The men's fitness blog

One of the most desired bodily features is a toned set of abdominal muscles. Six pack abs can really improve the look of your whole body. There are two main ways to tone your abdominal muscles. First, you can do abdominal exercises such as crunches and situps. Secondly, you can use machines such as the balance ball or rowing machines.

However, the traditional regime of situps and abdominal crunches is monotonous and uninspiring. In this article I outline a number of unconventional exercises that can help you achieve a toned stomach area whilst having fun at the same time.


- Number one. The Bicycle. This is a great abdominal exercise. To begin you lay down flat on your back. You then place your hands behind your head with your fingers laced together, bring your knees to your chest and rotate them at close to 45 degrees (like you are peddling a bicycle). As you do this touch your right elbow to your left knee and vice versa.

- Next, another great exercise is Hindu Pushups. You begin on your hands and knees with your legs spread wide and your rear end pushed up. Next you bend your elbows (like you are doing a pushup) and bring your back down in an arc. Then straighten your arms so your back arches upwards with your hips just above the ground.

Both of these exercises should add some variety to your usual adominal exercise routine. However, if you are still looking to spice up your abdominal workout you could try implementing some machines. Below are a number of ideas for using machines to tone your abdominals:

- The Balance Ball - highly versatile and improves your core stability. This exercises both your stomach muscles and the rest of your body. To stay balanced on the ball your abdominal muscles need to remain tight, a task which is often a lot more difficult than people think. Try spreading your feet on the ground for balance, leaning back on the ball and doing half-crunches. Do chest presses while sitting on the ball - you will find it difficult to balance, but it's easy to pick up and really strengthens your core muscles. Ankle weights can make it easier to keep your feet on the ground if you find the balancing diffcult.

- The Rowing Machine primarily works your shoulders, forearms, biceps, triceps and legs. However, due to the position you have to maintain whilst seated on the machine it also gives your abs a great workout and helps tone and strengthen them.

- The Red Exerciser is a relatively new piece of equipment which keeps the upper body still, allowing you to oscillate the lower body using your abdominal muscles. If you train with the Red Exerciser frequently you will start to notice impressive results.

However you decide to exercise your abdominal muscles I hope that this article has proved useful to you. Variety in your abdominal workouts is a good idea because it prevents you from getting bored with your routine. Also, doing different exercises will keep working your abdominal muscles in different ways and help give them more tone and definition.

Remember to also try and eat healthily, incorporating lots of vegetables, fibre and protein-rich foods into your diet. Also try to consume plenty of water. Finally, make sure that you perform some cardiovascular exercise. Doing this will reduce your body fat, allowing your stomach muscles to stand out more. Keep it up and you will have the abs you've always dreamed of in no time at all.

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