Posts Tagged ‘Abdominal Exercise’
Kettlebell Exercises and training is a great way to workout. As you know, I boast about using kettlebells for cardio training and abdominal training. Today I’m going to combine kettlebell exercises with abdominal exercises known as reactive abdominal training. This is a method of training your abdominals to stabilize your torso during athletic movement.
For this particular kettlebell exercise find a partner. They will stand in front of you as you swing the kettlebell forward. As you lift the kettlebell to shoulder height, your partner will try and push the kettlebell away from you during the swing. The whole idea is to keep the kettlebell at your midline or above your belly button. As you do this exercise , you will have to engage the abdominals for stabilization. Don’t forget to have your partner stand on both sides. You can do this exercise as a number of reps or amount of time, 30 seconds on one side, 30 seconds on the other.
Kettlebell exercises constantly prove unique ways to train and certainly add to muscle confusion. This is just one of the many reactive type abdominal training that can be done.
Abdominal Exercise Equipment
As you know, there are many options when doing abdominal exercises. I’d like to point out a piece of abdominal exercise equipment being used wrong in the gym. That abdominal exercise equipment is the abdominal crunch machine. This piece of equipment targets the middle and upper part of the abdominal area.
When I see people work on this machine, I do chuckle to myself when I see them use the handles and pull on them to perform their “crunch”. They usually use a high amount of weight. Not once do I see that they have contracted their abs as they crunch.
Ok, there are a few things going on here that I need to explain. The first, is that a lot of weight for an abdominal crunch will build up the muscle. The abdominal area is an area where you want to tone the muscles and build to a point, but not bulk them up. So you’d want to do more repetitions with lower amount of weight.
Secondly, and the most obvious of issues, is that the movement initiates and comes from the core, not from using the upper body to pull the weight down! You’ll want to sit up tall, pull the navel into your spine and as you exhale, contract the abdominals and execute your crunch. It is called the Abdominal Crunch Machine for a reason. All the movement and power comes from the core and NOT from pulling on the handles or upper body.
Be mindful about the abdominal exercise equipment you use and execute your movement with proper form. You will see results a lot quicker when you do!
Here is an abdominal exercise you can do practically anywhere and without using any special equipment. The abdominal exercise for today, is called the Seated Leg Pull In or the Seated Leg Tucks.
- Sit on a flat bench or sideways on a chair and grab the sides.
- Lean back to about a 45 degree angle.
- Extend your legs out in front of you, keeping the knees together and slightly bent.
- Pull your belly button to your spine, keep the upper body stable and pull the knees toward your chest.
- Extend the legs out, but don’t touch the floor and repeat keeping legs lifted and pulling knees toward your chest.
- Exhale as you pull the knees in and inhale as you extend.
Personally, I’d do about 20 reps for 3 sets. If you need to gain abdominal strength, start out with 8-10 reps. You must maintain proper form and stabilization to achieve results. So if you are going on vacation and wish to continue doing a mini workout, you can incorporate this abdominal exercise.
As I was contemplating today’s blog, I remembered this great flat stomach exercise; leg extension crunches with a stability ball. As with all abdominal exercises you always want to maintain the lower back into the mat. With this is mind, you will to be mindful about how low to extend the legs for this flat stomach exercise.
- Lay supine.
- Extend your legs placing the stability ball on your shins.
- Place hands behind your head, elbows out to the side.
- Exhale as you bend your knees and bring your legs to table top while simultaneously lifting your upper body into a crunch and keeping the ball on your shins.
- Hold that position for 2 seconds.
- Release, lowering upper body and extending the legs.
- Repeat about 10-12 times.
An easier option could be to place your hands under your body to protect the lower back.
This is pretty much an all inclusive flat stomach exercise working the lower and upper portions of your abdominal area. Remember to pull the belly button to your spine when you EXHALE!
Water aerobics exercises can be very challenging and effective for all body parts when executed correctly. You can use dumbbells, noodles, kick boards and webbed gloves as good resistance equipment while in the water. Likewise, resistance exists without any equipment.
One of the water aerobics exercises I’m going to review today is for your abdominals. You will need a noodle around your back and underneath your arm pits for you to float.
- Take your feet off the floor and lay on your back.
- Bring your knees into your chest. The closer the knees are to your chest the easier this exercise will be.
- Pull your belly button into your spine.
- Keeping the tummy tight, extend your leg into the air from the knee.
- Alternate your legs.
- Do as many as you can, then extend your legs forward and stretch out.
- Repeat.
- One alternating your knees gets easy, try extending both legs at the same time.
- Eventually graduate from using the noodle and execute this abdominal exercise.
This is a fabulous abdominal exercise that you can do on your own in the pool. It is very challenging and one of the water aerobics exercises that specifically targets a problem area. Water aerobics exercises, can be modified and in this case can progress to a more intense levels.
I have not talked about doing an abdominal exercise on a Foam Roller. Like a stability ball a foam roller adds instability to an abdominal exercise. In fact, there are other moves on the foam roller you could do, like chest presses and chest flys. That discussion is for another day. Today, it’s all about the abs on the foam roller.
There are different size foam rollers you can utilize, however, for an abdominal exercise, I suggest a roller, that’s approximately 6″ x 36″, so you can lay on it vertically. Foam rollers have been popular for therapeutic use. I like to use mine for some back aches or hamstring pulls, which was the original reason I purchased one. Now there are many moves on the roller that add intensity to some exercises.
Try a basic crunch on the roller. Lie back vertical on the roller, knees bent, feet on the floor, hands behind your head and lift the upper body off the roller to a crunch.
Try a Pilates Roll Up on the foam roller. Again, lie vertical on the roller, knees bent, feet on the floor, arms extended over head or cross them over your chest. Inhale, lift head neck & shoulders off the
roller and exhale roll up and reach forward past your knees. Sit up tall, inhale and then exhale and slowly roll back down on the roller. Do 8-15 repetitions for 3 sets. Keep the belly button pulled into the spine. You should feel some of the instability on the foam roller.
The foam roller is not that expensive and has multiple uses. We have discussed an example of an abdominal exercise. Come back to this blog or check out my website, www.Fitnessfromthepro.com for other abdominal exercises or to purchase a foam roller!
I have reviewed several abdominal exercises and I have neglected to mention the hanging abdominal exercises. This ab exercise is similar to using the Captain ’s Chair. These hanging abdominal exercises use an existing bar in the gym with two arm straps.
Just put your arms through the straps, the feet have to be off the floor and just “hang” in this position. You can start off bringing your knees to your chest (as you would using the Captain’s Chair). To intensify this abdominal exercise, keep the legs straight, exhale as you lift the legs to your chest. Add a side twist, and you can work your obliques.
These hanging abdominal exercises uses your lower abdominals and is a very effective. Check out Fitnessfromthepro.com and get your own hanging straps!
I have blogged many times about Abdominal Exercises & Abdominal Exercise Equipment. However, I have been remiss in not discussing the Perfect Pull Up Ab Straps. They are very inexpensive, and you can check out my website for that www.fitnessfromthepro.com There are gyms that provide these abs straps.
The abs straps click over a pull up bar, and you put your arms through the straps and your feet dangle. Engage your abdominal muscles and bring your knees to your chest, similar to an ab crunch on the floor. You can also perform leg lifts, as you would using a Captain’s Chair. This piece of abdominal exercise equipment even offers you the opportunity to work the obliques, by lifting knees to the sides. So take advantage of this piece of abdominal exercise equipment at your gym or purchase your own, because these ab straps are very effective in chiseling out that 6 pack!
There are hundreds of abdominal exercises that can be done to help get a flat stomach. In so doing, there are those who forget to take care of the lower back, causing a huge muscle imbalance! Think about your abdominal area and reaching around to the lower back. This is the area where all movement is centered. Our posture stems from the muscles in the core and low back.
I want to remind you, after you do your abdominal exercises, rollover on to your stomach and work on the lower back. Lift and lower the extended legs behind you, keeping the foot flexed and squeezing the butt. Then alternate and lift the upper body off the mat. You will definitely feel these exercises in your lower back. That is good it helps strengthen the back.