BILL'S ABS WORKOUT - Bill's ab workout demonstration consists of machine crunches and leg raises. Bill chose these exercises so you can get the best ab workout in the shortest period of time. Bill has experienced the best abdominal muscle development using these two primary exercises. In a future article we will get more detailed instructions about fine-tuning the abs for contest preparation. 

Machine crunches are an excellent all around exercise for a total abdominal muscles workout. Crunch machines that have top and bottom motion are best, as they exercise the upper and lower rectus, and also engage the obliques and pyramidalis muscles. Bill generally performs three sets, 15 repetitions, of machine crunches, twice a week.

Leg raises is the second of Bill's core abdominal exercises. In addition to exercising the rectus, leg raises also exercises the obliques, and iliopsoas (psoas major and iliacus muscles). During this exercise you can isolate the abdominals more if you limit the range of motion of your legs by not lowering them below the horizontal plane. Straightening your legs during this exercise will increase the difficulty of this movement. Bill generally performs two Sets, 15 to 20 repetitions of leg raises, twice a week.