Having a six-pack of abs is pretty much the pinnacle of fitness. The six-pack is what being fit, muscular and ripped is all about and in many ways, ripped abs represent fitness as a whole. Pretty much anyone you see in a gym wants to have ripped abs (although few have achieved that goal).
While resistance exercises for your abdominal muscles are only part of the deal, they are of course essential. Traditional crunches and sit-ups will only get you so far and actually, they are not particularly effective exercises. Here are the top three most effective and most “hardcore” ab exercises:
1. Hanging Leg Raise
To perform a hanging leg raise, you need something like a pull-up bar. Something you can grab a hold of and hang off of that is high enough so that your feet don’t touch the ground. Then, slowly raise your legs (keeping them completely straight) as far up as you can. You should lift your legs at least up to your own waist-height, otherwise the rep doesn’t count. Then, slowly lower your legs again. Do both up- and down- motions slowly and smoothly.
This is an exercise that can make grown men cry, if done properly. Well, maybe not quite, but don’t be surprised if you can only do a handful of reps, even if you’re used to being able to do dozens of crunches and sit-ups without any problems.
Bonus tip: If your back is resting against a solid surface, that further increases the intensity of the hanging leg raise.
2. Exercise Ball Crunch
This is basically the same as a regular crunch, but it’s performed with your lower back only supported by an exercise ball. Again, do the motions slowly and smoothly. Because the exercise ball is an unstable surface, all of your core muscles will have to do much more work than if you were doing crunches on a solid surface.
3. Cable Crunch
Once again, the motion is identical to what you do when you are performing regular crunches. However, for the cable crunch, you need a cable machine. You grab onto a handle (use low weights to start out) and position yourself so that you’re lying on your back, with the handle behind your head, holding it in both hands. Now, you perform slow, steady crunches with the added resistance provided by the cable machine. Cables are a great way to add resistance to crunches as they provide full resistance for the full range of motion, but still give you a lot of free motion, almost like training with free weights.
For any and all abdominal exercises, always make sure to keep your lower layer of core muscles in tension. Tuck in your belly without raising your chest. That’s the base tension you should have in your core, before you start doing the first crunch.
With the three exercises above, your path to a six-pack will be shorter (albeit harder, but that’s kind of a given, with weight-training). 
