Floor Crunch:
Lying on the floor, flat on your back with your knees bent, place your feet on a chair or resting on a bench. Your neck and head should be relaxed with your hands at the sides of your head.

Concentrate on tensing and contracting the ab muscles holding the contraction throughout the movement. At the top try to contract your abdominals intensely.

Again, try to maintain tension in your abs and focus on slow controlled movements.

As with all ab exercises of this type keep your lower back flat on the ground. Do not lift your lower back off the ground and actually sit up at any time. This uses more hip flexors than abdominals.

Oblique Floor Crunches:
Abdominal exercises to help you define the muscles on the side of your abdomen, known as the obliques.

Again, with all abdominal exercises you need to make sure that your neck and head are relaxed.

As with all ab exercises, concentrate on tensing your abdominal muscles and holding the contraction throughout the movement.

After completing a full set of reps on the left side, switch to your right and follow the same instructions. Try to maintain tension in your abs and focus on slow controlled movements.

This is a great variation on abdominal exercises. Abdominal exercises of this type can increase the contraction of the oblique.

Lying Thrusts:
For this exercise you will lie on your back with your feet together, knees in a locked position and your arms tucked under your buttocks.

Put your hands, palms down, under your butt, and keep your head on the floor as you look up at the ceiling.

This, as with the other ab exercises, look simple but is very challenging. But the best thing is that it’s a great exercise if done properly.

Knee-ups:
Lie on your back with your arms out on the ground at 90 degrees to the trunk. Prior to starting each rep, “set” the pelvis.

Vacuum Contraction:
This exercise is very unique among exercises for your stomach and is one of the exercises for your stomach that most people have never performed.

Because the inner unit muscles attach from the pelvic floor to the lower spine, you’ll feel a burn from front to back.

(Source: health-heaven)

Here are some exercises that will tone your oblique muscles. Once you start lowering your body fat (and removing those love handles), you (and others) will really notice the benefits of these exercises!

• Trunk Twist (3 sets of 10 - 15 reps per side)

1. Stand with your feet at shoulder width and your knees slightly bent.
2. Place your hands in front of you with palms facing away from you (as if you’re about to push something away).
3. Twist your torso to the left, until your face (and hands) are facing in the opposite direction. (Don’t force yourself to go too far - you don’t want to injure yourself.).
4. Now twist all the way around to the right.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you’ve completed the desired number of reps.

• Lying Twist (3 sets of 10 reps per side)

1. Lie on your back, with your arms stretched out to your sides, palms facing down.
2. Raise legs upward with knees slightly bent. Your legs should be almost at 90 degree angle from your body (i.e. almost straight up in the air, but bent slightly)
3. Lower your legs to the left side, so that your left, outer thigh touches the ground.
4. Now bring your legs up and lower them down to the right, until your right outer thigh touches the ground.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you’ve completed the desired number of reps.

• Lying Leg Raise (3 sets of 10 reps per side)

1. Sit on a bench, holding the sides firmly.
2. Extend your legs out straight.
3. Pull your knees into your chest, squeezing your abs at the same time.
4. Hold for 2 seconds.
5. Repeat steps 2 - 4 until you’ve completed the desired number of reps.

• Oblique Crunch (3 sets of 10 per side)

1. Lie on the floor with your legs bent, your feet flat on the floor. If you prefer, you can keep your legs bent at a 90 degree angle so that the bottom of your feet are vertical.
2. Place your hands on the back of your head, or if you prefer, cross them over your chest.
3. Lift your right shoulder blade off the ground moving your right elbow towards your leftknee. This results in a “twisting” motion, and is why this exercise is often referred to as a “Twisted Crunch”.
4. Feel the squeeze for a second.
5. Slowly return to the starting position.
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for your other side (i.e. move your left elbow towards your rightknee)
7. Repeat steps 3 - 6 until you’ve completed the desired number of reps.

Once you become comfortable with these exercises, feel free to perform more repetitions per set. For example, when you can perform 3 sets of 10 oblique crunches easily, try 3 sets of 15 per side, or even 3 sets of 20

(Source: health-heaven)

Put your desk to use

Shape your arms with a challenging variation of the standard push-up. With your desk up against a wall, place your hands on the edge a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Keep your feet on the ground, back flat and chest in line with the edge of the desk. Slowly lower your chest down, bending at the elbows until you’re about 6 inches from the desk. Push your body back up to the starting position. Try to work your way up to 3 sets of 15.

Burn off that late-night snack

Need an energy boost? Instead of reaching for food, opt for a quick cardio blast by alternating 3 sets of 20 stadium runs and 20 jumping jacks. For stadium runs, start with hands on the floor and feet shoulder-width apart. Use a thrusting motion to bring your right knee into the chest. As the right foot goes back to starting position, raise your left knee. Be sure to have a slight bend in the elbow and keep your abs tight.

Get six-pack abs

Tone your tummy with the help of your textbooks. Lay face up on a mat or towel with knees bent and feet on the floor. Hold your heaviest course book directly over your head with both hands. Keeping your abs tight, slowly lift your head and shoulder blades off the towel, lifting the book in the air. Hold for 1 second then slowly release, working your way up to 3 sets of 20.

Use your bed for more than sleeping

Sculpt your arms from the comfort of your bed by doing dips. Sit on the edge of the bed with your hands next to hips. Move your hips in front of the bed, bend your elbows and lower a few inches while keeping your butt close to the bed. Don’t sink into the shoulders or lower past 90 degrees. Push back up and repeat for 3 sets of 15.

Get off your butt

Use your desk chair as a prop for shaping your backside with these squats. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and squat down slowly as you sit back on your heels. Lower as far as you can while keeping your knees behind toes and not going below 90 degrees, then return to starting position. Try putting a chair behind you and act like you’re about to sit down, pulling up before actually sitting. Do 3 sets of 10. Want an extra challenge? Use an explosive jump to get up from the bent position and you’ll burn more calories.

(Source: health-heaven)