The abdominal muscles are often neglected by weight lifters and bodybuilders, but building a strong set of abdominal muscles will vastly improve your stability, especially when performing compound exercises such as deadlifts and barbell squats. Second to this, having a strong set of abdominal muscles will help if you suffer from lower back pain, I myself have a fused disc in my lower back which can at times be painful, so performing some ab exercises really helps to support my lower back.
The Abdominals Consist of Four Primary Muscles
1. Rectus Abdominis – The rectus abdominis are the paired muscles that run vertically up the entire length of the abdomen, connected from the pubis bone to the cartilages of the 5th, 6th and 7th ribs. The rectus abdominis muscles are the ones we refer to as the “sixpack”.
2. Transverse Abdominis – The transverse abdominis muscles run from the side to the front of the abdomen with muscle fibers running horizontally, these muscles are layered deep and often referred to as your “core” muscles.
3. Internal Obliques – The internal obliques lay under the external obliques. The internal obliques connect to the upper part of the hip bone to the 10th, 11th and 12th rib.
4. External Obliques – The external obliques run diagonally on either side of the abdomen, allowing rotation of the torso, compression and sideways bending of the abdomen. The external oblique muscles are often referred to as the “love handles”
Now that you have a breakdown of the abdominal muscles you can checkout the relevant exercises below. (Please note, the exercise difficulty rating I use applies to the muscle in question, not the overall difficulty in comparison to every possible exercise for every muscle in the body).
Upper Abdominal Exercises
Abdominal Crunches
Muscles Targeted: Rectus abdominis
Exercise Difficulty: 5.5/10