Six Pack Exercises

Getting a six pack is no more a prerogative of the Hollywood stars or the youth. These days, fitness and fashion conscious men and women, who want to look young and sexy, well into their forties and fifties, inspired by icons like Madonna, are working out very hard to get those coveted six pack abs. The best part about getting six pack abs is that a person does not even need to join a gym for that, as a six pack abs workout, can be easily carried out at home itself. Below is a list of some of the most effective six pack exercises.

Six Pack Exercises at Home

Standard Crunches
One of the best exercises to get a six pack, is the standard abdominal crunch. To perform this exercise, lie on your back on an exercise mat. Keep your knees bent and raised and your feet flat on the floor. Your hands should be behind the head for support. Now, while exhaling, raise your upper body off the ground as much as you can, keeping the lower body unmoved and the shoulders straight. Make sure that you exert pressure from the abdominal muscles while lifting the body and in no way strain your shoulders or neck. Hold on to the raised upper body position for three-four seconds and then come back to the starting position. Do one set with twelve repetitions of this abdominal exercise initially and later increase the number of sets according to your comfort level and body requirement.

Oblique Crunches
Oblique crunches are effective six pack exercises for women, as they help in removing fats from the love-handles, where most women are prone to putting on weight. To do this exercise, lie on your back on an exercise mat. Keep your knees bent and raised, and feet flat on the ground. Cross your hands behind the head. Next, lift your upper body and twist it in such a way that your left elbow touches the right knee. In the first attempt, you may not be able to touch your knee so that is completely fine. With practice you will be able to do that after a few days of exercising. After touching the knee, come back to the starting position. Repeat this exercise twelve times and then move on to the other side, this time raising and twisting your upper body so that your right elbow touches the left knee. Repeat the exercise twelve times on this side too.

Leg Raises
Leg raises are another important and effective six pack abs exercises. To do this exercise, lie straight on an exercise mat and keep your hands on both the sides. Next, slowly raise both your legs, while keeping them straight, till they make an angle of ninety degrees with the floor. Lower the legs towards the floor again, just keeping them a little short of touching the ground. Raise them again in the same fashion and repeat the exercise twelve times. Include one set of this exercise at first in your six pack abs workout routine and then increase it to three sets after a few days.

Bicycle Crunches
Bicycle crunches are equally effective as six pack exercises for men as well as women. For doing this exercise, lie straight on your back on an exercise mat. Keep your hands behind the head for support, keeping your elbows out. Bend your knees and bring them close to your chest. Next, straighten your right leg and raise your upper body slightly off the ground simultaneously. Now, in this raised position itself, twist the upper body in such a way that you are able to touch your left knee with your right elbow. When you do this make sure that the right leg does not touch the ground. Repeat the same exercise with the other leg. Include three sets of this exercise with twelve repetitions on each side in your 6 pack abs workout.

Some other good exercises for six pack abs are cross crunches, extended arm crunches, chair leg raises and front leg raises. Six pack exercises mentioned above help in toning the abdominal muscles, but to lose fat from the abdomen, they have to be done along with the cardiovascular exercises, such as swimming, running, cycling, etc. Also, combining the six pack exercise workout routine with a proper six pack diet plan i.e. a diet high in proteins and low in carbohydrates and fats, is equally essential to get the desired results.