Now, let me just start by saying right up front, this is one is a horribly awesome abdominal exercise.

It combines a variety of different patterns of tension and loading into a single, multi-stage exercise. It requires serious abdominal strength to even perform a single rep.

It's definitely not for the faint of heart.

If you're up for the challenge (or just want to see something crazy!)...read on...

This exercise combines a Dragon Flag (a favorite exercise of Bruce Lee where the upper back and head are on the bench while the rest of the body is held straight out and up at an angle) with a leg raise (with your lower back over the end of the bench) with a dumbbell pullover and crunch/foot thrust.

Here's what it looks like...

First, set a heavy dumbbell on end on a bench. I'm using a 105 lb dumbbell and I weigh about 195 lbs here. You'll need a dumbbell that's equal to or a little bit more than 50% of your bodyweight for optimal counterbalancing.

Next, set yourself with your butt off the end of the bench (the end should be right on your waistband).

Lie back on the bench then reach back and set your hands under the top plates of the dumbbell, just as you would for a pullover.

Get the dumbbell up to the top position and hold it there.

Let your arms come back a little to get tension in the abs, then start raising your legs.

Keep your knees bent as you do this, to minimize torque on the lower back.

Keep raising until your butt and lower back and off the bench, legs vertical and only your upper back and the back of your head on the bench.

That was the easy part...

Here's comes the hard part...

Lower the dumbbell down towards the bench and straight out your body and legs. HOLD this position for as long as you can...this is the Dragon Flag. It's normally done holding onto the bench...in this case, the dumbbell is counterbalancing your legs to maintain the position.

This is intense.

When you can't hold the position any longer, bend your knees and lower your legs down.

Keeping the dumbbell off the bench, lower your hips down further while wrapping your lower back around the end of the bench. This fully stretches out the entire sheet of the rectus abdominis muscle (the six-pack abs).

The picture is a bit cut off but be sure to keep your feet OFF the floor at this point. DO NOT let them touch. This is critical for maintaining tension.

Hey, nobody said this was going to be easy...

Now repeat the sequence for as many reps as you can do until you can longer hold the Dragon Flag for any length of time.

Then you're done.

If you want to try these (or something like these), I would highly recommend not starting with this version done on the bench...start by doing these on the floor (without the wrapping of the back around the bench). Just do the Pullover, Dragon Flag and Leg Raises.

Once you've got the hang of that, try a Step riser...THEN move to the bench only once you're comfortable with the balance. That's honestly a big part of the challenge of this one. You have to have complete control over every phase of the movement.

This is seriously one of THE best overall abdominal strengthening exercises I've ever done. It's that good.

(you can also use just the dumbbell counterbalancing Dragon Flag part on it's own, if you want to leave out the leg raises)

Here's the link to the video...it's worth watching, even just for entertainment purposes, but especially if you want to try this out yourself (or parts of it).

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Want more truly INSANE core training like this?

I've got a whole book of exercises that will destroy your core...

This is honestly one of my favorite books that I've put together...I just love training the core hard.