Complete Six Pack Abs Workout (Upper, Lower Abs, & Obliques)

You are at the right place if you are looking for the complete best Abs workout. This workout targets all the major muscle groups in your core, including the upper abs, lower abs, and obliques.

Many people want sculpted midsections and strong abdominal muscles, but they often seem out of reach. This is simple yet effective abs workout will help you finally get the flat and firm stomach you’ve always wanted.

In this article, we’ll provide you with a complete six-pack abs workout plan that includes the best exercises for six-pack abs, sample workout plans, and tips for success.

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Know About Your ABS Muscles

To build the impressive six-pack abs, first we needed to understand the anatomy and functionality of the abs, which help to perform the abs exercises at the best level.

When most of us refer to our abs, we’re usually representing the rectus abdominis (“abdominal muscle”). The abdominal wall can be divided into two separate anatomic parts, each of which functions differently.

Your waist is made up of two muscle groups: the rectus abdominis (known as your “six-pack” muscles) in the front and the obliques on each side.

Rectus Abdominis (ABS)

The Rectus abdominis muscle arises from the lower margin of the rib cage and sternum and passes vertically downward to attach to the pubic bone.

The two rectus abdominis muscles (one on each side) are encased in a sheath of fascia that forms the central demarcation down the middle of the abs, known as the linea alba. Fascia divisions in the muscles are responsible for the “six-pack” appearance.

Rectus Abdominis and Obliques

Obliques

The external oblique is the outer visible layer that passes run diagonally on each side of the rectus abdominis. They can be found between the lower rib region and the pelvis. 

The internal oblique muscles lie under the external obliques and run into the lower back. The fibers of the two muscles pass at right angles to one another. Therefore, they are often referred to as opposite-side rotators.

Transversus Abdominis

The deepest part of the abs is the transversus abdominis, which lies horizontally across the abdominal wall.

The primary role of transversus abdominis is to assist with breathing, especially exhalation from the lungs. And It also helps with the stabilization of the spine.

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Complete Abs Exercises For Six Pack

Are you looking for complete abs exercises that will really tone up and strengthen your core?

Do you want to lose that belly fat and finally achieve a flat, rock-hard abs?

Are your abs good but obliques lacking? Still handling those difficult to remove love handles?

In this article, we will teach you through video’s illustration about the best abs exercises to achieve six-pack abs while improving core stability.

If you have a desire to achieve the astonishing six-pack abs, then these three move circuits which definitely help you.

The three options target different areas of your abs to ensure you’re hitting them from every angle. The first workout concentrates on your upper abs, the second focuses on the lower abs, and the final routine works the often neglected side abs – or obliques – along with your deeper core muscles.

Best Upper Abs Exercises For A Stronger Core

There are plenty of upper abs exercises for beginners and advanced. Additionally, there are upper abs exercises without equipment for people who train at home or aren’t ready to lead the movement.

Having highly defined and toned abs is great, but having a strong core is even better. Thankfully, if you do core specific exercises, aesthetics and strength come as a package.

Now, one area of the core that you need to focus on for strength and building an impressive “six-pack” upper abs

How Do You Target The Upper Abs?

Your abs act on spinal flexion and hip flexion (as well as anti-extension). So, when discussing exercises for the rectus abdominis specifically, it will be one of these actions. 

For your upper abs, they will be the most activated during movements that bring your upper body toward your hips/legs (spinal flexion)

In your lower abs, they will be most activated during movements that bring your legs/hip toward your upper body (hip flexion). 

For example, the following exercises will target your upper abs:

  • Sit-ups
  • Crunches
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3 Best Upper Abs Exercises To Build 6 Pack Abs

1. Sit Ups

Bench Sit-ups are the classic best upper abs exercises done by lying on your back and lifting your torso. They use your body weight to strengthen and tone the core-stabilizing abdominal muscles.

When done slowly and carefully, sit-ups will not cause back pain, and instead can aid digestion, build muscle, and improve posture over time.

Decline Sit ups

How To Do Sit-Ups

  1. Hook your feet under the pad and sit on the decline bench with your torso upright.
  2. Place your hands behind your head, contract through your abs to lift your shoulders and upper back off the decline bench.
  3. Hold this position for a second before slowly lowering back to the starting position, making the negative portion of the rep as slow and deliberate as the positive portion.
  4. Repeat the desired number of reps.

Tips

  • Don’t lean forward with your head. Keep a natural head position.
  • Don’t let your shoulders roll forward. Keep your chest up and shoulders back.

2. Crunch

Crunches are another great exercise for your upper abs workout.

The crunch motion occurs in the upper spine, and your shoulders rise a few inches off the floor.

Your lower back remains in contact with the floor, and there is no motion at the hips. This is in contrast to the sit-up, where the movement occurs at the waist and hips.

Crunches abs Exercises

How To Do Crunch

  1. Lie on the floor with your knees bent, feet and low back are flat on the floor.
  2. Place your hands behind your head, contract through your abs to lift your shoulders and upper back off the floor.
  3. Hold this position for a second before slowly lowering back to the starting position, making the negative portion of the rep as slow and deliberate as the positive portion.
  4. Repeat the desired number of reps.
Tips
  • Keep the movement slow and controlled. Don’t use momentum.
  • Don’t pull on your neck with your hands, this will strain the neck.

3. V-Up

The V-Up also known as a jackknife is a full-body move that works your core, legs, back, and shoulders. The exercise works the upper and lower abs muscles simultaneously to build an impressive six-pack abs.

A V-Up involves sitting on the floor or a mat and positioning the body in the shape of the letter “V.

It requires you to lift the weight of both your arms and legs by using your abdominal muscles.

V – Up

How To Do V-Ups

  1. Lie down on the floor on your back with your arms extended straight back behind your head.
  2. Your legs should also be extended.
  3. Exhale and bend at your waist while raising your legs and arms to meet in a jackknife movement.
  4. Try to hold the contracted position.
  5. Lower your arms and legs back to the starting position, inhaling as you do so.
  6. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Tips

  1. Keep the movement slow and controlled.
  2. Try to keep your back as straight as you can during the V-sit up.
Best UPPER ABS EXERCISES For A Stronger Core (SCULPT YOUR ABS)

Most Effective Lower Abs Exercises

There are plenty of lower abs exercises for beginners and advanced to get six-pack abs.

In addition, there are lower abs exercises without equipment for people who train at home or aren’t ready to load the movement.

Technically, no. When you are performing ab exercises, your entire core will be engaged. However, you can certainly emphasize the lower abs.

So, while it’s not actually “isolation”, it is as good as it. This is why we can say “lower ab exercises” and “upper ab exercises” because they essentially isolate the areas through specific movements, which we will now get into.

How Do You Target The Lower Abs?

The rectus abdominis’ main jobs are flexion of the torso, which means forward bending (bringing your chest toward your hips), and flexion of the hips, which essentially means to bring your pelvic bone/hips upward.

So, to target your lower abs, think of movements that bring your thighs toward your core.

Now that we know, we need to target the flexion of the hips to work those lower abs.

What sort of exercises would this cover? Bicycles, reverse crunches, planks with a knee drive, and hanging leg raises are all wonderful for activating the lower abdominal area.

3 best lower Abs Exercises for an impressive six-pack

1. Reverse Crunch

The reverse crunch is a challenging core exercise that primarily hits your rectus abdominis, the muscle in your abdomen that makes up your “six-pack.

Your upper body remains on the mat as you contract your abs to draw your legs towards your chest.

A reverse crunch offers many of the same benefits as the traditional crunch. As Your upper body remains on the mat as you contract your abs to draw your legs towards your chest.

Reverse Crunch abs Exercises

How To Do Reverse Crunch

  1. Lie faceup on the floor with your hands extended at your sides.
  2. Feet are up and thighs are perpendicular to the floor (your hips and knees should form a 90-degree angle).
  3. Slowly bring your knees toward your chest, lifting your hips and glutes off the floor.
  4. Try to maintain the bend in your knees throughout the movement.
  5. Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position under control motion. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tips

  • Keep the movement slow and controlled. Do not use momentum.
  • To make this exercise more difficult, perform it on a decline bench with your head on the high end.

2. Lying Straight Leg Raise

Lying leg raises are killer abs exercises to build six-pack abs, but your hip flexors actually reap some major benefits from this move.

You need no special equipment to do a straight leg raise, besides space where you can lie on your back freely. To make the straight leg raise more challenging, add a small cuff weight to your leg.

Lying Straight Leg Raise abs Exercises

How To Do Lying Straight Leg Raise

  1. Lie face up on the floor/bench with your entire body straight and your hands at your sides to stabilize your torso.
  2. Hold your legs a few inches off the floor.
  3. Raise your legs up toward the ceiling until they are just short of perpendicular to the floor.
  4. Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position.

Tips

  • Keep your lower back pressed against the bench or mat.
  • Move slow and with control, making sure not to arch your back at any point in the move.

3. Mountain Climber

Mountain climbers is an explosive bodyweight exercise that engages multiple muscle groups at once, helping to improve your balance, agility, coordination, strength, flexibility, and blood circulation.

Almost like getting a total-body workout with just one exercise.

Mountain Climber

How To Do Mountain Climber

  1. Start in the push-up position with your arms completely straight and directly beneath your shoulders.
  2. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
  3. Squeeze your abs, lift one foot off the floor and bring your knee up towards your chest while keeping your body in as straight of a line as possible.
  4. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement with your opposite leg.

Tips

  • Don’t round your lower back.
  • Don’t lift your hips too high. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
MOST EFFECTIVE Lower Abs Exercises (EASIEST TO HARDEST)

Oblique Workout For Six Pack Abs

When people think about the “core”, they usually just consider the rectus abdominis (aka the six-pack abs), with exercises like hanging leg raises, Side planks, and maybe some crunches or sit-ups.

While there’s nothing wrong with those exercises or placing focus on your abs, the core is actually composed of multiple muscle groups that also need attention. One of those is known as the obliques (internal and external obliques)

Obliques are an important part of your entire core that comes in handy during rotational exercises and balancing your way through everyday life.

These oblique exercises engage far more than just your so-called “side abs” and make you a stronger human overall.

How Do You Target The Oblique?

The obliques work together to help you to bend side-to-side, rotate your torso from left to right, and assist with spinal flexion.

The obliques also actively resist against rotation to help stabilize and protect your spine. They’re a key muscle group for stability, a muscle group that gets attacked when you twist and turn, and when you brace in those positions.

That means moves like side planks and windmills will challenge your oblique muscles, as will any exercises that have you holding a load off-center while still trying to keep your hips and shoulders square.

3 best oblique exercises For Ripped Six Pack Abs

1. Oblique Crunch

The oblique crunch is one of the best bodyweight exercises that target your core muscles—specifically the obliques on the sides of your abdomen.

It is a core exercise that strengthens your obliques as well as the other muscles of the core, including your transverse abdominus and medial glute.

Oblique Crunches

How To Do Oblique Crunches

  1. Lie on the floor on your right side with your hips and knees bent.
  2. Place your left hand behind your head and place your right hand across your body and on the obliques.
  3. Placing your hand on your obliques can help you feel the muscles contract and enhance the mind-muscle connection.
  4. Contract your obliques to lift your shoulder off the floor.
  5. Hold this position for a second, contracting your obliques as hard as possible.
  6.  Then return to the start position. Complete all reps on the left side and then repeat on the right side.

Tips

  • To make this exercise more difficult, hold a weight plate on your chest.
  • To work the oblique muscle, perform these exercises slow and steadily.

2. Side Plank

The side plank is one of the best core exercises for strengthening the oblique abdominal muscles, which don’t get worked as much during abs exercises such as crunches.

If you’re new to planking, you should master the basic forearm plank before moving on to the side plank variation.

Side Plank

How To Do Side Plank

  1. In a side plank position, lie on your right side on the floor with your left foot on top of your inner side and your left arm on top of your left side.
  2. Raise your body by placing your right forearm flat on the floor so that it’s perpendicular to your torso.
  3. Lift your torso until your right upper arm is straight underneath you.
  4. In this position, only your right forearm and the outer side of your right foot are contacting the floor and your body forms a diagonal line.
  5. Keep your abs pulled in tight and hold this position for as long as you can, and then repeat on the left side.

Tips

  • Keep your legs and body straight.
  • Avoid letting your hips sag during these oblique exercises.
  • Squeeze your abs and glutes throughout the movement for stability.

3. Russian Twist

The Russian twist engages and strengthens your core muscles as well as your lower back. This exercise helps to tone and tighten your abs and obliques, and to trim your waist and build six-pack abs.

It also helps to improve your balance, stability, and posture.

Russian Twist oblique

How To Do Russian Twist

  1. Lie down with your knee bent at the knees and feet flat on the ground.
  2. Elevate your upper body so that it creates a V shape with your thighs.
  3. Begin to twist side to side while maintaining balance on your buttocks, keeping constant tension on the abs.
  4. Repeat this movement until the set is complete.

Tips

  • Keep your back straight at all times and twist your torso only from the ribs up.
  • Don’t move your head side to side.
Know More: 21 Best Oblique Exercises For A Strong Core
At Home OBLIQUE WORKOUT For Beginner To Get Stronger Abs (NO EQUIPMENT)

Complete Six Pack Abs Workout Plan

Warm-up (5 minutes)

  • Light cardio, such as jumping jacks, jogging in place, or running arm circles
  • Dynamic stretches, such as torso twists, arm circles, and leg swings

Workout (20-30 minutes)

  • Crunches: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
  • Leg raises: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
  • Plank: 30-60 seconds
  • Side plank: 30-60 seconds per side
  • Russian twists: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions per side
  • Bicycle crunches: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions per side

Cool-down (5 minutes)

  • Static stretches, such as holding a hamstring stretch or calf stretch

Tips:

  • Perform this workout 2-3 times per week.
  • Rest for 1-2 minutes between sets.
  • Focus on slow and controlled movements
  • Keep core braced and engage abdominals
  • Breathe steadily throughout exercises
  • Listen to your body and take breaks as needed
  • Stay hydrated before, during and after workout

Conclusion

Getting a six-pack that’s straight isn’t just about looking good; it’s a sign of how committed you are to getting in shape, eating right, and feeling great.

The Complete Six Pack Abs Workout has laid out a comprehensive roadmap, targeting the upper abs, lower abs, and obliques, ensuring a well-rounded approach to core strengthening.

It’s important to remember that while workouts are a fundamental aspect, diet and lifestyle choices are equally critical.

With planning, dedication, and a focus on proper nutrition and exercise, achieving six-pack abs is attainable.

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