Most of the best exercises for strengthening the ab muscles are crunches. Crunches are exercises where you bring your body right forward, curling upwards to bend yourself into a tight ‘V’ shape. There are very many variations on crunches.
One of the most popular is the exercise ball crunch, which is where you lie back onto an exercise ball, and then do a crunch slowly, without the ball moving. This allows you to keep a good crunch speed, as well as supporting your back while you crunch.
Another good method is the full crunch, where you extend out your legs and then put your hands behind your head. As you pull yourself up with your hands, push outwards with your legs. If it is done right, this will exercise both your upper and lower body.
You might also try the reverse crunch (sometimes known as a V-up), where you lie on the floor, put your legs in the air, and then instead of bending up towards your legs, you bend your legs back towards you. This has the same effect, but is less strenuous, as you are lifting less weight.
A word of warning: as ab exercise becomes more popular, some companies are trying to cash in by hawking ab exercise machines and tools – those little frames that you put around yourself while you exercise, and that rock you back and forward. However, research has shown that there is no difference between the benefits of using these machines and just doing a normal ab crunch. There is, however, certainly a very large difference in price (the difference between free and very expensive), so it’s best to just avoid them altogether.
The basics are always best. Here are 5 exercises that you can do in a circuit to get shockingly fast results without any fancy equipment.
Y-Squats (Do a normal bodyweight squat with your arms held up in a Y-position. This works the muscles of your upper back and helps counter-act the negative effects of sitting at a computer all day.)
Push-ups The classic is the best, but you can do close-grip pushups, decline pushups, or pushups with your feet on the ball. If you are a beginner, you can start with standing pushups against the wall or kneeling pushups. Just do whatever your fitness level allows.
Split Squats with your back foot elevated 6-12 inches Elevating the back leg increases the work done by the glutes and hamstrings of the front leg. If you can't do this one, do a split squat and use the wall for balance. This is a great exercise, and should be done before lunges.
Mountain Climbers Start in a pushup position and bring one knee towards your chest. Touch the toe to the ground and then return your foot to the start position. Alternate sides. Keep your abs braced and your hips low.
Reverse Lunges These require less balance than forward lunges, and also work the glutes and hamstrings more than forward lunges.
Do 8-12 repetitions per exercise. Don't rest between exercises. Go through the circuit up to 3 times, resting 1 minute after each circuit.
For a once-per-month weight loss challenge, do each exercise to failure in your final round through the circuit.
Both John Gibb & Craig Ballantyne are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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