Health Articles > Muscle-building > Best Stomach Exercise For A Six-Pack

A physique is never complete and impressive without a lean, mean and strong mid section! Not only does a rock hard six-pack abs look damn fine, strong abdominals are vital in many sports and physical activities. In order to obtain fine abdominals, one have to undergo a healthy diet and laser targeted stomach exercises. Sometimes it is hard to identify which are the effective stomach exercises that you should choose. Not to worry, here we have listed a couple of free easy stomach exercises to help you get you abdominal shield! Best Stomach Exercise 1: Hanging Leg Raises This is a powerful exercise for your abdominals. Hang from a bar with your legs hanging straight down. From there, raise your knees toward your rib cage. Do not swing or use momentum, just focus on squeezing your abs. You must keep your abdominals flexed. Use your abdominals to lift your legs up. To obtain maximum effectiveness, go slow and make your abs work harder. If you want to work your oblique, simply raise your knees to one side of your body. Best Stomach Exercise 2: Side Bridge Do not underestimate the side bridge. It may look simple but it can give you that burn you would not forget! Lie on your side with your legs straight out. Elevate yourself with one bent arm parallel to the floor. Hold that position for around 30 seconds and then repeat on the other side. Build up to at least 60 seconds on each side of your body. Best Stomach Exercise 3: Decline Reverse Crunch The only equipment needed for this exercise is a decline bench. First, hold the top at the end of the bench with both hands and lie on your back. Hold out your legs so that your legs are parallel to the floor. Keep your knees and feet together. Squeeze your abs slowly and draw your knees up towards your ribcage. Keep your abs constantly flexed. Then slowly lower your legs to original position. Do around 20-30 reps. Best Stomach Exercise 4: Hanging Raise To The Side This is a fantastic stomach exercise. It really works your oblique and lower abdominals. To execute this, hang from a bar with your legs and feet slightly together. The bar should be high enough so that your toes cannot touch the ground. Slowly raise your knees under control to one side as high as possible. Curl your spine during the process; it is not just about lifting the knees. You have to contract your abs hard at the peak of the movement and then lower your legs to the starting position as slowly as possible. Repeat on the other side. You can either do it all one side or alternate. Do not use momentum to help you in this abdominal exercise. Best Stomach Exercise 5: Bicycle The bicycle exercise is one of the best flat stomach exercises. It is named bicycle because of the way the exercise is performed. This is a stomach exercise that really targets the entire abdominal region and also the oblique. Lie on your back; support your head with your fingers. Draw your knees in towards your chest and lift the shoulder blades off the floor without pulling your head. Like all abdominal exercises, keep your abs in constant tension at all times. Straighten the left let out while simultaneously turning the upper body to the right, bringing the left elbow towards the right knee. Now switch sides, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee. Do about 20 rotations for each set. Best Stomach Exercise 6: Crunches On Exercise Ball This is the stomach exercise where you will be laying on an unstable surface. Lie face up on the exercise ball with lower back on the top of the exercise ball. Support your head with your fingers lightly. Squeeze your abs and curl your torso up. Keep the ball stable throughout the motion. Do about 20 to 30 repetitions. There you go, six easy stomach exercises for you to do in your fat loss program! Remember, if you want a flat stomach and define abs, you have to combine a healthy diet and cardio training too. Good luck and enjoy!