13 best weighted abs workouts to give you a perfect six-pack

weighted ab workouts for six pack

I think we both will agree on this…

That our six-packs are the standard through which we measure our healthy, muscular body. So it’s very natural to make these coveted abdominals as the centerpiece of our physique.

Contrary to popular hype in the fitness industry, the secret to getting toned and strong core is giving most of your time to working out your abdominal muscles.

But, don’t be misled by the above fact: You don’t need those extended sessions of special ab workouts rather it is enough for you to have a “weighted abs workout” component in your workouts to get those chiseled, toned and strong abs.

So, are you ready to know what are some of the best-weighted abs workouts to get those chiseled abs & V-lining? Then, you can’t afford to miss out on a wealth of information below.

Why weighted Abs workouts are important for men?

importance of weighted ab workouts for men

Besides being the centerpiece of our physique, having a high-intensity component like ‘weighted abs workout’ in your routine will help stabilize your spine, prevent injury, and help you see ab definition much faster than you might expect.

Moreover, the additional weights in your ab workouts will not only give you chiseled abs but will help you burn fat and calories faster in other areas of your body and make your fitness goals easier to achieve.

A short note about weighted abs workouts

Just don’t be scared to add some weight in your routine because it’s not an obligation to lift the weight you have chosen (you can decrease it), rather pick a weight that you can easily lift. For beginners, it must not be any more than 10 pounds.

So, it is a time for you to grab a couple of dumbbells and give these weighted abs workouts a chance to prove their worth.

Best weighted/Gym Abs workouts: Part 1

Best weighted Gym Abs workouts

The following are some of the best ab exercises with weights to get you an ideal six-pack.

1. Cable Crunch

How to do it?

  1. Start by getting a triceps rope handle up on the pulley by the carriage of a cable station. The carriage should be adjusted such that it reaches almost the top third of the cable machine. Also, it depends upon your height too.
  2. In the next step, choose the resistance amount you can handle easily. When you feel more confident and strong enough, you need to increase the weight.
  3. While keeping your face towards pulley, come down in a kneeling position like about one and a half so feet away from the machine.
  4. Now hold on the triceps rope and get your core in position. You would feel a kind of stretch in your abs. If you can’t do that because weight is not heavy enough. So increase it and bring it near to your shin.
  5. Now, try pulling the handles and bent arms at the same time and get yourself a crunch. In this case, your elbows should become equal to your thighs.
  6. Finally, keeping control of yourself go back to the original position while still maintaining the tension in the pulley. This is where one complete rep is performed.

2. Plank and Rotate

How to do it?

  1. Start in a position like plank while you are holding on to about 5-pound dumbbells in your both hands, and stiffening your wrists to safeguard your joints.
  2. Now, get your feet to little more wide than your body width.
  3. Now, lift your left hand towards the ceiling while rotating your entire torso. In this movement, your pelvis will try to rotate itself but keep it under control.
  4. Finally, bring up your left hand back on the ground, and repeat the same above action for the other side to complete one repetition.

3. Barbell Ab Rollouts

How to do it?

  1. Start by placing a barbell that is weighed with about 7-10 pounds of plates, on the ground such that your hands and knees make a kneeling position. This is your beginning point.
  2. Next, hold on firmly barbell with both hands kept wider than shoulders.
  3. Now, slowly get the bar rolling out forward, with your body being stretched in a straight position.
  4. After a few seconds rest in this stretched position, get yourself back by pulling yourself back to the initial position while you are breathing out.

 

4. Landmine Anti-Rotation

How to do it?

  1. Start with having a landmine apparatus having a handle. If you don’t have a landmine apparatus, you can make use of a simple barbell placed in a room’s corner.
  2. While making a half-moon shape, Never move the hips whatsoever, which is the key to success in this exercise.
  3. While doing the movement, keep your body under control and nothing should move except your arms.
  4. To involve more abs muscle fibers, keep your abs upright and try exhaling at the end of each rep.

 

5. Seated Russian Twist

How to do it?

  1. Start with sitting on the ground while making sure your knees are bent and your heels kept at a distance of foot form your butt.
  2. While maintaining your back as straight and still, try leaning back without rotating your spine for a second even. This is crucial for this exercise’s effectiveness.
  3. Now, hold one either weight or medicine ball right under your chest.
  4. Now, while keeping the weight as close to your body as possible, try moving the weight further and further.
  5. Now pull back your navel to your back and move away slightly to the left. This movement is primarily generated by rotating ribs.
  6. Finally, while spinning to the right, try inhaling through the center. This is one rep completed.

6. Kettlebell Windmill

How to do it?

  1. Start by maintaining a distance of your feet wider than your body.
  2. While fixing your eyes on the weight only, try rotating your left foot toe slightly outward and try raising your right side arm over and above your head.
  3. Now, get your hips to drift toward your right but make sure to don’t let your pelvis come back to you as you get into sassy position.
  4. As you get your hips to shift right side, your weight will go towards it too. Your weight will be around 65 % of your body.
  5. Now, bring your entire body towards the ground, such that the kettlebell is just slightly off the ground.
  6. Now, while keeping your torso unmoved and still, bring your left side hand to your left shoulder just like you do in a bicep curl.
  7. Now, while your left arm curved and your right arm looking towards the ceiling, get into the standing position.
  8. Now, drift your pelvis back to the middle again to make sure your weight is equally divided between your feet.
  9. Finally, bring your left arm on your head while in the meantime giving some work to your shoulder. Also, lower down your left arm back to come back to the original position. This completes one full rep

 

7. Weighted Straight-Leg Crunch

How to do it?

  • Start by holding one on about an 8-10 pound medicinal ball.
  • Next, lying down flat on your back such that your arms are completely stretched right behind you while you are having the medicinal ball in both of your hands.
  • Now, lift your legs up in the air such that your feet bottoms should be watching the ceiling.
  • While maintaining your straight arms, bringing up the medicine ball right above your chest and get your shoulder off the ground, just giving the ball a push towards your feet.
  • Finally, lower your upper part of the body completely to the ground while locking up your arms in a straight and upright position. However, your feet should remain off the ground in the air. Now, let the ball be able to kiss the ground. This completes one full rep. 

 

8. Side-Plank Cable Row

How to do it?

  1. While holding onto a plank is ok, but the addition of dynamic movements will enhance its usefulness.
  2. Now, to increase the anti spinning effect and increase your difficulty level, try adding a cable with heavyweights.
  3. Start by setting up a simple side plank body position just a few feet away from a cable station or you can choose a place of your own choice which has some appropriate place to attach a band.
  4. This position requires you to keep a neutral back position and after it performs a stretching motion.
  5. Increase the tension as needed and slowly increase your sets too.

 

8. Kettlebell Orbit

How to do it?

  1. Start with your feet maintaining a distance as wider as your body and your arms lurking a little out.
  2. Now, hold one kettlebell in your left hand from a corner of the horn of the kettlebell.
  3. Now, while in a slight fluid motion, throw it behind you and get your right hand to catch it on the other side of the horn of the kettlebell.
  4. Finally, make sure that this motion is fluid enough while you are swinging and grabbing by the other hand. This is a whole feel like if you are running into a circle around your body and waistline

 9. Medicine Ball Slam

How to do it?

  1. Start with your body width of your feet and hold on a 10-pound medicine ball on the ground just in front of you.
  2. Now squat down your body and lift the medicine ball, while maintaining your head up and try your best to not rotate your back.
  3. Now, standing uplift the ball over your head, with the full extension of arms right above you.
  4. Finally, slam the ball on the ground with full power. If you think the ball is light, you can even try catching it. This will complete one rep.

10. Gorilla Chin/Crunch

How to do it?

  1. Start by hanging through a chin-up bar while holding onto it with an overhand grip.
  2. Now, while bending your knees to make it perpendicular to the ground, pull yourself up and make a crunch at the same time.
  3. Bend your knees to a 90-degree angle and pull yourself up while crunching.
  4. Finally, end the crunching when your nose becomes parallel to the floor.

 

11. Barbell Deadlift

How to do it?

  1. Start by going down in a sitting position and hold firmly your a barbell such that your hands should be kept at shoulder width.
  2. While keeping your chest upright, pull back your shoulders but make sure that you are looking straight while you are lifting the bar.
  3. While trying to take the weight back to your feet, keep the bar as close to your body as possible all the way.
  4. Now, lift back to your thigh level, get a little pause, then again back to the original position.

 

12. Straight-Arm Climb

How to do it?

  1. Start with holding on a pair of dumbbells and lye down with your face on the floor, and your arms extended out more than your chest height and your hand palms facing opposite of your head.
  2. No, lift up your and neck above the ground, looking up straight to the above ceiling and pushing your right arm to the upside and keeping your right shoulder slightly above the ground.
  3. Now, quickly lower down your right shoulder and repeat the same lift on your left side.
  4. Finally, without letting your hand’s elbows bend, lift yourself and lower self.
  5. Try doing almost 18 reps while keep changing both sides each time you come to perform it.

Weighted Abs workouts part 2: Abs circuit

Abs circuit ab workouts for six pack

Since your primary aim is building a six pack, you might want to have a look at some other workout ways to double up your efforts for those great abs.

An Abs circuit workouts are some of the best types of exercises recommended by the pros for your abs to further speed up your six-pack building process.

In the following part, finally, I will be going through a complete circuit of the Abs workout. I will start with the upper abs of the abdomen, then lower abs and. finally, I will be giving you some core and obliques workouts and complete the ab workout circuit

1. Upper Abs workout for a six-pack

1. Crunch

How to do it?

  1. Start with lying down on your back so your knees are bent properly and your feet firmly fixed and your arms moving across your chest.
  2. Now, lift your body while making use of abs and then lower down.
  3. Finally, your abs are going to fatigue but try your best to hold onto the top position for each rep of the movement for at least two seconds to make them work as much as possible.

Sets and reps:

  • 18 reps
  • 1 set
  • 2-minute rest

2.Tuck and crunch

How to do it?

  1. Start by lying down on your back with your both hands tied to your head and your legs lifted in such a way that your knees are bending at perpendicular to the ground.
  2. Now, lift your torso and stretch your knees towards yourself and your chest. These two movements should be done at the same time.
  3. Finally, by keeping your fingers around your temples and start each rep in a comfortable way without making unnecessary jerking movements with your torso.
  4. Please, don’t allow your feet to touch the ground during each rep.

Sets and reps:

  • 20 reps
  • 1 set 
  • 30 seconds rest

 

3. Dumbbell crunch

How to do it?

  1. Start by lying on your back and holding on a dumbbell or weight plates throughout you chest on both of your hands.
  2. Finally, lift your torso, and then lower it down while keeping a smooth stretching in your upper abs.
  3. Lie on your back, holding a dumbbell or weight plate across your chest in both hands. 

Sets and reps:

  • 12 reps
  • 1 set
  • 20 seconds rest

 

4.  Sit-Up

How to do it?

  1. Start by lying down flat on your back on the ground such that your knees are bent and your legs are put under a heavy object like a furniture or a bench.
  2. Now, get your hands on your chest.
  3. Next, by flexing your core muscles, lift your torso up such that you are almost in a sitting like position.
  4. Finally, while your abs are tensed and stretched, bring down your body to the starting position while making sure you have full control of your body while you are doing all this. Resist the urge to push back and forth.

Keeping in view the length of content and user experience, this part of the post is truncated and you can read the full post about Ab circuit for beginners by visiting the red link.

Anatomy of Abs: How Abs muscle look like?

Anatomy of Abs

Although it is not important, knowing all types of muscles of your midsection will allow you to better target each of these muscles to get your perfect abs definition.

1. Rectus abdominis:

In a six-pack, this is the muscle that is exposed upfront. i.e it gives shape to your abs.

2. External obliques:

These obliques are located on the sides of the abdominal area and give you that precious coveted v-shape. They are the muscles that make your trunk rotate.

3. Internal obliques:

It is located just below the external obliques. They while helping you in rotating your trunk, also help you in flexing and compressing your belly

4. Transverse abdominal muscles:

These are the deepest layer of your abs is called the transversus abdominis. This muscle helps with respiration and breathing.

Abs workouts tips to get a six-pack fast

Abs workouts tips for six pack fast

1: To get abs, lose your body fat %age first

This is the most important tip you need to know. If you want to build a  six-pack, reducing your body fat percentage should be your first priority.

 

2: Create a calorie deficit

To lose your body fat percentage, you have to cut your calories by almost 500 calories, your body will compensate that by utilizing your fat stores as energy. So you will lose body fat too.

 

3: Take frequent meals

Taking more than 3 typical meals a day, your body will respond by enhancing its calorie-burning ability. This again will help it in reducing your body fat percentage.

 

4: Avoid alcohol at all

Taking a high intake of alcohol boosts your appetite and drops your testosterone levels and itself contains high calories which are against your goals of losing fat.

 

5: Take only the right kind of carbs

Avoid processed carbs and go for slow-digesting carbs like oats, beans, lentils, whole meat, etc

 

6: Take plenty of water

Make sure you’re drinking at least 1.5 liters of water a day. If you exercise, increase this to two liters per day. Your body views thirst as hunger.

 

7: Fat is reduced from the whole body by eating well, training well

I.e trying to lose fat from the abdominal area by focusing only on abs muscles is not enough, rather you need to do full-body workouts which will work directly to reduce your fat from abdominals.

 

8: There is no such thing as “spot reducing fat”

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