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Posts Tagged ‘Lying On The Floor’

Using Resistance Bands in Abdominal Exercises

November 25th, 2009

Using resistance bands can be an effective component of any workout routine, and abdominal exercises are no exception. There are a number of exercises targeting the midsection that incorporate resistance bands. Resistance bands come in a variety of difficulties, usually indicated by the color of the band itself (e.g., green can be little resistance, yellow may be medium, red for difficult, etc.). Choose a resistance level that is appropriate for you, then move up as necessary. Do not overdo it by immediately grabbing the most advanced band you can find, as this can lead to injury. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.

Seated Crunch

This exercise provides the same benefits as the basic abdominal crunch, but with less neck strain and without the possible discomfort that comes with lying on the floor, since it uses a band rather than gravity to provide resistance. For this abdominal exercise, you will need to be sitting in a straight back chair which you can somehow loop your band through. Sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor and about as wide apart as your hips. Contract your abdominal muscles, and slowly bend forward to about a forty-five degree angle. Repeat for an entire set. Be sure to keep your feet on the floor and your back as straight as possible.

One-Arm Band Pull

Put the chair away and stand up, again with feet hip width apart. Put your hands above your head, holding the band about eighteen inches apart. Keeping your left hand overhead, bring your right hand out to the side, elbow bent at about a ninety degree angle. Hold your left arm still as you contract your abdominals and lower your right arm until your hand is in line with your chest. Hold this position, then slowly return. Repeat for an entire set, then switch hands. Keep your back straight and avoid bending or leaning at the waist. For an additional challenge, do this exercise standing on one foot. Perform the exercise with both hands while standing on your left foot, then do it all again on your right foot.

Twisting Roll-Back

For this abdominal exercise, you will need to sit on a flat surface, preferably the floor. Use a mat or towel for cushioning to ease possible strain on your tail bone. Sit down with your legs bent and heels on the floor. Your toes should be pointing up– do not put your feet flat on the floor. Loop the band around your feet, put one end in each hand and put your hands together. In a rolling motion, lower your torso toward the floor about forty-five degrees. As you do this, twist to the right and spread your hands to the sides. Hold for a second, then rotate back to the middle and raise your torso back to start. Your heels should remain on the floor throughout the exercise. Do a full set, then switch to the left side.

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How To Get Six Pack Roped Abs Fast

October 28th, 2009

A shiny set of six pack abs is something that most men and women that work out dream of. Dreaming about it is the easy part – actually getting them is another. There are quite a few guidelines one should follow when pursuing a set of six pack abs, but one thing you need to keep in mind is that pretty much all of us have a six pack under our abdominal fat somewhere, it’s just a matter of bringing down your body fat percentage, and then some hardcore toning of your abdominals – upper, lower, middle, and obliques.

Below, we’ll briefly mention five abdominal targeted exercises that you can do to shape up that flabby gut of yours. As with any exercise program, make sure you talk to a doc to see if your body can handle what you’re about to throw at it.

1. The Reverse Ab Crunch – Simply lie down on your favorite workout mat, get your thighs to a ninety degree angle with the floor (feet up), and start by bringing your knees to your chest and have your chin tucked to your chest at the same time. Go back to the starting position and slowly repeat this process, feeling the abdominal burn!

2. The Abdominal Flutter Kick – Lying on the floor (on your back) with your palms down and arms beside you, bend your knees just a little bit and extend your legs. Lift your feet about 6-8 inches off the floor, and then with a motion similar to a scissor kick, make small rapid movements with your feet, keeping your abs engaged the whole time.

3. The Exercise Ball Crunch – Lying on the ball with your face looking up, and the ball underneath your lower back, put your arms behind your head (or you can do them with arms on your chest), lift up off the ball and then go back down again. Make sure you feel it in your abs.

4. The Bent Elbow Plank – Lying on your stomach, lift your body up onto your forearms and toes, contracting your abs, and hold the position for 5-10 seconds, then rinse and repeat. Make sure that when you life your body, your elbows are parallel to your shoulders.

5. The Oblique Crunch – Lying flat on your back with your hands in the traditional sit-up position behind your head, the key is instead of doing a regular sit-up, when you raise up cross over your midsection and try to touch your right elbow to your left knee. Do this for both sides.

There are a lot more ab exercises out there, but the ones above should give you a good starting point. Remember, your abs aren’t going to show from exercise alone – you need to modify your diet to get your body fat percentage down to a level where your abs will actually “stick out” in that area, thus showing off the much sought after six pack.

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7 Lower Abdominal Workout Tips

September 19th, 2009

ADSENSE CODE #3

There is some debate in the fitness industry about how to work the lower abdominal muscles. The truth is that the 6 pack (rectus abdominus) is one muscle that has distinct sections. And although you cannot only contract the lower portion of the rectus abdominus, you can emphasize it a little more than the upper abs if you follow the workout tips below.
Now before we get to the 7 tips, I have to tell you that working your lower abs will not magically get rid of stomach fat. This is referred to as spot reduction and spot reduction is the biggest myth in fitness. You should work your lower abs to stabilize your pelvis, support good posture, improve function and performance, and exercise your spine in different directions.
Here are 7 Tips.
#1 Move you pelvis. The rectus abdominus attaches to the ribs and also to the pelvis. When the ribs move like in a crunch the upper abs are emphasized. However, when the pelvis moves like in a reverse crunch or a posterior pelvic tilt, the lower abs are emphasized. Reverse crunches are a great place to start when you want to workout the lower abdominal muscles.
#2 Move your legs. When you move your legs during ab exercises, your lower abdominal muscles must work really hard to stabilize the pelvis. For example, doing leg raises emphasizes the lower abs a little more than doing crunches. Leg raises can be done from many different positions, such as lying on the floor, hanging from a bar, or using a captain’s chair.
#3 Add resistance when you get stronger. If you get so strong that reverse crunches or leg raises become easy, you should add resistance to the exercises to breakthrough your strength plateaus. Ankle weights are a great way to add resistance to your legs to increase the challenge on your lower abdominal muscles.
#4 Use an incline. Using an incline is another great way to emphasize and increase the challenge in the lower abdominal area. If you do reverse crunches or leg raises on an incline board, your lower ab muscles work much harder against gravity.
#5 Use something contoured. This is a hidden secret to get more muscle work in your lower abs. Since your lower back has a slight natural curve, using a contoured surface like a Bosu Ball or a Pilates Barrel allows you to get more range of motion and more muscle work. Since the floor is flat it may decrease your range of motion during certain exercises, but with a contoured surface you get more motion.
#6 Stretch your lower back and hips. Inflexibility in the hips and back will decrease your range of motion and put additional pressure on your lower back. Because most people have sedentary jobs, most people have stiff lower back. If you have a stiff lower back, you will have difficulty emphasize your entire abdominal region, especially the lower abs. You should warm up and stretch your hips and lower back before doing lower ab exercises.
#7 Workout your abs 2-3 times a week. No need to workout your lower abdominal muscles every day. 2-3 times a week is all you need. You do not have to slave away doing a thousand repetitions. 2-6 total sets of 12-20 repetitions are all you really need.
Now, if you want to lose weight, you should take a comprehensive approach to fitness and also perform aerobic exercise, weight training, and eat a healthy diet.

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Lower Abdominal Workout Tips

September 17th, 2009

There is some debate in the fitness industry about how to work the lower abdominal muscles.  The truth is that the 6 pack (rectus abdominus) is one muscle that has distinct sections.  And although you cannot only contract the lower portion of the rectus abdominus, you can emphasize it a little more than the upper abs if you follow the 7 Lower Abdominal Workout tips below.

Now before we get to the 7 tips, I have to tell you that working your lower abs will not magically get rid of stomach fat.  This is referred to as spot reduction and spot reduction is the biggest myth in fitness.  You should work your lower abs to stabilize your pelvis, support good posture, improve function and performance, and exercise your spine in different directions.

Here are 7 lower ab workout tips.

#1 Move you pelvis.  The rectus abdominus attaches to the ribs and also to the pelvis.  When the ribs move like in a crunch the upper abs are emphasized.  However, when the pelvis moves like in a reverse crunch or a posterior pelvic tilt, the lower abs are emphasized.  Reverse crunches are a great place to start when you want to workout the lower abdominal muscles.

#2 Move your legs.  When you move your legs during ab exercises, your lower abdominal muscles must work really hard to stabilize the pelvis.  For example, doing leg raises emphasizes the lower abs a little more than doing crunches.  Leg raises can be done from many different positions, such as lying on the floor, hanging from a bar, or using a captain’s chair.

#3 Add resistance when you get stronger.  If you get so strong that reverse crunches or leg raises become easy, you should add resistance to the exercises to breakthrough your strength plateaus.  Ankle weights are a great way to add resistance to your legs to increase the challenge on your lower abdominal muscles.

#4 Use an incline.  Using an incline is another great way to emphasize and increase the challenge in the lower abdominal area.  If you do reverse crunches or leg raises on an incline board, your lower ab muscles work much harder against gravity.

#5 Use something contoured.  This is a hidden secret to get more muscle work in your lower abs.  Since your lower back has a slight natural curve, using a contoured surface like a Bosu Ball or a Pilates Barrel allows you to get more range of motion and more muscle work.  Since the floor is flat it may decrease your range of motion during certain exercises, but with a contoured surface you get more motion.

#6 Stretch your lower back and hips.  Inflexibility in the hips and back will decrease your range of motion and put additional pressure on your lower back.  Because most people have sedentary jobs, most people have stiff lower back.  If you have a stiff lower back, you will have difficulty emphasize your entire abdominal region, especially the lower abs.  You should warm up and stretch your hips and lower back before doing lower ab exercises.

#7 Workout your abs 2-3 times a week.  No need to workout your lower abdominal muscles every day.  2-3 times a week is all you need.  You do not have to slave away doing a thousand repetitions.  2-6 total sets of 12-20 repetitions are all you really need.

Now, if you want to lose weight, you should take a comprehensive approach to fitness and also perform aerobic exercise, weight training, and eat a healthy diet.

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