Abs workout for anyone who cares
 

Tis the season of walking around with no top on so if you want to tone up a bit I've got a coupla easy exercises you can do on your own inthe house that will help get somewhat close to a 6 pack providing you don't have alot of fat around your stomach.

WARM UP:

we just want to stretch your front and back muscles here so start off lying on your front face down, push yourself up with your hands but keeping your pelvis on the ground. This will stretch your lower back and front. hold it for 30 seconds then relax

Now kneel down, lean forward and stretch out with your arms until your fingers touch the floor. Slowly bring yourself backwards till your bum is touching your heels or as close as you can get but keep your fingers on the ground. You should resemble a kinda S shape with a long top. Face the ground so as to not stretch your neck muscles.



CRUNCH:

This works the top of your stomach and is better than sit ups because it doesn't put any strain on your lower back. Lie on your back, feet shoulder width apart and about 6 inches from your bum. Now what you want to do isi bring your top half up whilst keeping your lower back on the ground.The easiest way is to put your hands palm down on your legs and slide them up to your knee as you come up, Crossing your arms across your chest makes it a little harder and putting your fingers behind your ears is hardest.

Move with your body, not forcing yourself up with your arms. Keep a gap between your chin and neck as if there's an orange in between them so as to avoid neck strain. Do this for 30 seconds to a minute. Slow fluid motions, no jerking.


LEG CURL:

This works the bottom part of your stomach. Really easy. Lie on your back, arms to the side palms down. Bring your legs up so that the shins are paralell to the floor and at a right angle. You should look like you're sitting down albiet it horizontally. Now all you do is bring your knees forward as close to your stomach as you can get then back out to the parallel position.

Agan do it for 30 -60 seconds with slow fluid movements.


SIDE CRUNCHES:

This works the muscles down either side of your body. It is done exactly the same as the crunch except you twist your body round as you come up. Left right left right etc.....

Again 30-60 seconds.


to make this a little harder. Same position with your feet on the floor for the crunches but bring up the opposite leg at the same time for example if I have my fingers at my ears and I bring my right arm up and over my chest, I raise my left leg at the same time. they don't need to touch.

again 30-60 seconds


your backs probably tight after this so do the second warm up manouver to loosen it up again



This next one is fairly hard even for it eing done in a short time.

Lay on your back with your legs out straight. Now you want to bring yourself up to a sitting position but you put your 2 hands on a leg and come up and twist towards it. Eg Im lying flat on my back, legs stretched out. I place my 2 hands on my left leg and pull myself into a sitting position whilst moving my hands towards my left knee. Do the same on the opposite leg twisting to the right.

30-60 seconds but not everyone will be able to do this and it can strain your back so don't force yourself too much.


The next one is called the plank and is pretty painful too though there's easier ways to do it.

THE PLANK:

Lie face down. Now the idea is to keep yourself as straight as possible. Bring yourself up onto your forearms, now the easy way is to use your knees and keep your body straight from your knees all the way up. The more difficult way is to use your toes. Keep your body as straight as possible and this works your lower back and helps your posture.

again 30-60 seconds but i can't even hold it properly for a minute solid so if it gets too much, relax till you feel able to go back up and do it again.


WARM DOWN:

This is just the same as the warm up except after 10 seconds of warm up 1 push yourself up a little more when you feel your back relaxing and do the same with warm up 2, pushing and stretching a little more.


Thats about it, do all of them or a combination and you will see results.

Cool Jim! I'm going to print this out,unless you have it copyrighted :D
Yeah,I'mtrying to tone up for the summer myself. I personally have Widsor Pillates(that's a killer!!) however, worthwhile! and I have those exercise balls(also difficult)

well it's pretty much copyrighted for the fact that i wrote it out, thats the whole idea behind copyrights

But I digress do whatever you want with it, just trying to help people out over the summer. Got a better chance of doing ti regularly and remembering it if it's printed out.

Re: Abs workout for anyone who cares
 

All together now :lol:

Thanks, will try it out, as I have to much skin loosing 25 kilo's :? :twisted:

it won't really help you lose weight but it will scult your abdomen.

Some folk reckon doing stuff like this when you have a biut of flab on your stomach just hardens it and makes it harder to shift but I think it's bullshit. you're workign the muscle not the fat. muscle burns fat more muscle = more fat burnt etc...

Do half an hour to an hour of cardio and then this everyday and you'll see results within a week fi you eat properly.

Re: Abs workout for anyone who cares
 

Aha! The catch! Damn you love handles!!!

Anyway, I'm gonna be pedantic here as it is my field of expertise so to speak!! :P

This isn't entirely correct, and I do apologise again for being picky! This exercise won't actually work your abs. The leg curl, or reverse crunch as it's also known will actually hit the hip flexors with very little ab involvement. In order to contract the abs, there has to be a shortening of the thoracic trunk, that is, the hips need to come closer to the shoulders. Although this does occur a small amount with this exercise, the movement is started using the hip flexors and thus by the time the rectus abdominus is recruited there is too much momentum in the movement to cause any significant effect on the abs. The crunch is the most effective ab exercise and is the only direct work that is needed, along with side crunches, or some variation in order to hit the obliques. I would suggest performing 3-4 sets of 10 reps, and if it becomes too easy hold a small weight on your chest or behind your head whilst you do them. Sorry to be in there Jimmy :)

Also, for anybody who's feeling daring, weighted squats and pull ups are probably the best exercises for hitting the abs indirectly and will provide a good full body workout at the same time.

Re: Abs workout for anyone who cares
 

shut it welshy :evil: :twisted: :mad:

you can definetely feel that leg curl workign just about your pelvis so don't make me come down there and pound you. Just keep me off the aftershock ont he bus down, last time I was in wales i barely remember being there :?

Re: Abs workout for anyone who cares
 

No aftershock for you young lad! I think you've cleared us out of aftershock from your last visit!

Oh, and that bit where you feel it - that's where the hip flexors are :wink: The rest of the workout looks good though! I'm just a pedantic f*cker :twisted:

davey ****s pedantics davey ****s pedantics.... whatever that means :?

Errr.......