A top strength coach says you only need these two exercises to build your abs

Man with his top off doing ab crunches.

A solid set of abs is still at the top of many people’s ‘gym goals’, but knowing how to accomplish this can feel complicated. However, Physical Therapist and Strength Coach, Jeff Cavaliere, says it doesn’t need to be. Alongside good nutrition – which he says is critical as you’ll need a low enough body fat percentage to see your hard work – these are the only two ab exercises that you need to develop (and keep) a six-pack.

“The role of the abdominal muscles in spinal flexion is to create top-down flexion, moving the ribcage towards the pelvis and bottom-up flexion, moving the pelvis towards the ribcage.” To develop your abdominal muscles you therefore need exercises that focus on spinal flexion in this way and, luckily, there are two exercises that do just that.

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These exercises are not revolutionary by any means, but more often than not these days we try to make exercises look ‘cooler’ or more ‘interesting’ when there’s really no need. Most importantly, they focus on moving your legs towards your head and head towards your feet, which Cavaliere says is key. Grab an exercise mat or make sure you have something soft beneath you when you try them. Here’s what they are:

• Corkscrew – It’s basically a reverse crunch, but instead of crunching straight at the top and going down again, when you reach the top of the crunch, twist your feet to one side. When you perform the second rep, you’ll crunch then twist your feet to the other side. Bringing your feet towards your head works the lower abs, while the incorporated twist works the obliques.
• Upper circle crunch – Again, this is very similar to your crunch. The difference is instead of crunching up and down, you crunch and rotate, like you’re creating a circle in the air. This works the obliques, while moving your head towards your lower torso will work your upper abs.

And there you have it, two ab exercises that target your upper and lower abdominals, as well as your obliques. If, however, crunches are just not your kind of exercise then here's a five minute no-crunch ab workout you can try instead.