Tag Archives: Getting Abs

Ab Wheel

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Benefits

The ab wheel can produce excellent results. It trains not only the abdominal muscles but the entire core, including the lower back, latisimus and gluteal muscles. Arm and leg muscles also come into play to create a total body workout.

Variations

More challenging exercises can be performed using the ab wheel. The rollout can be done standing on your feet rather than kneeling. Other exercises can be executed with ab wheel strapped to your feet. For example, assume a push-up position, and then push and pull your legs forward and back, rolling on the ab wheel. In this same push-up position you can raise your hips in the air, rolling the ab wheel toward you to form a pike position. Lying on your back, you also can lift your hips off of the floor and roll the ab wheel with your legs.

Level of Difficulty

While the ab wheel is a simple device, it is quite challenging on the body. At first you may not be able to roll out very far. It is a good idea to limit your ab wheel workout to 10 reps for the first few days. Your endurance will build up over time, and you will be able to roll out farther and complete more repetitions.

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Training Your Core Muscles

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Sniejder

About the Core Muscles:

There are hundreds of muscles in the core of the body – the abs (all layers), lower to mid back, upper pelvic region, the obliques and the world famous ‘love handles’ areas are loaded with muscles of all different sizes, shapes, lengths and angles – which require specific core exercises to produce the desired core strength training effect.

What is amazing is, these core muscles are all so close together, some of which are layered – meaning muscle behind muscle. And if all of these core muscles are worked out properly with the right exercise program and workouts – it is not a question of “Will I be able to get a great core?” but a question of “When will I have my great core?”

Unlike 97% of core fitness workouts that are in existence, the best core workout, is designed to provide a training stimulus to every single muscle in the body’s core a with the right exercises.

The upper, middle and lower core – the love handles – the obliques – the lower and mid back areas (avoiding these will not only prevent you from ever getting killer abs, but can lead to serious injury – this happens EVERY DAY to people who try to exercise without proper guidance – & it is one the reasons why physical therapists are so busy!)

The best core workout does not rely on big expensive fitness machines or silly exercise gadgets.

It does rely on the body itself, its natural movement patterns and how the muscles of the body work in relation to gravity. This means the ideal core workout can be done anywhere, anytime.

A big mistake many people, even trainers, make is to mimic the core routines of bodybuilders or powerlifters. The problem with that is most people are not bodybuilders or powerlifters – and these people tend to overtrain anyway (I know this because I used to do it myself!). The problems here range from a lot of wasted time to serious, long term injuries.

Core Exercises:

Side Bridge

Lie on your side with your forearm on the floor under your shoulder to prop you up, and your feet stacked. Contract your core and press your forearm against the floor to raise your hips until your body is straight from ankles to shoulders. Hold for 15 to 45 seconds, then repeat on the other side. Contract your abs and butt muscles forcefully to keep your body straight.

Plank with Diagonal Arm Lift

Assume a modified pushup position with your feet shoulder-width apart, forearms on the floor. Keeping your torso steady, raise your right arm for-ward and to the right, so that it points to 2 o’clock. Hold for 2 seconds, then lower and repeat with your left arm, raising it to 10 o’clock. That’s one rep. Your elbows should be bent 90 degrees and directly under your shoulders.

Single-Leg Lowering

Lie on your back with your legs extended straight up. Keeping your legs straight, lower your left leg until your foot is 2 to 3 inches off the floor. Return to the starting position, then repeat with your right leg; that’s one repetition. Think about pushing the bottom of your heel away from your hip as you lower your leg. Don’t point your toes; keep your foot flexed toward you. Lead with your heel.

Swiss-Ball Knee Tuck

Assume the pushup position with your shins resting on a Swiss ball, hands slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Keeping your abs tight, draw your knees toward your chest until your toes are on top of the ball. Slowly straighten your legs so the ball rolls back to the starting position. Lift your hips as you bring your knees toward you so your shins rise off the ball.

Cable Kneeling Chop

At a high-pulley cable, grab an end of rope with each hand. Go down on your right knee, with your left knee pointing toward the weight stack; this is the starting position. Rotate your torso away from the stack as you pull your hands to your chest, then down and away from you. Reverse to the start. Keep your torso upright as you extend your arms away from your body.

Glute-Bridge March

Lie with your knees bent and your arms and heels on the floor. Push down through your heels and squeeze your glutes to raise your body into a straight line from knees to shoulders. Next, bring a knee toward your chest. Reverse the move, then repeat with your other leg. That’s one rep. Don’t allow your hips to sag at any time during the movement.

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Great Functional Exercises for Abs

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Brunos Abs

The most important thing to always remember. Is to get abs to show in the first place, is to attain a low body fat percentage. If too much body fat is covering your ab muscles, no definition will show.

Try to perform the following exercises 2 to three 3 a week either before or after your other weight lifting exercises or on the off days, you’ll be well on your way to improving the looks and strength of your abs and core muscles.

*Remember: To really zero in on the ab muscles that you’re working, think about and feel the contraction take place.

Aim to maintain about 30 seconds of rest between sets, completing 3 to 4 sets of each of these exercises.

Leg raises

To do leg raises without equipment, lie on the floor on your back. Keep the lower back in contact with the floor and place hands to sides or under lower back for support. Lift legs upward as far as possible. Lower down to starting position slowly and with control. Make sure back stays flat on floor and abdominals are tight. The exercise is easier if legs are bent, harder if legs are straight.

The prone ball roll

The prone ball roll-outs are another great movement for targeting the lower abs as well as the hip flexors. To perform these simply place the feet up on an exercise ball while the body is face down towards the ground. While in this position you want to be balancing on the hands which are placed directly below the shoulders.

From there, slowly roll the ball in towards the body until you’re in a fully contracted position. Pause for a brief second at the top and then extend back out again to complete the rep. Note that this one may take a bit of practice to get your balance right on the ball so don’t give up if you struggle at first. If you keep at it, it won’t be long before you’re seeing the full benefits.

Exercise ball sit-up with a dumbbell

Regular exercise ball sit-ups are a great way to fully stimulate the muscle fibres in the abs, but for many of you, it’s no longer challenging enough. To up the intensity of this movement, add a dumbbell behind your head.
By placing it behind the head rather than over the chest as many people do with decline-weighted sit-ups, you lengthen the distance from the weight to the core, really adding to the difficulty.

As you move through the exercise, be sure to focus on the bottom half of the movement as this is where the muscles are extended the most, which will force them to contract harder.

Russian Twists On An Exercise Ball

Russian twists on the ball are an interesting exercise that is commonly forgotten about. To perform these lie again with the middle of the back against the ball but this time you want to hold a single dumbbell directly above you with both hands.

Once you’re balanced, slowly rotate the body (and dumbbell) to one side while keeping the arms fully extended.

After you’re as far as you can go while maintaining control and balance, lift back up to the starting position and then begin to twist to the other side.

*Also Note

The abs are one of the quickest-adapting muscle groups in the body, so it’s vital that you’re always trying something new to take them to the next level of development. Remember that one of the most critical elements to a successful ab routine is to always maintaining a focus on those ab muscles to prevent other muscles from helping out with the action.

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