Good workout routine for building muscle

So you've been at the gym, doing crunches like it's high school gym class all over again, and the results have been—well, disappointing. Sound familiar? That's because when it comes to ab exercises, crunches are pretty basic, boring stuff. But you're not a beginner, and your workouts should never be boring.

The solution? It's time to push your abs to exhaustion—and fight the flab—with new ab exercises that are anything but routine. And it's not just a six-pack you'll get: Maintain strong abs, and you’ll help prevent back pain, boost your agility, and increase your flexibility, says Tom Holland, exercise physiologist and author of Beat The Gym: Personal Trainer Secrets Without the Personal Trainer Price Tag.

But no matter how tough these exercises get, always remember the golden rule of ab workouts: quality over quantity. If you're still cranking out 2, 000 fast-paced crunches a day, you're wasting your time (and maybe even hurting your back). Instead of ripping through the motions, slow down and focus on getting the most out of each rep, Holland says. With slow, concentrated effort, you'll be building up to 30-second sets of quality moves—and admiring those washboard abs you've always wanted—in no time.

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