When it comes to building up abdominal muscles, people often get confused as to what exercise to do. They most times just stick to doing crunches, and when they don’t see any progress, they often give up on building abs.
You need to understand that your body can get used to a particular type of workout, and when this happens, you won’t see any much progress in your fitness routine. This is why you need to get used to changing your exercise routines from time to time.
1. Bicycle
To do this exercise, follow the following simple procedures:
• Lie on your mat with your face towards the ceiling
• Place your hands behind your head, bring your knees in towards the chest and lift your shoulders off the floor, thereby raising your neck too
• Rotate to the left, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee as you straighten the other leg.
• Switch sides and do the exact same thing for 1-3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.
2. Ball Crunch
Ball crunches are much more effective than floor crunches because the legs tends to give you more support when you’re on the floor. Meanwhile, when you’re on the ball, the abs do most of the work. Here’s how to go about this exercise:
• Position the ball right under your lower back before lying on it.
• Place your arms behind your head or you could choose to cross them over your chest.
• Now try raising your torso off the ball.
• As you curl up, make sure to keep the ball stable.
• Lower your back down and repeat this exercise for like 12-16 times for each set.
3. Reverse Crunch
All you need for this exercise is to find somewhere flat. Probably a mat would do.
• First thing you do is to lie on the floor and place your hand behind your neck
• Bring both knees towards your chest until they’re bent to 90 degrees
• Now try elevating your hips by using nothing else but your abs.
• Lower your back and repeat for as many times as you wish, rest and continue again.
Note: You need to avoid swinging your legs to raise your hips. Your lower abdomen is meant to do all the work.
4. Vertical Leg Crunch
• Start with lying on the floor, extend your knees straight up (towards the ceiling) with your knees crossed.
• Place your hands behind your head for support, but avoid pulling your neck.
• Now here comes the difficult part. Contract your abs to lift your shoulders off the floor and towards your knees.
• Keep yourself in that position for about 5 seconds.
• Lower and then repeat for 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps.
The vertical leg crunch is another effective move for the rectus abdominis. It’s similar to a regular crunch, but your legs would be kept straight up, forcing you to use your abs to do all the work and adding intensity to the exercise.
Conclusion
Add these exercises to your daily workout sessions. All of these 4 exercises have been tried and proven to be very efficient.
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