It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you go to the gym and you’re surrounded by people who look like they know everything there is to know about fitness. But surprisingly, by knowing a few, simple workouts, you can keep your routine variegated enough that you’ll work out all kinds of muscle without using every piece of equipment at the gym. We put together a simple list of four ab workouts that when done regularly, will help you chisel every area of your core.

1. Long-Arm Weighted Crunch

This abs exercise targets your upper abs. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Hold a light dumbbell in each hand and extend your arms straight back beyond your head. Now crunch your rib cage toward your pelvis, keeping your shoulders still and your arms straight. Don’t generate momentum with your arms. Perform 12 to 15 repetitions. (And for more diet and exercise tips that will help you sculpt six-pack abs, pick up a copy of The New Abs Diet for Men today!)

2. Weighted One-Sided Crunch

This abs exercise targets both the upper abs and the obliques. Lie with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, and hold a dumbbell with both hands by your right shoulder. Curl your torso up and rotate to the left. Lower yourself, finish the set on that side, then switch directions and repeat, holding the dumbbell next to your left shoulder. Perform three sets of eight repetitions to each side.
Crunch/Side-Bend Combo

This exercise targets both the upper abs and the obliques. Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor, and hands behind your ears. Curl up so your shoulder blades are off the floor. Bend at the waist to your left, aiming your left armpit toward your left hip. Straighten, then bend to your right. Lower yourself to the starting position and repeat. Perform three sets of eight repetitions to each side.

3. Seated Ab Crunch

Sit on the edge of a bench. Grip the edge of the pad and lean back slightly, extending your legs down and away and keeping your heels 4 to 6 inches off the floor. Bend your knees and slowly raise your legs toward your chest. At the same time, lean forward with your upper body, allowing your chest to approach your thighs. Return to the starting position. Perform three sets of 12 repetitions.

4. Corkscrew

This abs exercise targets both the lower abs and the obliques. Lie on your back, with your legs raised directly over your hips. Your knees should be slightly bent. Place your hands at your sides with the palms down. Use your lower abs to raise your hips off the floor and toward your rib cage, elevating your feet straight up. Simultaneously twist your hips to the right. Hold, then return to the starting position. Repeat, twisting to the left. Do 10 repetitions to each side.

I remember in high school weightlifting class our teacher told us to punch ourselves in the stomach to tighten up our abs. I always wondered if this was just a load of crap or whether I was really doing something.

For those skeptics out there, when you are working out a muscle, you’re actually breaking it down and rebuilding it to be stronger. So the theory behind this is that by punching yourself AND working out, you’re doing more damage and helping yourself to grow stronger abs more quickly.

However, I can’t find any credible sources that will back this up.

The best excuse that I can find is that boxers would do it to build up a pain tolerance. That way, they are building muscle and helping themselves to build a resistance to being hit in the stomach so often.

I guess that makes sense though. I mean, you don’t really punch yourself in the legs or biceps to grow stronger muscles. I guess if hitting yourself was really effective then people would just punch themselves a lot instead of workout.

I think the key is resistance. Your muscles need to be broken and rebuilt with resistance training. A simple punch to the gut won’t do that; it’ll just make you feel sick.