Building strength within your core muscles is essential, it can help with the way you perform tasks in everyday life, and in sports that you enjoy. Exercising your abs goes further than just aesthetics, you can benefit from improved posture, and balance and reduce pain in your back. Whether you work out at home, or in the gym, knowing how to work out your abs effectively is crucial so that you can see and feel the desired results. Thankfully, there is a range of great ab workouts for women that you can take advantage of from various apps for your smartphone or choose a few and make a routine to suit you perfectly. Here are some of the best ab exercises that you can try anywhere.
Benefits of working your abs
There are so many reasons why working on your abs is important, and of course, aesthetics come into it, but it is essential for our general health and wellbeing too. Keeping your abs strong help to reduce back pain – if your abs are weak, your back muscles must work harder to support your body, and therefore creates discomfort. It also helps to improve posture and alignment, as well as builds functional strength that helps with bending down and picking things up. If you take part in sports regularly, keeping a strong core means you can improve your performance, improving the way you twist, catch, rotate, and reduce the chance of injury.
If you think that working on your abdominal muscles would be beneficial to you, but you’re not sure how to get started, we’ll look at some of the best ab exercises specifically for women below, so you can begin to build your strength and work on your core.
Hip lift
This is one of the best ab exercises you can perform wherever you choose to work out, whether that’s in the gym, or at home. All you must do is lie on your back, and lift your legs, keeping them together and pointing them towards the ceiling. Keep your core engaged by sucking in your stomach, and slowly lift your hips off the floor so your feet and legs rise. Keep your legs straight – then lower your hips back to the ground. This counts as one rep.
Flutter Kicks
This exercise requires a little bit of coordination, but it is not so advanced that you should struggle. Lie on your back and place your arms to the side of your body. Lift your legs off the floor, and lower one leg towards the floor but don’t touch it and repeat with the other leg. Imagine you’re kicking in a swimming pool but on your back instead of your front. You should start to feel your muscles engaging throughout this exercise.
V-Up
A V-up is an easy but effective ab exercise. Simply lie on your back with your arms to each side, lift your upper body and your legs so that you are almost balancing on your tailbone to make a V-shape – and then return to your starting position. Keep your core engaged to feel the benefit, and you could also increase the difficulty by holding the V position for a few seconds before returning to your starting position.
Russian Twist
This exercise is a more intense option. Sit in the same position as you would during a sit-up, take a weight or kettlebell in your hands and lift your feet off the floor so you are balancing on your tailbone. Control the weight and twist your body from one side to the other. If you are a beginner, you can keep your feet on the floor for ease and lift your feet when you’ve got to grips with the exercise.