There are literally hundreds of exercises that claim to work your abs.  With all of these options, it can be hard to know which exercises will give you a washboard stomach and which ones are a complete waste of time.  To give you a little help, here are the top 4 ab exercises you can do for a washboard stomach. 

  1. Vacuum Pose- This is one of the simplest and most effective exercises to work your abs and shrink your waist.  You can either do this exercise standing up or on the ground on your hands and knees.  All you have to do is suck in your lower stomach as far as you can.  You might want to imagine that you’re trying to get your belly button to touch your spine.  You should hold this pose for as long as you can.  You might start out holding the pose for 20 seconds.  Then take a short rest and repeat for about 5 minutes.  You can work up to doing more when your strength improve.


  2. Bicycle Crunch- This exercise is great to target upper and lower abs, as well as your obliques.  You’ll need to perform this exercise on the floor.  Lay on your back with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and your hands behind your head as you would with a regular crunch.  To start the exercise, you’ll crunch upwards and twist trying to bring your left elbow to meet your right knee.  Then you’ll switch sides.  You can perform a certain number of reps then rest and repeat the set.  The number of reps and sets you perform will depend on your fitness level.


  3. The Plank- This is an effective isometric exercise that can strengthen your core and define your abs.  To do this exercise, you’ll need to be in a variation of the pushup position.  Instead of pushing up on your hands, you’ll want your arms to be in an L position with your forearms stabilizing your body.  You should pull in your stomach and tighten your abs to hold yourself up.  Your body should form a straight line.  Keep this position for as long as you can, around 30 seconds.  Then you can rest and repeat for several minutes.  There are several variations of this exercise you can try when you’re more advanced.


  4. Seated Jackknife Crunch- With this exercise, you’ll need a workout bench.  Sit on the bench and lean back at a 45 degree angle with your legs stretched out in front of you.  To perform the crunch, raise your legs and use your abs to pull them toward your stomach.  Then extend them back to the starting position.  Perform as many reps and sets as you want.  If you’re just starting out with this exercise, you may want to start out with fewer reps until you can perform them correctly.   

While these are 4 of the top exercises you can do to work your abs, there are many others that are effective as well.  If you want to build an effective routine, you should pick exercises that target different areas of your abs that way all of the muscles get a good workout.  You can find descriptions of several exercises online if you search for effective ab exercises.