Archive for February 26th, 2010
The following lower abdominal exercise could be considered advanced, however can always be modified. The exercise I’m talking about is hanging leg raises. That is hanging from a bar and bringing your knees to your chest. Some gyms have straps that hang on a bar, that you can put your arms into for more upper body support. The strap goes underneath each arm pit.
Fully extend your body without touching the floor. As you exhale bring your knees to your chest and inhale extend the legs down and repeat. A couple of things to watch out for, which can lead to cheating…the swing. This is a good reason to have
a spotter. When you are lowering your legs, there’s a tendency for the whole body to swing. When you start swinging, you are not isolating the lower abdominal region. A spotter will stop you from swinging.
Start out with as many as you can. Try to increase by 1 each time you do the lower abdominal exercise. If you find that the bent knees exercise is getting easy, extend the legs forward, and make it more like a pike. You’ll keep the legs straight and lift up, using the lower abs. Or you can start training the obliques by lifting your legs to one side, alternating sides.