The Bad Exercises (avoid these)
• Lying straight-legged leg raises (first 45° off of floor, one leg at a time or both)
• Hanging leg rises with an arched back
• Sit-ups with feet supported
• Straight legged sit-ups
• Any machine-based ab exercise
• Any machine-based twisting exercise
• Torso twists (they provide no resistance, nor burn many calories)
Now that we’ve listed the exercises I recommend avoiding, provided below are the exercises that should be focused on in order to best develop the abs and hip flexors, as they provide the most resistance and encourage proper body positioning:
The Good Exercises (focus on these)
• Hanging leg raises (with hunched back)
• Hanging knee raises (with hunched back)
• Lying leg thrusts (hip thrusts)
• Decline bench leg thrusts (hip thrusts)
• Reverse crunches (crunching hips off floor)
• Ab bicycles (alternating knees to elbows)
• Ab scissors
• Stability ball crunches (weighted for progression)
• Bench crunches
• Alternating (oblique) crunches
• Weighted cable rope crunches (with hunched back)
• Ab wheel
• Stability ball hip flexion (knee tucks)
• Stability ball plank holds
• Floor side plank holds
• Abdominal vacuums (transversus abdominis development
