When you think of getting a summer body, what’s the first thing you think of? Probably having abs! Regardless of if you are a guy or a girl, everyone thinks about having a six pack at some point in their life. When you look at some of the greatest athletes in the world or even a lean bodybuilder, one of the first things you notice are their abs! 

Everyone has abs, it just depends whether you can see them or not. To be completely honest, all it comes down to is body fat percentage to get rock solid abs. Although, don’t get it wrong. Even if you can’t see someone’s abs, it doesn't mean they don’t have a strong core. 

If you want to get a visual six-pack, you’re in for one core burning ride. You’ll need to grow and put stress on your abs while reducing your body fat percentage until they are visible. It’s a delicate dance between training and nutrition. Keep reading for a 15 minute ab workout that will get you ready for the beach in no time. 

The way you want to start an ab workout is by warming everything up. When you warm everything up, you engage more neural drive and stimulate more high threshold motor units for later on in the workout.

The exercise we use to warm everything up is going to be the overhead single leg squat. The overhead single leg squat is going to use a compound movement that targets the abs to keep you upright and balanced. By putting the weight over head, you create more instability instead of just holding the weight by your side or loading on your back. 

You will be forced to focus on bracing hard and balancing so that you do not fall over while squatting. Make sure to squeeze through your belly button to stay as stable and upright as possible. 

As a superset to the overhead single leg squat, you can use walrus walks. Walrus walks are going to be almost a core isolation movement, but it will warm up the back and the arms as well if they were not warmed up from the overhead squats. 

You will place your feet on some valslides or gliding pads then use your arms to pull you for a desired distance. You will basically crawl with just your arms in plank position.

The walrus is going to introduce you to that time under tension for your abs in a dynamic way compared to just a regular plank. If you want to make it more difficult, you can bring your knees to your chest like a reverse crunch so that the abs are contracted as you pull yourself. 

Regardless of how you choose to do it, make sure that the posture you choose has your abs engaged throughout the crawl. 

After your warm up movements, then you can start to get into isolation exercises. This is where you will be focusing on the abs themselves and even developing coordination in your core. The starting isolation exercise is going to be pass the plate. 

Pass the plate is going to be a good combination of time under tension while still including lengthening and contracting. You will begin in almost a six-inches position with the weight above your head. 

You will then bring the plate over your body while simultaneously bringing your knees to your chest and then placing the plate on your shins. 

Once the plate is on your shins, extend back to the six-inches position then continue to pass the plate between your shins and hold it. You can do this fr 3-4 sets of 12 repetitions. 

A core exercise that focuses a lot on the time under tension aspect of training is going to be hollow body rocks. Hollow body rocks might also be referred to as banana holds, but I think you get the idea. 

Lay on your back and then crunch slightly so that your back is rounded and you are able to cradle on the ground. Your heads should be extended past your head and feet are off the ground. 

You will simply rock back and forth for 30-60 seconds while keeping that coure crunched and tight. 

Since we just covered an exercise for time under tension, let’s touch on something a little more coordinated. A great ab exercise that will focus on coordination is the rotating back extension. 

The rotating back extension is going to target the obliques, lower back, and even get the hips involved. You’ll want to use a back extension stand to lean on so that you can get a more vertical rotation. 

You will start with the weight held out in front of you and then twist your body toward the floor while keeping your arms straight with the weight. Once your chest and the weight are parallel to the ground, explode back up to the starting position using your obliques and hips. You can start by doing 3 sets of 9 reps per side. 

One of our favorite exercises to strengthen your core is going to be the use of an ab wheel roller. Using an ab wheel roller is going to be a great substitute than just doing crunches over and over again. The ab wheel will test your balance and ability to lengthen and contract your ab muscles. 

The ab wheel should be a controlled eccentric and a fast contraction. One common mistake that people will make is that they might arch their back or try to stay straight the whole time. When using the ab wheel, you actually want to have a hollow body position similar to passing the plate or the hollow body rocks. This will keep your core engaged as much as it can be throughout the movement. 

The last unique ab exercise that you can fit into your quick ab routine is going to be the incline reverse squat. You will need a decline bench and some powerlastic bands to get the most out of this movement. 

The generic version of this exercise is the reverse crunch, but the reverse crunch can take a while to have effects for more advanced athletes. That’s why the incline reverse squat adds a little more resistance to the equation. 

Set up the decline bench in front of a pillar or rack where you can attach the bands. Then put the bands around your feet as this will act as your resistance. Then lay on the decline bench as if it was an incline bench and hold on to the bench behind your head. 

You will then bring your knees to your chest and back down again as quickly as you can. THis is to start developing fast twitch adaptations and coordination in the abs. Do 3 sets of 20-30 reps. 

Anyone can have a six pack, sometimes you just have to work for it a little. To get one you need to be able to combine a solid nutrition plan along with exercises that will help you grow your abs. Getting shredded means hitting all the parts of your core and not just the front, but the obliques too. 

When you are gunning for a six pack, make sure that you are still training like an athlete and not just doing crunches on top of crunches. By mixing up time under tension with speed and coordination work, you’ll see results and feel the burn throughout your whole entire core. Take our 15 minute ab workout for a spin and feel free to mix and match any of the other exercises that were featured in this article.

If you want to find more ab workouts that help you in a specific sport, sign up for the Peak Strength app and get custom programming in your pocket. We developed the app to help individuals like you achieve their goals specific to the resources they have. Check it out so you can become a SHREDDED BEAST!