abs - rectus abdominis - storage area for fat. The abs draw the upper body toward the lower body. The abs are commonly refered to as lower abs and upper abs - different movements tend to place greater stress on one area or the other.

external obliques - another great area to store up those fat cells. Located on the sides of the waist their basic function is to bend and twist the upper body.

This is the safest and most effective abdominal exercise you can do. Make sure you keep your elbows in a wide flared position and don't pull on your neck too hard. Concentrate on using only your abdominal muscles to elevate your torso, pause slightly at the top of the movement to really flex the abs.

* Muscle Confusion Tips,- Twivtyour torvo either leji or right asyou lift upward to work the obliques or side abdominals. Vary the speed at which you perform from a rapid cadence with more rep to a slow and deliberate one with lower reps.

There should be a couple of different machines at the gym, give them all a try. This is very similar to a crunch, with the exception of weight resistance. This is a great movement that can really thrash your abdominals.

* Muscle Confusion Tips: Twist your torso either left or right as you lift upward to work the obliques or side abdominals. Vary the speed at which you perform from a rapid cadence with more reps to a slow and deliberate one with fewer reps..

This movement really concentrates on the lower abdominal muscles. Be careful if you have a bad lower back, as this movement places a little stress on the muscles in your lower back. As you bring your knees to your chest area you should feel all the muscles in your abdominal area tighten and contract, as you lower your knees you will feel the concentration move as the lower abdominals control the downward movement.

*Muscle Confusion lips: Twist your torso either left or right as you lift upward to work the obliques or side abdominals. You can also try straightening out your legs more and more. This will really increase the reviviance and should lower your reps considerably. Vary the speed at which you perform from a rapid caden with more reps to a slow and deliberate one with fewer reps.

Remember the 3 things you were judged on in junior high school fitness tests? Push-ups, and sit-ups. As you began bodybuilding, the first 2 were replaced by various versions of lying press: push-ups were supplanted by bench presses, incline dumbbell presses, decline press, etc. Pull-ups where discarded in favor of lat pull downs, rowing and the occasional wide grip pull up behind the neck.

But despite twists, crunches, leg raises, knee lifts --- and even Richard Simmons --- the sit-up remains as much part of bodybuilding as the Mr. universe title. For a few good reasons: the sit-up is an excellent beginning ab exercise. It works a middle and mid-upper abdominal muscle range that is prone to quick noticeable changes (meaning your girl friend will see the improvements relatively quickly).

Other reasons for the sit-ups longstanding vogue center on its variations, making the sit-up suitable for intermediate and advanced ab work: By altering the bench and leg angles, the area emphasis can be shifted and the movement made far more taxing. Incline the bench and your work a lower ab section than you would on a flat bench, making the incline sit up an intermediatary step before more advanced ab work like knee-ups.

Twist on your way up and down and obliques and stabilizers are pulled into play. Pull your legs in as tight as possible to your buttocks and the movement becomes more difficult. Because the sit-up has so many variations, including concentric and eccentric tempo, and the possibility of additional weight resistance, it applications are endless.

If fact, there is just a few caveats to remember before you begin a sit-up routine:

1) Never do the sit-up with straight legs. This lessens abdominal work, may stress lower vertebrae and increase hip flexor involvement.

2) Remember to breathe. If you are doing your sit-ups slowly --- more a couple of seconds up or down --- you should begin to exhale just before you being the "up" portion. If you are doing sit-ups quickly, keep the exhalation going through multiple reps, and inhale rapidly during on "down" segment.

3) Sit-ups work best if you do not allow your upper body to completely come to rest on the bench, which would correspond to a lockout, relieving the desirable constant tension.

Sets & Reps

For beginners, attempt one set of 10 to 15 fairly slow reps. After coming up, let the weight of your body pull you back gently to almost a lying position. Most beginners keep their hands near their hips, then graduate to placing their hands crossed on their chest, which increases the effective weight slightly (placing hands behind the neck, as shown her, increases this more, but there is often a tendency to pull forward with the hands, which can stress neck vertebrae unnecessarily. Try a light weight held to your chest instead).

Abs

By far the most basic exercises, and by no means to be mistaken with sit-ups. Don't waste your time on sit-ups! They're not to too good for your lower back, and work the muscle that pulls your spine towards your hips, not your ribcage. You need to focus on pulling your ribcage towards your hips. That is the essence of the crunch!

• You ever heard of a Swiss ball? It's a large rubber ball, and crunches are great when lying on it. Basically, you should want to extend your range of motion, which a Swiss ball easily facilitates. Your abs are more stretched in the starting position than when you are just lying on the floor, and your rep covers about 30% more range of motion. An decline bench doesn't really work any better than lying on the floor, cause your still just lying on a flat surface, and your range of motion isn't increased. If you don't have Swiss ball, you could try lying on a sofa or bed, with your shoulders just hanging over the edge.
• Another contraption some gyms may have is like an incline bench with a hump that sticks out and supports your lumbar (lower back) region. Then it has a rope attached to a cable/pully system, and you hold the rope in both hands over your shoulders. This provides the resistance as you pull your torso forward and down.
• Do slow contractions, really squeezing it. Don't try to pump out 50! Using the method just described to increase your range of motion really helps you to make a slow contraction. And putting some weight on your chest will make it burn like never before! Abs are a fast twich fiber, so you want to keep reps low around 6-10.

Not leg raises, but hip raises. What you do is lie flat on the floor, steady yourself with your hands, and raise your legs so they're pretty much straight up (you could also put your hands under your glutes for support, and a self-spot). Then lift your hips off of the floor. These target the lower abs, which are often a tough spot to hit.

• Keep your lower back on the ground. This may not make sense, but trust me, you should only be lifting your hips off the ground, and if you're doing it right, they won't lift more than two inches.
• Try and do it slow, though you may find this hard to do. I haven't yet perfected this exercise myself, so try different things, different hand positions, bend your knees, etc. Just don't use momentum by swinging your legs!!

Each set consists of eight repetitions. To warm up: Do a set at fifty percent of your maximum effort. Begin with three sets of eight. When you can't break a sweat with that, add five more reps to each set.

Crunch. Lie on your back, with your knees bent, feet together and about 12 inches from your butt. With your arms crossed comfortably over your chest, curl your torso until your shoulder blades rise about six inches off the floor. Hold for a second. You should feel a slight burn.

Repompe de: http://www.manslife.com/fitness/bigsweat/sweatpages/abs/abs.html

WEIGHTED SIDES BENDS
Stand upright with the feet spread outside shoulder width, holding a dumbbell in each hand at the sides in a palms-in grip. Keeping your hips stable, bend at the waist to one side until you feel a stretch in your opposite side's muscles. Move back to the erect starting position and continue down to the other side. Continue back and forth from side to side in a smooth, but quick pace, breathing normally.