By Michale Adams


Most people enthusiastic about body conditioning work hard to build up their abdomen. Often they overlook the fact that the abdomen is not a single muscle. The abs is in actuality a collection of muscles. Thus, one must use a collection of abs exercises when developing the muscles in the abdominal area. There is an assortment of exercises one can select from to get the best work out for the abs.

The abs exercise with the highest popularity is the crunch. This exercise is executed by lying face up on the floor with the knees slightly bent and then lifting the upper-body off of the floor towards the thighs. To deepen this exercise, one can execute the crunch while holding an exercise ball between ones legs.

An effective deviation of the crunch exercise is to cross one leg across ones mid-section while the knees are bent laying one foot on the opposite knee. After a few repetitions, one would then switch legs and perform the crunches again. Switching between legs while crunching presents different resistant to the abdomen muscles providing a great work out.

A way to provide variety to the crunch is to perform the reverse crunch. The reverse crunch is done by lying on ones back and, instead of lifting the torso, one would lift the lower half of ones body. This exercise should be done slowly with controlled motion. The form should be proper in order for this exercise to be effective.

Another exercise which is excellent for abs is the hanging knee lift. This exercise is done by hanging from a pull-up bar and bending at the pelvis to lift your knees towards your upper torso. People sometimes execute this exercise incorrectly because they allow there upper body to sway and bend at the hip. By swaying and bending at the hip, one works out the hip flexor, not the abdomen. The way to execute this exercise correctly is to keep ones upper body as still as possible and lift at the pelvis moving the legs and knees as one unit.

Another workout for the abdominal muscles is known as the bicycle. In this exercise, one would lie on ones back and motions the legs in the same motion as one would when riding a bike. The hands should be interlocked and rest comfortably behind the head and the abs should be contracted the whole time in order to get the maximum benefit from this exercise. Also, one should twist the body while moving the legs to cause each elbow to alternately touch the opposite knee in the bicycle motion.

An alteration to the bike exercise is to change the speeds of ones legs from fast to slow and then fast again. The changing of the speeds causes different levels of resistance for the abs which helps them improve. One more alteration to the bike exercise is to extend one leg fully and hold it above the floor for a few seconds leaving the other leg in a crunched position. Alternately switch to the other leg and hold it fully extended above the floor for a few seconds while crunching the first leg.

Alternate the days when performing these exercises and alterations. One should not work the same muscle group with the same exercise too consecutively. Also, keeping the movements slow and controlled is the best way to avoid the risk of injuring ones abdomen. The best work out for the abs can be obtained by using a group of the best abdominal exercises.




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