Beginner Abdominal Workout

Introduction

Hey there! Welcome to this introductory abdominal workout. If you are looking to achieve greater definition and functionality of your abdominal muscles, but have little to none in experience, this workout is for you!

Now, many beginners tend to tunnel vision that exact one goal- The “six-pack”.

And while it is a good idea to focus on every other muscle group just as much as you focus on the six-pack, developing a strong abdomen is of prime importance. That is mainly due to its many functions, including spinal, posture and intestine support.

If you’re a beginner, odds are you don’t really know the difference between abs and core, or you just heard those two terms here and there.

To understand the differences, we recommend you to check out our article on “Abs vs Core – The Difference”, where we explain this in more detail.

Workout Priorities

This workout is built out of a variety of exercises, which prioritize the so-desired six-pack. However, on the bright side, we also have some core work at the end to top it off, as we want to train not just the six-pack but its surrounding muscles as well.

And that is namely because those muscles will help you get more balance and stability during most exercises.

Now without further ado, let’s dive into the workout.

According to your level of advancement, you can tweak the number of sets, repetitions and seconds, as needed. What this simply means is that for some of you, the given sets/reps might be too much, or too little.

Adjust so that you will not be bored to death by how easy it is, but also, not overly challenged and fatigued. Find that sweet spot!

The Workout

Exercise Map

Floor Crunches

Execution

• Lie down flat on the floor
• Move your heels up closer to your hips and place your hands behind your back
• Crunch up, without moving your legs or letting your lower back off of the ground- This way, you will avoid excessive lower back tension of the vertebrae
• When crunching up, instead of going all the way up, just contract your abdominal wall (six-pack)
• After holding the contraction briefly, return to the original position and repeat

Lying Leg Raises

Execution

• Lie down flat on the bench and place your arms beside you
• Keep your head back and while keeping your legs straight, lift them up
• Contract the abdomen by slightly lifting your hips off of the bench
• After holding the contraction for a split second, let your legs go down slowly, keeping the tension on the abs
• Repeat

Cable Standing Crunch

Execution

• Set up a rope on the upper pulley and stand with your back against it
• Grab the rope with an overhand grip and keep your head between its two sides
• Bend over, without moving your arms and pull the weight through your abs
• Contract the abs and hold the contraction for a split second, then slowly return to the original upright position, keeping the tension on the abs

Front Plank

Execution

• Kneel down
• Move forward and place your elbows on the ground as illustrated
• Step on your toes and keep your body straight like a string
• Hold this static position and drive the tension through your abdominal muscles
• Don’t tense too much, cease the exercise shortly after your body starts shaking

Workout Tips

Preparing for the Workout

It is important not to rush into the workout quickly, but rather prepare and warm up nicely, in order to improve blood flow towards the working musculature, as well as prevent injury.

Modifying the Parameters

If you don’t know what the Training Parameters are, make sure to check out our article where we explain it in depth. To say it shortly, the weight used, as well as the repetitions and time spent to complete the exercises, form the training parameters.

If you’re having trouble with the sets/reps in the given exercise table above, make sure to reduce them, so that you are not extremely challenged.

The same works vice versa, if you’re a beginner but you have some good abdominal strength and endurance, you can up the sets/reps according to personal preference.

Needless to say, do not overdo it or underdo it.

Flex that Six-Pack!

Now here we don’t mean “show off your abs” but seriously- Flex them!

If you don’t know that flexing has actual benefits for developing muscle detail, well, check out our article on Bodybuilding Posing, where we talk about this in depth.

You can pretty much flex everywhere, without even being noticed. Simply, contract the abdominal muscles and hold the contraction briefly, then release.

Time the Workouts Well

We know it. You want six-pack abs ASAP! Well, doing this workout everyday won’t help, as you need a window of recovery as well.

We recommend you to do this workout no more than twice a week as a beginner. Keep your mind on proper exercise execution and a period of at least 72 hours between each separate workout.

Conclusion

This workout is designed for beginners. The main goal is targeting the abdominal muscles and developing their basic physical properties like strength and strength endurance. The workout includes a variety of exercises, that target the abdominal area under different angles.

Even though this is a workout, oriented towards the six-pack, we also have a stability exercise that works on the whole core, namely, the front plank. This is a good overall workout for beginners, which can be tweaked according to the trainee’s level of training.

The workout can be done for the first ~year of the training process and it should be well noted that it can be done furthermore, with a good increase in the challenge given to the body, as it adapts to the stress.