What is the best cardio for strenghting abs? The elliptical is my favorite, but I also seem to get a really good workout on an exercise bike. The bad thing about a bike though for me at least is that after I'm on it for 20 minutes or so my butt starts to really hurt.
Best cardio for abs?
- Thread starter FrozenSweat
- Start date
Neither the elliptical or exercise bike will appreciably strengthen your abs. You'll need to add in some additional load bearing exercise to really achieve this.
Swimming works the abs better than any cardio that I can think of. Doing dolphin kicks with a kick board will build great abs, if it doesn't kill you first. The stationary bike has almost no ab contraction. The elliptical and running have a little contraction of the abs, but more so the hip flexors.
A bit harsh, aren't we, especially for a mod? The guy's been a member for less than a month.
Harsh? People need thicker skins if my comments leave them all butthurt.
Obviously there are better ab workouts but he said best cardio that work the Abs.
Theres nothing wrong with doing The elliptical and the bike it will work the abs.
But the range of movement is not enough to work all the abs.... but if they are the exercises you prefer then carry on.
They will mainly burn of the fat that will expose the Abs, which is the main thing you want.
If you want thicker abs then use a weight to increase resistance on a crunch exercise.
More important though is diet.
Theres nothing wrong with doing The elliptical and the bike it will work the abs.
But the range of movement is not enough to work all the abs.... but if they are the exercises you prefer then carry on.
They will mainly burn of the fat that will expose the Abs, which is the main thing you want.
If you want thicker abs then use a weight to increase resistance on a crunch exercise.
More important though is diet.
Thanks the info and not being a smartass like one of the others above. I wasn't asking which cardio exercise would give me a 6 pack. I do cardio and weight exercises, and I just wanted to know which type of cardio would benefit the abs the most because that is where I need to lose some fat.
I would focus on things that keep your heart rate up and your abs contracting. Do sprints and a wide variety of ab exercises in between your sprints. I've found that to be one of the most effective ways to improve my abs, good luck!
P
PFT.Damien
Guest
Yeah Swimming is a great work out for the body, it very successfully combines muscle conditioning with cardio.
I'm not a pro here, but my advice is that stationary bike, stairmaster, etc. don't do squat for you ab-wise or athlete-wise. If you have limited time and space, I'd advise jumping rope for 10-15 minutes as it gets your whole body moving and great for weight loss, which is a biggie for abs. If you have more time, I'd run a lot of actual stairs or hills with burpees, mountain climbers in between.
In general, there's not really a way to target fat in specific areas of your body. Each person's body holds fat in it's own way. Some people tend to accumulate fat around their midsection, some in their lower body, etc. My stomach is the most stubborn part of my body as far as holding onto fat as well.
That being said, if your goal is to reduce the amount of fat on your stomach, then your goal is to reduce your overall body fat %. So, the cardio you're doing will help on that front. If your goal is to also increase the depth and strength of your ab muscles at the same time, then I would suggest looking into swimming or increased resistance exercises in the gym, as others have mentioned here.
My biggest advice would be to make sure you're putting in your work in the kitchen just as diligently as you are in the gym. Proper nutrition in combination with exercise will get you where you want to go.
Good Luck!
Jeremy