Your body should form a straight line from shoulders to ankles. Engage your core by contracting your ab muscles. Hold this position for 30 seconds, and work your way up to longer hold times.
Release your body to the ground. Lie on the floor with your hands lightly placed on either side of your head. Press your lower back into the ground. Lift your knees to a degree angle. Bring your right knee toward your chest, as if it was on the upward swing of pedaling a bike. At the same time, bring your left elbow toward the knee. Return the elbow back to the starting position and you simultaneously extend your right leg out to a point and bring the left knee toward the chest.
Bring your right elbow to the left knee. Continue to "pedal" your legs and alternate your elbows coming forward for 10 to 15 repetitions. Fitness Workouts Ab Exercises.
By Kelsey Casselbury Updated July 9, Aubrey Bailey is a Doctor of Physical Therapy with an additional degree in psychology and board certification in hand therapy. Bailey is also an Anatomy and Physiology professor.
Plus, people have wised up to the fact that there are a lot of exercises out there that work multiple important muscles in the core at once including the rectus abdominis , making crunches pretty unnecessary for a lot of people.
One of the most frequently cited studies on crunches and spinal health, published in the journal Clinical Biomechanics in , studied pig spines and concluded that repeated spinal flexion may be linked to disc herniation. In all of these studies, in which the spines were removed from the animals and subjected to thousands of bending cycles in a lab, the majority of the spinal discs experienced either complete or partial herniations. Researchers have said that this shows a connection between spinal flexion and disc damage.
There are a few reasons. For starters, you are not a pig. Smith, M. The fact that the spines in the research were taken from dead animals makes a difference too, says Brad Schoenfeld, Ph. Schoenfeld coauthored a research review on this topic, which was published in the August issue of the Strength and Conditioning Journal. The pig spines studied were subjected to many thousands of flexion and extension cycles, Schoenfeld points out. The review notes that the total times a spine was bent in each study ranged from 4, to 86, Smith says that yes, spinal literature does suggest that loading the discs a certain amount could have benefits.
Specifically, repetitively placing a certain amount of stress on the area may increase the flow of fluid and consequently, help nutrients travel throughout the spine more effectively. Schoenfeld says that deciding which exercises to do and not do really just comes down to goals. Of course, not everyone has super-specific fitness goals. So how do you get rid of that layer of fat? More crunches, right? More of the exercises listed above?
Also wrong. All the abs-toning exercises in the world won't burn the fat on top of the muscle. To accomplish this, you need a combination of cardio exercise and a healthy diet to create a caloric deficit necessary to lose weight. Get a free weight loss meal plan at SparkPeople.
The exercises listed in 7 are great ways to target your abs and strengthen them. Moves like that should be part of your training. But did you know that your abs also play a role in balance , posture and stabilization during all kinds of everyday movements and exercises—everything from walking to your car to coughing to squatting?
It's true. They always engage a little bit during everyday activities, even when you're not thinking about them. But you CAN and should think about them more often.
Next time you follow one of my workout videos , notice how many times I remind you to "engage your abs"—even when you're working your arms, back or legs. This is going to strengthen your form and control during the exercise at hand, and it gives those transverse abdominals a little extra something to work on, too which also protects you from injury.
Try to think about your abs more during the day. You'll sit taller, help strengthen that deep abdominal muscle, and perform better all around! Machines that swing, roll, rock, shake, slide, and make abs training look oh so easy! Do some of these machines work your abdominal muscles? Will using that machine alone help you get washboard abs? Sorry, but no. Think about the mistakes listed above. Using an abs workout machine means you'll be making a lot of the mistakes above: spot training, neglecting other movements, doing the same routine, doing too many reps, etc.
Their commercials may seem impressive and realistic, but I'd advise you to save your money. The real secret to getting the kind of results seen in those commercials isn't about the gadget at all.
Are you guilty of any of these mistakes?
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