You have to challenge the muscles of your abdominal wall in many different ways to get the best results.  A member of my gym came up to me and said, “Ed, I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I do hundreds of sit-ups each week with my workout, and my abs are still flabby.”  So I asked him, “are you feeling a burn when you are doing these situps?  Are the last 8-10 reps very hard for you to do?”  And he said, “no, actually it’s pretty easy.”

Herein lies the problem.  Just doing hundreds of situps does nothing for you if you are not challenging your abs.  If you’re not feeling the muscles work, chances are…they aren’t.

Mountain Climbers

One of my favorite ab exercises to do is the Mountain Climber. I love this exercise because it gets you off your back and into a whole new movement. Mountain Climbers work your abs hard.  Now the trick here is just like any other exercise, don’t over do it and change up your ab routine as often as possible to keep it challenging.

This is a great exercise to add into your ab routine.  If you are a beginner, start with 30 seconds. Work your way up to a full minute of Mountain Climbers.  Then, to really challenge your abs, you can add ankle weights to increase the intensity.

Now I have to stress that form is so important here. You can really hurt your back if you are not doing these properly.

Watch the video below on how to perform Mountain Climbers, but if possible, talk to a personal trainer at your local gym and ask for some tips on form. You want to be as safe as possible when doing these exercises.

About Edward Albert
Edward Albert is the owner and director of personal training at Ultimate Fitness Training Center in

Ask Eddie your fitness questions! Send an email to EAFit@aol.com

Ocean Township NJ. He has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years and is a former bodybuilder. In 1992, he held the title of Mr. New Jersey. Today he is dedicated to improving the life and longevity of individuals of all ages, shapes and sizes.

Start by placing your bosu ball upside down on the floor.  Grasp the flat base of the bosu ball and position yourself as if you were going to do a push-up.  Tighten up your form by drawing your abs in towards your spine and flatening out your back.  Once you have a steady grasp and a balanced form, slowly raise and lower your legs, beginning with the left and following suit with the right.  As you raise your legs, squeeze your glute muscles as tight as you can.

See the short instructional video below.

Your triceps and chest muscles should be engaged as you firmly hold your stance on the base of the ball.  Your core muscles (abs, obliques, etc) are being worked to support your lower back, and you are drawing your abs in towards your spine, contracting and holding the muscle.  Finally, your butt is getting a good blast with the reverse leg raises. 

Try starting with 10-12 raises per leg.  Don’t rest inbetween changing legs.  After you complete 10-12 on each leg, give yourself a 30 second rest.  Perform 3 sets.  Once you become more advanced at this exercise, you can add to the intesity by wearing ankle weights.