Abdominal Exercises

Abdominal exercises are important for core stability and good balance. They keep your lower back strong and resistant to injuries. They make your whole physique look more athletic. Develop a strong set of abs by spending time on these core-training exercises. A common question I get is "How often should I do abdonimal exercises."

Although no research to date has found any benefit from doing abdominal exercises more than 3-5 times per week, there is also no harm in working your abs everyday. It's difficult to fatigue or overwork the abs if you are only using your body weight as the resistance. If you do use added resistance, you should allow a day of rest between workouts.

Abdominal Crunches

Basic Crunch Sit-ups- Curls the shoulders towards the hips.

Reverse Crunch - Curls the hips toward the chest.

Many people need to retrain themselves to do a correct crunch because people tend to bang out exercises that mostly use hip flexion.

If you are not seeing results from your current crunch it may be due to poor form. It may also be a result of doing too many repetitions with light weights. One more thing that may be stopping you from seeing results...Too much fat covering the muscles.

Let's go over the proper technique for a few popular abdominal exercises.

Basic Crunch Sit-up

1. Lie on the floor with your hips and knees bent at a right angle, and your calves resting on a bench. Do not cross your legs.

2. Just before you do each rep, tilt your pelvis up. Your lower back should touch the floor.

3. Keep your chin on your chest, curl your shoulders off the floor. If you lift your shoulders too high you turn it into a hip flexion movement, which we do NOT want.

4. Keep the tension on the muscles by using a slow ascent.

5. Exhale, and hold the contraction for a second.

6. Slowly lower your upper back to the floor.

7. Inhale, press your lower back against the floor and repeat.

The crunch is a short-range exercise. The lower half of your spine always touches the floor. Never jerk into the movement.

When first starting out don't put your hands behind your head. This leads to pulling which can cause neck problems.

Cross your arms and rest them on your chest, shoulders, or in your arm pits.

When you are ready to add weight you can hold a dumbbell across your chest. You can use weighted plates if they are not so large that they interfere with the correct movement.

This abdominal exercise works the lower abs by bringing the hips up off the ground and pulling them toward your shoulders.

1. Lie on your back on a horizontal bench.

2 Grip the bench above your head.

3. Bend your legs fully and keep them bent through the whole exercise.

4. Keep your thighs vertical and tilt your pelvis so that your lower back is flattened against the bench.

5.Initiate every single rep by pressing your lower back into the bench.

6. Then curl your lower back off the bench. This is a short-range movement in which you focus on moving your pelvis.

7. Push your knees toward the ceiling as you keep your thighs vertical. Do not bring your knees to your chest. Do not try to lift your upper back off the bench. Do not throw or straighten your legs. Do not use momentum

8. Lift and lower your hips. Stay controlled. Keep continuous tension on your abdominal wall.

Overhead Pully Crunch

Kneel on some padding in front of the cable of an overhead pulley.

There can not be a fixed seat or knee restraint on the machine. You can also use one of the cables from a crossover machine.

Attach a bar to the cable. If it is a straight bar, use a supinated grip rather than an overhand grip. This will lessen the stress on your elbows.

You could also use an inverted v-shaped bar.(one that has a sharp V not a slight slope).

The best grip is a parallel one using a rope attachment designed for pushdowns. You can make your own with a sturdy strap, rope, or cloth belt. Attach it to the cable's connection and tie a knot at each end.

If using the bar, hold it above or just behind your head. If using the rope hold each end by your neck. The rope allows you to turn around and do the exercise with your back to the cable. This works really well.

Maintain an angle behind your knees of less than 90 degrees.

Keep your hips and lower back fixed.

Lean forward slightly and begin curling or flexing your spine until your upper back is almost horizontal.

Sustain muscular tension by going slowly.

Less weight is best until you've mastered the crunching action.

Exhale as you crunch and then hold the contraction for a second before you slowly return to a vertical position.

To reach more abdominal muscles you should do them with a twist also. Alternate pulling one shoulder toward the opposite knee.

It is Ok to sit on your ankles to do this abdominal exercise, especially while you're mastering the crunch action.

There are, however, two dangers to this abdominal exercise. Never let the weight jolt you up after the crunch. Always stay in control. Also it can be harmful to your elbows if you do not use a comfortable grip.

These photos show two different sitting positions and the range of motion for the overhead pulley crunch.

The Plank

One particular exercise that I love is called the Plank. In this exercise you hold a position for 20-60 seconds using your abdominal muscles. For more information about the plank click on the link below.

"How do I do a Plank?"

Using machines for ab workouts:

A few non-traditional ab exercises:

Three abdominal exercises using a stability ball:

Floor leg lifts for the lower abdominals:

Many, many, many more...

In my quest to provide you with a large assortment of abdominal exercises, I found a website that explains hundreds of exercises for abdominals and other body parts. This website lists every ab exercise from A to Z and demonstrates how to perform each one.

Click here to see them all... Abs A to Z

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