3 Of The Best Ab Exercises

Here's a shocking truth for you: some of the best ab exercises are those in which you don't directly train your abs at all! It's true: there are plenty of exercises besides crunches and leg lifts that train the abs very effectively. Here are three examples:

1. Front Squats

This is a version of a squat where you use your abs big time. You can use a barbell, dumbell, kettlebell, or anything heavy to hold in front of you in order to add weight. Holding the weight close to the body and at about shoulder height, sit the hips back and drop into a squat - kind of like you're sitting in a chair. The knees should stay behind the toes. The knees should also track over the toes - make sure your knees aren't caving in towards each other or bowing out. There's a lot of form involved with this one, so getting a personal trainer to help you out might not be a bad idea.

2. Mountain Climbers

Start in a the top of a push-up position. Alternate bringing the right knee and left knee towards the chest. Keep the hips low - you don't want to be bouncing up and down. Really try to use the lower abs to do the movement.

3. Renegade Rows

For this exercise, start in a push-up position again, but hold a dumbell in each hand. Row the db up towards the body with the right side while keeping contact with the ground with both feet and the opposite hand, then switch sides. This one is an advanced drill, but master it and you'll have stronger and firmer abs to show for it!

You might put these exercises together into a workout by doing 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps each.

The front squat, the mountain climber, and the rengade row are three of the best, most effective ab exercises you can do. Amazingly, you're not even directly hitting the abs with these drills. Master these and you'll be well on your way to a flat stomach and six pack abs!

Top 5 Tips To Lose Stomach Fat

There's so much confusion out there when it comes to the best way to lose stomach fat ... here are 5 tips to help you reach your goal:

1. Clean up your diet!

With the amount of conflicting information about the best diet plan, it can be hard to know where to start. Remember, the most important thing to keep in mind when trying to lose fat, particularly around your stomach, is that you have to eat less calories than you expend! Move more, eat less, and you'll lose weight ... plain and simple.

2. Focus on the intensity of your workouts

Working your body as a whole and working hard is one of the keys to fat loss as well. Your workout should focus on working the largest muscle groups of the body and should utilize short rest periods.

3. Forget Crunches and Sit-Ups

These are some of the lowest resistance exercises that you can do - and actually provide very poor results! They're just too easy to give most people much of a challenge. The Hanging Leg Raise is one of the best exercises for the abs - but you have to know how to do it right.

4. Stop focusing so much on training the abs themselves

Spending a lot of time training the abs themselves is another mistake people make when trying to lose stomach fat. To lose fat you need to be targeting the large muscle groups and working at a high intensity, just like we discussed before.

5. Avoid refined foods

Eating overly processed foods is another horrible mistake that can make fat loss really tough for you. Make sure you're completely focused on eating whole grains, fruits, veggies, etc.

I hope these 5 tips help you in your quest to lose stomach fat fast! While we just skimmed the surface of the problem with this article, one of the best programs to help you lose stomach fat is The Truth About Abs. It's a complete workout and diet program that reveals exactly what you need to do to start losing stomach fat today! Click HERE to check the program out. And good luck!