Monday, May 08, 2006

Abdominal Exercises





Doing Abdominal exercises will not by itself enable to you look like a cover model. Your belly could even get bigger. Here’s why. People tend to store fat in their stomachs. You can have the strongest abs in the world but if you have 3 inches of fat in front of them, your still going to have 3 inches of fat. It’s just going to be pushed out a little more.

Spot reducing-trying to lose weight in one part of your body by exercising that area- simply doesn’t work.

In order to see those abdominal muscles, you must combine aerobic exercise-walking, running, treadmill, stairclimbing- with abdominal exercises and eating a healthy diet.



Best Abdominal Exercises

To achieve rippling abdominal muscles you must perform aerobic exercise like walking, running, treadmill workouts, staircliming. You must also perform abdominal exercises and diet correctly.

Working you abdominal muscles will not by itself give you washboard abs.

Having weak abs can lead to poor posture and leave you susceptible to back injuries.

To get the best results you need to do 15-20 reps of each abdominal exercise. You can build up your abdominal muscles by doing a veriety of abdominal exercises with and without weight.

Here are a list of the best abdominal exercises

Hip raises

Tips: 1. This exercise is great because unlike crunches, this works mostly the lower abs. 2. Use your abs to pull your legs up. Rotate your pelvis foreward to really "crunch" your abs. 3. Try not to swing. Using momentum in any exercise is cheating! 4. Squeeze your abs at the top! Keep your legs together.





Crunches
Lie flat on your back with your feet flat on the ground, or resting on a bench with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle. If you are resting your feet on a bench, place them three to four inches apart and point your toes inward so they touch. Place your hands lightly on either side of your head keeping your elbows in. Don't lock your fingers behind your head! Push the small of your back down in the floor to isolate your ab muscles. Begin to roll your shoulders off the floor. Continue to push down as hard as you can with your lower back. Your shoulders should come up off the floor only about four inches, and your lower back should remain on the floor. Focus on slow, controlled movement - don't cheat yourself by using momentum!

The best abdominal exercise overall.



Hanging knee raise

Hang from a bar with your legs straight down. Raise your legs by flexing your hips while flexing your knees until your hips are fully flexed. Continue to raise knees toward shoulders by flexing your waist. Do NOT swing and use momentum. Go slow and concentrate on using your abs to pull your legs up. Return to the starting position. Repeat. You can place weight between your ankles for added resistance. You can also raise your knees to one side of your body to work the obliques.

The best abdominal exercise for you lower abs.

Rowing crunch with ankle weights.

One of the best abdominal exercise not used.

Dumbell side bend

Works the obliques. Stand straight up with your feet at shoulder width. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand with your palms in. Place your left hand on your waist. Keep your back straight. Bend to the right as far as you can, then bend to the left as far as possible. After finishing your desired reps, change the weight to your other hand and repeat. Bend at your waist only, not at your hips or knees! Can also be done with a barbell on your shoulders.


Barbell trunk twist

Works your obliques. Place a light barbell on your shoulders and sit at the end of a flat bench with your feet firmly on the floor. Twist your torso to the right, then to the left by twisting at your waist only. Do not move your head from side to side. Keep your back straight and your head up. Can also be done standing or by holding a dumbbell close to your chest.




Cable crunch

Kneel below a high pulley. Grasp cable rope attachment and place wrists against the head. Flex hips slightly and allow the weight to hyperextend the lower back. With the hips stationary, flex the waist so the elbows travel toward the middle of the thighs. Return and repeat.


Curl up

Seated twist

Works your obliques. Place a light barbell on your shoulders and sit at the end of a flat bench with your feet firmly on the floor. Twist your torso to the right, then to the left by twisting at your waist only. Do not move your head from side to side. Keep your back straight and your head up. Can also be done standing or by holding a dumbbell close to your chest.