Dumbbell Exercises for the Abs Challenging Ab Exercises

Dumbbell exercises are an excellent way to increase the intensity of your ab workouts.

When regular crunches and other ab exercises become too easy, you need to find a way to challenge your muscles, and adding resistance to your abdominals is one way to further increase strength and break through plateaus.

You can add resistance to your upper body by using dumbbells, and you can add resistance to your lower body by adding ankle weights.

Dumbbells are a must have for any home gym, and a little goes a long way. 2, 3, and 5 pound dumbbells can add a significant challenge to your abs if you have not used any resistance in your latest routines. And of course, as you get stronger you can use heavier dumbbells.

Here's a few of my favorite dumbbell exercises for the abs.

Standing Dumbbell Side Bends for the Obliques

Starting Position: Stand with your feet together and a dumbbell in one hand. Place your opposite hand behind your head.

Form: Using your side ab muscles, lower the dumbbell towards the floor until you fell a comfortable stretch in the side opposite of the dumbbell. Hold for 1 second and then slowly return to the starting position.

Personal Trainer Tips: You should feel the muscles working on the side opposite of the hand that is holding on to the dumbbell. Keep your body in a straight line and lean straight over to the side.
Here are some additional oblique exercises.