My Best Ab Workout Ever
It's a Killer Ab Workout!

My Best Ab Workout Ever...
(also read about Kyle's workout and Aryan's workout)

I’ve been obsessed with working my abs since I ran track in college at Boston University. I was a sprinter and a long jumper and I needed to have super strong abs to generate speed and power. In the long jump every quarter of an inch mattered, and so I took my ab training to a much high level.

When I started training my abs, I would aim for 100 reps of various exercises like sit ups, crunches, and leg raises. After a couple of weeks, I took it up to 300 reps of ab exercises. After a month, I was doing 300-500 repetitions for my abdominals in every workout.

There were even a couple of weeks when I did 500-800 reps for my abs in a single workout. It would sometimes take me 30-45 minutes just to finish my core workout

Did I mention I was obsessed…

Athletes don’t know where the line of diminishing returns begins, so we tend to overdo training. But as any ex-athlete or current athlete knows… it’s better to over prepare than under prepare.

Below are some of my toughest ab workouts. But remember I was a young college athlete who spent 2-3 hours a day training for track and field. I would never suggest this type of workout for a personal training client unless they were a professional athlete with a seriously high level of conditioning.

These workouts also put pressure on your back, so I don’t recommend them if you are not in good shape have poor flexibility, or a bad back. Use caution these workouts are ridiculously hard.

My Best Ab Workouts

When I think about my best ab workouts, they were pretty simple and straight forward. I didn’t do any crazy abdominal exercises; I just stuck with the basics and worked until I could work any longer.

Here are 3 of my killer ab workouts. (I’m saving the best ab workout for last on this page)

Killer Ab Workout #1

Sit Up Reverse Pyramid Ab Workout

A Reverse Pyramid is a technique in which you start with the heaviest weight or the highest number of reps and each set you would decrease the reps or weight.

I would to a total body lifting routine and in between exercises I would go over to the sit up bench and do a set before going back to lifting. I would start with 150 reps and decrease the number of reps by 25 each set until I got to 25.

Set #1: 150 reps of sit ups
Set #2: 125 reps of sit ups
Set #3: 100 reps of sit ups
Set #4: 75 reps of sit ups
Set #5: 50 reps of sit ups
Set #6: 25 reps of sit ups

It’s a simple workout, but by the end you’ve done 425 sit ups while you were resting in between other exercises. It’s a great way to get a core workout in without waiting until the end of your workout.

Of course, you have to build up to 150 sit ups to do this exact workout, but you can use this technique and just start with a smaller number. For example, you could go do 50, 40, 30, 20, 10. That’s still 150 sit ups.

Killer Ab Workout #2

10 Sets of Sit Ups

This second workout is very similar to the previous workout. You simply do 10 sets of sit ups. When I was training as an athlete, I would aim for 10 sets of 50 reps for a grand total of 500 sit ups.

This is a simple yet effective workout for building abdominal strength and endurance.

You can actually use this technique with any exercise. You could do crunches, leg raises, bicycle crunches or any other ab exercise that you like. And you can use anywhere from 10-50 repetitions per set.

Killer Ab Workout #3

The Ultimate Ab Workout

I think this is the best ab workout that I’ve done. It took me about 45 minutes to finish it, and I was only focusing on abs and no other muscle groups.

To be honest, it was kinda ridiculous. But as a young college athlete, I was convinced that more was more. I wouldn’t do this type of workout today, but it was truly a great ab workout.

First Ab Exercise: 5 sets of 50 sit ups (250 reps)
Second Ab Exercise: 5 sets of 50 bicycle crunches (250 reps)
Third Ab Exercise: 5 sets of 30 leg raises (150 reps)
Fourth Ab Exercise: 5 sets of 30 crunches (150 reps)

This workout was the longest ab workout I’ve ever done and was 800 total repetitions. I rested as long as I needed in between sets, usually between 1-2 minutes.

Again, I would not recommend this type of workout for the average person, but I think it was my best ab workout ever.

Yours in Health
Dr. Charles

P.S. Share a story about your best workout by filling out the form below.

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Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Incredibly hard ab workout  Not rated yet
OK i started working out in the gym about 6 months ago. Im only 17 so im still growing.

Well I had some ok looking abs to begin with becasue ive never ...

Best Ab Workout Ever...For the Average Person  Not rated yet
After I had my son I was still 30lbs heavier than I had ever been before in my life so I started working out doing things like jogging a mile and leg workouts,...