburneffecttraining.com