: How to Train Abs? This came up in another question here - we had a little debate about the efficacy of crunches vs planks, etc. So, in short, what is the best way to train your abs without risking your spine too much and

Hollow Holds, Hollow rocks, weighted hollow holds/rocks (a backpack or dumbell dangling on you feet by example). Failure is when you are unable to keep your lower back in contact with the ground.

Holds: One legged L-Sit, Tuck L-Sit, L-Sit, V-Sit, Manna (the gymnastic move) . On the floor, paralettes, and parallel bars. Knee raises, Toe raises, Toes to bar, Toes to bar with ankle weights (all strict, no swing). You can make them in a circle instead of just up and down to target the obliques too

Front Lever work you abs pretty well too (in addition to your lats, your back, your and glutes)

Dragon Flags, Human Flags

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I'm going to jump to the conclusion here that when you say "abs", you mean the core musculature in its entirety.

While Pancake's answer is good, it does only address part the story.

The core musculature does have several functions, flexion (as in a crunch), anti-flexion (when you brace such as in a squat or deadlift), extension (superman style exercise), anti-extension (a plank exercise), lateral flexion (side bends), anti lateral-flexion (1 arm farmers walks / suitcase carries), rotation (cable core rotation thing) and anti-rotation (Pallof press).

Now arguably, it's the anti exercises that are more important for proper spinal alignment and health than the flexion / extension exercises, as in life you're more likely to need to brace yourself against forces through your core than the opposite (picking up shopping from the floor, lifting children (preferably yours) overhead, holding a door for someone), though I have also read from some highly regarded strength coaches that flexion type exercises help lubricate and provide nutrients to the spine.

What I think pretty much all coaches agree on is that there's little point in doing thousands of crunches a day in pursuit of a six pack. Though I don't have time to search for it at the moment, from memory the rectus abdominis (six pack muscle) is made up from roughly equal parts fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibres, so it's a good idea to mix up heavy, strength based crunch style exercises with more endurance type ones.

Basically, work everything, but don't go too nuts in any single direction.

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