How To Build Abs Without Sit-Ups

Sit-ups, for the most part, is like counting cash in your wallet.

In a way, they both feel good. But counting your money does not help you earn more money. Banging out a bunch of ab-burning sit-ups also but does not mean when you stand up you will have a six-pack.

Your core, which refers to the muscles in your abdomen and torso, function to stabilize the torso and to transfer force from your lower body to your upper body. This happens through the core’s ability to resist extension and rotation, as opposed to the movement of the spine, which produces extension and rotation.

The problem though, with most core exercises is that they encourage spinal movement instead of spinal stabilization. Let’s fix that. Replace your existing crunch and sit-up routine with the following program:

1. 90/90 Breathing

If you’re reading this article right now, chances are you’re breathing (if you’re not, please take a second to resume doing so before continuing). And chances are that you’re breathing incorrectly, which is impacting your ability to fully utilize your abs. Because of simple things like to day-to-day stressors and improper body positions, most people live in a hyper-inflated state (inhalation), and never fully exhale properly. That’s why there’s that dude in your office that always looks completely stressed out and holds his shoulders close to his ears as if he has no neck.

The ability to exhale properly is incredibly important for developing what the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) coined the Zone of Apposition (ZOA). Besides putting you in a better position to execute all the exercises you love to do, the ability to exhale will actually help you engage your core muscles to a greater extent. Whether you’re doing planks, chops and lifts, or Pallof presses, once you learn to properly exhale I promise that you will feel your abs a hell of a lot more.

How many? 10 breaths

Here's how to do it: Lay flat on the floor with your feet on a wall bent at 90 degrees. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your lower abdomen. Take a slow breath in through your nose, inhaling for three seconds. Pause briefly. Exhale slowly, also through your nose, taking five or six seconds to breathe out. Pause for three seconds and repeat the breathing cycle.

2. Hollow Body Hold

If you see someone performing a hollow body hold, it might look like they’re doing something out of a Pilates class. It looks easy to the naked eye but when you actually try it, you will realize how incredibly challenging it is. The hollow body hold emulates the ideal body position for a traditional pull-up, only you’re lying face up on the floor as opposed to hanging from the bar. Because of this you are being forced to work against gravity. This exercise is a great anti-extension movement for you core because of two reasons.

First, having your hands above your head holding onto a dowel or light barbell forces you to fight against any rib flare (the chest up position most guys do when a pretty girl walks by). If the ribs flare, compensation occurs at the lumbar spine, which means we are going into lumbar extension or back-arching (think: “belfie” pose), which is exactly what we don’t want to do.

Second, hovering the heels just off of the floor promotes an active contraction of the rectus abdominis and encourages posterior pelvic tilt (think: opposite of the belfie pose), which flattens the natural curvature of the lumbar spine making the core work even harder. Think of your rib (upper third of your torso) and pelvic (hips) positioning as a two cans stacked on each other. If the cans aren’t stacked directly on top of each other in this exercise, it means we aren’t working the core the way we want to. (In fact, when this is done under load, such as in a squat, it creates a scissoring effect on the lower back. Pleasant, right?) If you’re able to hold this hollow position for more than 30 seconds, it means your heels are probably too far above the floor and that you’re not working against gravity as much as you should be. In addition to being an awesome core exercise the hollow body hold will also teach you how your body should feel during an actual pull-up as well.

How many? 2 reps of 30 seconds

Here’s how to do it: Start by laying flat on the floor. Squeeze your abs and press your lower back into the floor. Lift your shoulder blades off the floor, while putting your arms above your head with your shoulders at your ears. Squeeze your glutes and lift your feet just a couple inches off the floor. Hold for 30 seconds.

3. Deadlift

The deadlift gives you more bang for your buck than…well, even the dollar menu! Whether your goal is to get massively strong or get a massively big booty, the deadlift works. What many people fail to realize however is that the deadlift is also a fantastic core exercise because of the breathing requirements while performing it. When handling heavy loads you must be able to protect your spine. The breathing technique common among powerlifters and weightlifters is known as creating intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). As previously mentioned, we want our “cans” to stay stacked which allows us to transfer force properly. To help us do this during the deadlift and protect our spines, it’s important to breathe using the diaphragm. When taking a big breath in, using the diaphragm, it descends and pushes down on our organs, creating positive pressure within our inner cylinder, helping to stack the “cans.” Additionally, you should also then think about bracing your abs like you are going to be punched in the stomach. This creates even more pressure within our cylinder further protecting the spine from excess movement or damage. So during the deadlift not only are you working your abs, but you’re effectively doing it to protect yourself from injury.

How many? 4 sets of 5 reps

How to do it: Approach the barbell with feet shoulder-width apart. Grab the barbell with your hands outside of your legs. Drop your hips and flatten your back by squeezing your lats and lifting your chest. Start with your shins vertical. Keeping your chest up and back straight, stand up. Keep the bar as close to your body as possible.

4. Single-Arm Dumbbell Bench Press

The bench has forever been seen as the ultimate alpha exercise for the beach and for bragging rights, but it can also be used in a way that challenges the core. The single-arm dumbbell bench press does exactly that. By using a unilateral load on one side, you are forcing your core to resist rotation towards that side (remember, one of the core’s most important function is STABILITY). Otherwise, you will miss the purpose of this exercise.

Compared to the typical barbell or dumbbell bench press, you will feel the working side a lot more in the single-arm bench press. If you are working your right side, I’m obviously talking about your right pec, right oblique and right leg.

How many? 3 sets of 8 reps per side

Here's how to do it: The goal is to keep your back completely flat on the bench and both feet grounded in the face of this imbalance. Lift the dumbbell from your armpit, straight above your head. Keep your elbow bent at 45 degrees.

5. Split-Stance Bent-Over Dumbbell Row

We can take these concepts even further, and apply them to the split-stance bent-over row. Working unilaterally, like the bench press variation above, challenges the core’s ability to resist rotation.

The row is often done incorrectly, whether it’s because someone uses an excessive amount of momentum to row weights he shouldn’t be using, or because someone is simply bending the elbows and not actually rowing.

In “real rows,” the powerful muscles of the upper and mid-back actually drive the entire motion, not the puny ones on your arms. Think about pulling your shoulder blade all the way towards your spine when you row and letting it travel down into your armpit on the way back down.

All this movement must occur on a rock solid torso. And what does maintaining a rock solid torso do? In simple but direct terms, it builds a rock solid core. The split-stance adds another challenge. Not only do you have to be stable and balanced over your front foot, your core has to manage this challenging position as well.

How many? 3 sets of 8 reps per side

Here's how to do it: Start with the dumbbell in your right hand and your left foot forward. Bend at the hips, maintaining a flat back. Pull the dumbbell up toward your shoulder, keeping your core tight. Ribs down, and pelvis tucked under always; stack your cans!

6. Ab Wheel Rollout

You didn’t think I would write a core-training article without mentioning this awesome exercise, did you? This is one of the most difficult but impressive feats of core strength you can do, and here’s a progression to help you get to a standing ab wheel rollout. If you can do this standing, great; if not, on your knees is the way to start.

This exercise and its regressions will challenge your core’s ability to resist extension. You do not want to let your hips sag and, umm, “hump the floor” in this exercise. That not only defeats the purpose and is just so, so wrong in so many ways.

This movement should be initiated from the hips. The lower you can get your hips down without sagging the farther the ab wheel goes, and the better the exercise will be. But going down is only half the battle. Coming back up requires immense core activation, like you’re doing a crunch, without actually doing one physically. Wrap your mind around that one for a second. If you do these right, prepare to find out what it really means to “laugh so hard, it hurts” over the next few days, even with just two sets.

How many? 2 sets of 8 reps

Here’s how to do it: From the standing position, grab the ab wheel at your toes, slightly bending your knees. Keep your core tight, extend the ab wheel out as far as possible by pushing your hips forward and toward the floor. Don’t allow your body to touch the floor. Contracting your abs again, pull the ab wheel back toward your feet until you return to the standing position. For most of us, we’ll start with our knees on the floor, extend the wheel out as far as possible without letting your chest touch the floor, Contract your abs and return to the kneeling position.

7. Mid-Rack/Overhead Carry

Finally, the core also works in farmer’s walks, suitcase carries, and so on. In the mid-rack/waiter’s carry, you are carrying one weight overhead and one weight at your torso, which is a little different than most people are used to seeing.

Carrying and walking around with a weight above your head helps build shoulder stability. However, this position is difficult to maintain because many people have trouble getting up there in the first place, mostly because they’re hunched over at a desk all day.

The mid-rack weight takes care of this by forcing you to brace your abs. Tucking a kettlebell close to your midsection locks down your core in the face of this overhead challenge. In this exercise, the weights can be different (lighter weight on top), and they should be. The asymmetrical nature of this exercise will challenge your core differently on both sides.

How many? 2 reps of 45 yards per side

Here's how to do it: Make sure that the mid-rack weight is heavy enough to lock down your ribs, and that the weight overhead is still challenging.

So skip ab day. Train the way our ancestors worked in their daily lives, by expressing force, not chasing a sissy burn in their stomachs – and you will be fighting bears instead of fighting for likes on Instagram in no time!

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