Want Great Abs?

[Doug]

Are you performing situps as an abdominal exercise then now is the time to stop...???

The situp is not really an abdominal exercise...!!

The situp uses the iliopsoas muscle, one of the muscles used to lift the knee upwards. It originates at the lower back and inserts into the thigh bone. The situp therefore pulls on the lower back and even more so when the feet are anchored under some object like a bench. So performing loads of situps can result in lower back pain..

To work the abdominals effectively try these three exercises.

(1) Bench Crunches

First, perform bench crunches to strengthen your upper abdominal muscles. Lie on the floor with your feet on a bench and your legs bent at a 90-degree angle. Place your hands at your temples. Raise your head and shoulders until your body is at a 45-degree angle with the floor. Return to the starting position.

Avoid pulling on your head during this exercise because you could strain your neck. Also, exhale when contracting and keep the tempo of the movement slow in order to maintain proper form.

(2) Seated leg tucks

Seated leg tucks are great for developing the lower abs. Sit sideways on a bench and grasp the edges of the bench for support. With bent knees, raise your legs slightly, and then straighten them. A good way to ensure proper balance is to lean back when needed.

Next, lift your knees toward your chest while keeping your lower legs pointed downward, and flex your abs as hard as you can. For better results, keep the tension in your abdominal muscles throughout the entire movement.

(3) Cable crunches

The third movement will work your oblique muscles, which are on the sides of your body. Side-to-side rope crunches are great because the weight can be adjusted to each individual's strength level. Use a tricep pushdown cable and comfortably kneel facing the machine with both cables in your hands.

The cables should now be on each side of you above your head. Alternatively crunch down the weight to each knee. The contraction should be controlled and performed slowly to maintain good form and maximise the work on the obliques.

Perform 3-4 sets on each, 10-20 reps to start with..

[delaroche]

great post. rep +

[ssslayer]

Good one, but I am really surprised at the number ppl at gym who cannot feel which muscle they are exercising while working out.

Whenver anyone pimps straight knee situps/leg raise - I ask them, "so you really feel your abs contracting when you perform it?", and guess what - most of the ppl are clueless as to what I am talking about.

BTW I do one variation of the crunch - keeping the legs up, supported on a wall. This is how you will look:
o_/| ( | is wall )
And then crunch.

Dunno what those are actually called.

[beefy]

yer nice post!! yer i do the floor reach to i think thats wat its called, would raising ur knees while hanging from a chin up bar target the lower or top of the abbs?

[Doug]

Originally Posted by beefy

yer nice post!! yer i do the floor reach to i think thats wat its called, would raising ur knees while hanging from a chin up bar target the lower or top of the abbs?

Anything involving lifting the legs would effect the lower abs, If you use a set of lifting straps you can also do twisting knee raises while hanging off the bar...

[yitmy]

Excellent point- abdominal muscles to work them and know what you are doing is critical to wear you feel it, and increased targetting of the tissue. Thus saying by lifting your legs keeping your upper trunk fixed you work your lower abs, the opposite for the upper abs. Laying on a bench and lowering your legs down (usually when straight) while maintaining your back in neutral posture works the transverse abdominis. Any type of rotation whether it is with the upper or lower trunk fixed would work your obliques. Yes, with the lower trunk fixed you work your upper obliques and the opposite for the other. Can you train the fibers that way for the obliques? The jury is out, but we all know that varying the routine may be a way of confusing the muscle and increasing recruitment and decreasing staleness of the routine. "Variety is the spice of life..... and the life blood of making the routine work in unexpected ways".

I agree with 10-20 reps due to abs being endurance based musculature, so to build the tissue up, more reps seems to feel better. I tend to use a clock/timer and just focus on eeking out the best reps in the best form in a certain time frame say 1 minute. Then I may increase or add a little "spice" to the routine.

After any abdominal routine I highly recomend you perform a trunk stretch by gently twisting your arms and head in the opposite direction of your legs. By doing surch for a couple reps would decrease any back pain you may get by targetting the abs. On some occasions you may be targetting the abs but by keeping your legs fixed and curling down ie... (cables) you could be drawing in your Iliopsoas. This would cause some back discomfort, so Quadricep stretches or Cat press (push ups with pelvis on the mat) would help stretch this area.
-M

[ssslayer]

One more abs thingie I do is:

Lay on the bench - slight incline is better.

Raise the legs, as if doing leg raise to ~ 90 degrees (from ground - that is keep legs vertical).

Raise the hips OFF the bench. Hold. Return the hips back to bench, but keep the legs at 90 deg.

[British Rich]

I use the hanging straps a lot and HIGHLY recommend them for knee lifts and twisted knee lifts.
The next step would be straight legged lifts.

I thought they were almost impossible a month ago, now I can do a couple of sets getting my toes up to waist height with my legs straight....getting past that still seems way too hard but I know it IS possible eventually ha ha!

**beginners, have a spotter lightly hold ur lower back until u build up the strength and control to stop swinging, that helped me a lot**

[robert]

Originally Posted by Doug

Are you performing situps as an abdominal exercise then now is the time to stop...???

The situp is not really an abdominal exercise...!!

The situp uses the iliopsoas muscle, one of the muscles used to lift the knee upwards. It originates at the lower back and inserts into the thigh bone. The situp therefore pulls on the lower back and even more so when the feet are anchored under some object like a bench. So performing loads of situps can result in lower back pain..

To work the abdominals effectively try these three exercises.

(1) Bench Crunches

First, perform bench crunches to strengthen your upper abdominal muscles. Lie on the floor with your feet on a bench and your legs bent at a 90-degree angle. Place your hands at your temples. Raise your head and shoulders until your body is at a 45-degree angle with the floor. Return to the starting position.

Avoid pulling on your head during this exercise because you could strain your neck. Also, exhale when contracting and keep the tempo of the movement slow in order to maintain proper form.

(2) Seated leg tucks

Seated leg tucks are great for developing the lower abs. Sit sideways on a bench and grasp the edges of the bench for support. With bent knees, raise your legs slightly, and then straighten them. A good way to ensure proper balance is to lean back when needed.

Next, lift your knees toward your chest while keeping your lower legs pointed downward, and flex your abs as hard as you can. For better results, keep the tension in your abdominal muscles throughout the entire movement.

(3) Cable crunches

The third movement will work your oblique muscles, which are on the sides of your body. Side-to-side rope crunches are great because the weight can be adjusted to each individual's strength level. Use a tricep pushdown cable and comfortably kneel facing the machine with both cables in your hands.

The cables should now be on each side of you above your head. Alternatively crunch down the weight to each knee. The contraction should be controlled and performed slowly to maintain good form and maximise the work on the obliques.

Perform 3-4 sets on each, 10-20 reps to start with..

doug can you give me any info on ephigin is it good for you i hereyou can los a lot of weight by taking this i herd it drys out your system and gives you energy

[Doug]

Originally Posted by robert

doug can you give me any info on ephigin is it good for you i hereyou can los a lot of weight by taking this i herd it drys out your system and gives you energy

I take it you mean ephedrine.....??

This drug is banned in the UK, but still available in some countries. It is reported that it increases; alertness, exercise tolerance, an increased heart rate, and increased body temperature. But there are side effects, the main ones are heart palpitations, dizziness, and sleep disturbances. People who take them normally start on 1-3 tablets per day, but after a while the body gets used to that dose, and then to obtain the same results the dose has to be increased, I have known people who have taken ephedrine in high doses to be taken to hospital to have their heart put back into rhythm either by medical drugs or via a defibrillator...!!!!!