There's more to ab exercises than crunches

While the crunch is the best known ab exercise, there are a lot of other options for working your abs. Here are a few other ab exercises you can incorporate into your workouts.

Bicycles are an old standby. Perform these ab exercises by lying on your back and pressing your lower back to the floor. Put your hands beside your head, bend your legs at 45 degree angles, and alternate touching your elbows to the opposite knees in a pedaling motion.

For the reverse crunch abdominal exercise, lie on your back and press your lower back into the floor. Raise your legs up with slightly bent knees and cross your ankles. Raise your hips straight up using your ab muscles. The movement for this ab exercise is only a few inches.

v-ups are a more advanced ab exercise. Sitting on the floor, raise your legs off the floor, creating a "v" when your body is viewed from the side. You can either hold that position or for added difficulty, slowly lower and raise your legs.

Many ab exercises can be done on an exercise ball, which causes the small stabilizer muscles to become involved and therefore strengthens the exerciser's entire core.

Six packs aren't only about ab exercises

If you're interested in getting a six pack, remember that ab exercises are only half the battle. Yes, you have to build muscle-but if those ab muscles are hidden by a layer of fat, no one will ever see them. Removing the fat through attention to diet and aerobic exercise is the other half of the six pack equation.