Best Work Out With Regard To The Abs

By Ronald Barron


Most people that are 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 crunch is by far the most popular and well-know abdominal exercise. This exercise is performed by lying on ones back and gently lifting the upper torso off the floor towards the lower half of ones body. This exercise can also be modified by utilizing an exercise ball. One would place the 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.

Another variation to the crunch exercise is the reverse crunch. In this exercise, one would lie on ones back and engage the abs by lifting the lower body upwards towards the chest instead of lifting the upper torso off of the floor towards the knees. Utilize slow and controlled motion to optimize the workout. As with most exercises, the effectiveness comes from using proper form.

The hanging knee lift is an exercise that is also excellent for the abdominal muscles. The hanging knee lift is executed by holding a chin-up bar and elevating the bottom half of the body bringing the knees into the chest. To perform this exercise properly, one should refrain from moving the upper body and lift the lower body at the pelvis, not the hip. Bending at the hip is a good hip flexor exercise, but does little for the abdomen.

One more excellent work out for abs is the bicycle. This exercise is performed by lying on ones back and motioning the legs above the floor to simulate riding a bicycle with fingers interlocked behind the head. To maximize this exercise, one should twist the upper torso to make each elbow meet the opposite knee as the legs extend and retract. It is important to keep the abs contracted through the extent of this exercise.

An alteration to the bicycle is to change the pace during the exercise. Moving from a fast pace to a slow pace alternates the resistance presented to the abs which improves this exercise greatly. One more alteration would be to stop during this exercise while ones feet was still in the air and then extend each leg one at a time 3 or 4 inches above the floor. Each leg should be allowed to hover above the floor for a few seconds before switching.

To get the best effect, the same exercise should not be executed every day. One should do different exercises to avoid working-out the same group of muscles in the exact same way on consecutive days. By using different exercises, one can potentially obtain the best work out for the abdominal muscles.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment

top