Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kiel DiGiovanni, Co-founder
FACT CHECKED
If there's one truth in life, it's that every lifter wants a set of abs. The second truth is that everyone can get them if they train correctly. Most people have problems with their ab training simply because they have no real plan; they just do a bunch of crunches and planks then go home.
There's a better way to train your abs, and this article will lay it out. We'll give you the best ab circuit workout to sculpt your abs the way they’re meant to be.
Ab Muscles: Anatomy & Function
Before we get into your ab circuit workout, we want first to break down their anatomy and function.
To begin, your "abs" are actually a collection of 4 different muscle groups:
- Rectus Abdominis (6-pack)
- Transverse Abdominis (The sexy muscle)
- External obliques (Superficial muscle on the side)
- Internal obliques (Deep muscles on the side)
Together, these four muscles work in unison to stabilize the spine and torso. They contract isometrically to help hold the spine in position, provide support, and prevent movement.
This brings us to a major error in many people's training—excluding anti-rotation and rotational exercises. Apart from the plank, many exercises, such as crunches, are performed through flexion and extension.
Question for you: How often do you walk around performing crunches? Never!
These exercises have a place in training, but to fully optimize your training, you must include these anti-rotation type movements.¹ In fact, famed Dr. Stu McGill, who's generally considered one of the best back and core strength and performance coaches, makes this point numerous times in his research.
Now, that's when your abs work together. In addition, they have their own secondary function. We're going to go through the four ab muscle groups and look at their function.
Rectus Abdominis
The rectus abdominis, often called the "6-pack," is the muscle group that comes to mind when people think of abs. Despite its famous nickname, the "6-pack" is a single, large set of paired muscles running vertically down the front of the torso.
When upright, the rectus abdominis works alongside other core muscles to stabilize the body and regulate intra-abdominal pressure. However, its other function is to flex the spine in two main ways:
- Upper Flexion: The muscle flexes the spine by pulling the rib cage toward the hips, primarily driven by the upper part of the rectus abdominis. This upper section is particularly active during this type of flexion.
- Lower Flexion: Alternatively, the rectus abdominis can bring the hips upwards toward the head. The lower section of the muscle mainly performs this action.
This muscle is long, and as you see, the upper and lower abs can flex independently. Therefore, to fully train the six-pack, you'll need two exercises: one to target the upper abs and one to work the lower abs.
Related: 11 Best Rectus Abdominis Exercises
External And Internal Obliques
The obliques run down the side of your body. We usually speak about these ab muscles as if they are one pair, but in reality, you have two sets.
The external obliques are the muscles that sit on the outside, just under the skin. You can see these when they're developed enough, assuming you're also lean enough.
Sitting underneath external obliques are the internal obliques.
Even though these are two separate sets, there's no need to use different exercises to train them, as they basically do the same thing and work together. The movement of the right external obliques is coordinated with that of the left internal obliques and vice versa.
The obliques perform different functions depending on whether one side is contracted alone (unilateral) or if both sides are engaged together (bilateral). When working unilaterally, the obliques can rotate the torso or flex the spine laterally (side-to-side). When contracted together, they help flex the spine or to prevent movement.
Related: 9 Best Oblique Exercises
Transverse Abdominal Muscle
The transverse abdominis is probably the least discussed ab muscle, at least by name.
It's the deepest of the abdominal muscles lying beneath the rectus abdominis and the obliques.
As a result, you can't see it – out of sight, out of mind. However, it plays a crucial role in biomechanics and performance.
It wraps around the torso, compressing the ribs and internal organs and providing essential stability to the thoracic and pelvic regions. For this reason, it's known as the body's natural corset, which is essentially what it does.
While you can't see the transverse abdominis directly, it does affect the size of what's known as the "Adonis Belt"—the line that runs near the hips and directs attention to the lower abdomen.
Contrary to what many believe, the Adonis Belt isn't a muscle but two inguinal ligaments that run over the transverse abdominis from the hip bones to the pelvic region.
Therefore, training the transverse abdominis can make these ligaments more prominent as they will be pushed out.
All that to say, the transverse abdominis' main job is simply to stabilize the torso. This makes movements such as farmer carries, rack pulls, and rollouts essential to growing this ab muscle.
The 5 Exercises For Your Ab Workout Circuit
We will quickly run through the best ab exercises and what ab muscles they'll train.
1. Decline Ab Sit Up
The decline ab sit up is going to hit your lower abs. When you perform these, keep your back planted and curl your pelvis towards your head.
Remember, the flexion point is where you'll get the most growth. Therefore, this will (should occur) towards your upper abs.
Note: These can be done with or without weights.
2. Pallof Press
The pallof press is one of the best anti-rotation exercises that no one does. You can perform this with a set of bands or a cable machine.
To set this up, set the cable (band) at shoulder level. Stand so the cable (band) will run straight across your chest.
Hold the handle at chest level with both hands and then push out. Pushing the band out will increase the resistance, either lifting the weight stack or stretching the band. Further, your arms will move farther from your chest, increasing torque.
As a result, it will want to pull your torso. Don't let it.
Try to press straight out while keeping your hips and shoulders squared up.
3. Hanging Knee Raise
The hanging knee raise will also curl your legs toward your upper body, but the flexion point will be toward your lower legs. Just remember to curl your pelvis—bringing your thighs to parallel won't cut it.
Note: This can be done weighted or just with bodyweight.
4. Woodchopper (Cable Machine)
Woodchoppers are a rotational exercise that simulates golf swing or chopping wood.
These work best with a cable machine. Further, you can perform these with 3 variations:
- Swinging at a parallel level
- Chopping from low to high
- Chopping high to low
Simply alternate through them as you train to hit the core from different angles.
5. Barbell Rollout
The rollout is the single best core exercise. This has been shown in numerous studies.
We like performing these with barbells, but you can also use rollers.
Further, while the goal is to perform these on your feet, you can start by training them from your knees and working up to your feet.
The Best Ab Circuit Workout
You'll notice we gave a large rep range for most movements. This is due to what we discussed above with using various loads. Therefore, you should work within the range given.
Secondly, some of these are challenging, and not everyone can do more reps, even if we prescribe them. Therefore, use a variety of ranges and simply apply progressive overload.
The barbell rollout is the only one with a set of 5 reps. These should be tough, so you should always increase intensity. You can do more reps if you need to, but your goal is to be able to do a more challenging version.
Using This Ab Circuit Workout
Depending on your time, you can run this circuit 1-3 times. Further, we'd suggest you perform it 2-3 times a week.
This circuit workout will maximize your training and ensure you're training your ab muscles.
As we discussed above, always attempt to use heavier loads over time and different rep schemes.
4 Core Training Tips
Training the core doesn't need to be technical or complicated, and there's no need for extra special workouts or equipment.
Your abs are just like any other muscle and respond to the same stimuli. This means muscle growth is based on the same principles. We'll discuss what you need to do to see growth in your abs and start building a solid core.
1. Progressive Overload
This is probably the biggest problem in many people's ab training. Even people who understand the basics of progressive overload completely ignore it when it comes to training the abs.
Too often, guys and girls in the gym perform their ab training using the same weight or rep scheme.
Case in point: Why have people training for years still using bodyweight planks?
Don't let that be you!
If you want your abs to grow, you must place more stress on them and increase the intensity. As we mentioned above, many people do this only by adding reps. That's fine for a bit, but you also need to increase the load.
Again, would you simply bench press 115 lbs and increase the reps until you can do 40? Of course not, so stop doing it with your abs.
2. Use A Range Of Loads
There's a good chance that your ab training primarily consists of high-rep training. You'll often see guys and girls doing something like 50 crunches or 1:00 body planks.
That can be part of your training, but you should also start using heavier loads. We don't mean just adding more load, as in progressive overload. We mean using loads equal to a 5-rep max and even a 3-rep max once in a while.
Anecdotally, many people have reported using heavy loads as the primary variable in their training that has made a massive difference in their ab development.
Therefore, some heavy loads should be used in the 4-6 rep range as well as the high reps.
Further, using heavy loads during farmer carries and rack pulls can also play a part in this formula.
3. Train The Function Of Your Ab Muscles
There's a reason we went over the ab muscles above—it's important to understand a muscle's function to train it properly.
As we discussed above, many people only perform crunches while negating the use of anti-rotation and rotation movements, at least in any meaningful way.
Therefore, it's always wise to learn how muscles work to aid in selecting exercise.
4. Train Different Angles And Movements
This is another reason why it's important to understand the anatomy and function of the abs.
Just like every other muscle in the body, your abs should be hit with different movements and angles to maximize muscle growth.
As mentioned above, muscles do not experience uniform growth when using a single exercise. Instead, the part of the muscle that sees the highest degree of stress will experience more growth. Therefore, to achieve full muscle growth, you must use exercises targeting the muscle from different angles.
For example, we can look at the rectus abdominis, the six-pack. The rectus abdominis is a large muscle that runs down the stomach from the bottom of the ribs to the pelvis.
This means that some parts can be more activated during some movements than others. For example, there are two ways in which the spine can flex. First, the abs can pull the upper torso toward the lower body, which targets the upper abs. It can also pull the lower body toward the head, training the lower body.
To do this, you'll need two exercises.
We can apply this to other movements as well.
Start Seeing Progress With Your Ab Workouts Today
It's time to stop letting your ab training be an afterthought at the end of your workouts and quit randomly doing a few crunches. Start training your abs seriously with this circuit workout designed to hit every ab muscle how they're supposed to function. Load these exercises, and you will definitely have a bigger, more defined set of abs once you put in the work.
Check out our full ab workout collection
References
- McGill, Stuart. “Core Training: Evidence Translating to Better Performance and Injury Prevention.” Strength and Conditioning Journal, vol. 32, no. 3, June 2010, pp. 33–46, journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/2010/06000/core_training_evidence_translating_to-better.4.aspx, https://doi.org/10.1519/ssc.0b013e3181df4521.
Garett Reid
Author