Hello Abdominal Muscles – Come on Out I Know You’re In There
If you are anything like me, you are always trying new ways and new exercises to work your abdominals. You seek to get the infamous 6 pack abs look. You know your abs are “in there” because you can feel them but they tend to be shy muscles and always want to stay covered up.
When you first started working on your abs you may have begun with the standard sit-up. This one has been around since the beginning of time and it is the one exercise that you have always been taught to think of when it comes to working your abs. There are many versions of the sit-up, which I’ll get into later. As time went on and you weren’t getting the results that you were expecting, you may have started searching for new ideas. You want to know how to build muscle quickly, but also want the best results possible. Your research may have led you to crunches and even to planks. Let’s talk about each of these exercises.
Sit-Ups Most people have probably used this exercise to work your abdominal muscles. Let’s do a brief summary of this exercise. This simple exercise usually starts you off in a sitting position with your knees bent. You may have your arms crossed behind your head or across your belly but it doesn’t really matter. The idea with sit-ups is to slowly lower your upper body down to the ground trying to use only your abdominal muscles. Once your back was on the ground, you finished off by raising your body back towards your bent legs. Then you repeated this as many times as you could. Workout after workout you performed many sit-ups but just were not happy with the results. The reason is that during sit-ups you are using mainly your Psoas muscle.
The Psoas muscle spans from the front of the upper legs to the pelvis and then upwards to each of the vertebrae. These muscles combine to form what most people know of as the hip flexors. Think back now and try and remember how many times you actually felt a “burn” from doing sit-ups in your abs. What els could we do?
CrunchesThink of a crunch as a modified sit-up. You can still bend your knees but the difference with this exercise is the range of movement of your upper body. With the crunch, you want to try and curl your upper torso up towards your knees while keeping your back on the floor. This is critical because by keeping your back in one position, you now isolate and work only the abs. In most cases you are not going to be able to get up to your knees. Just bend up as much as you can and then slowly let yourself down. Add these sets to your workout and I guarantee that you will feel the burn!
There are some trainers out there that feel both sit-ups and crunches lead to poor posture and put too much strain on the back. The argument unfolds in the way that these exercises are performed, where you are basically bending your spine as you come up. That being said, what else could you do if you still wanted to work your abs. Try planks.
PlanksPlank exercises give you the benefit of working your abdominal muscles, your back muscles as well as your core muscles. These are also great strength building exercises for push-ups. To perform a plank you will need to lie face down on the floor while resting on your forearms. Press you body upwards like a push-up, however stay resting on your elbows. While in this upward position, maintain a straight back posture. Hold the position for 10 seconds to 1 minute and then let yourself down. Repeat as many times as possible. You will feel these exercises in your abdominal region.
So there you have it, a whole range of abdominal exercises that you can perform in the comfort of your home. While many people have and still use sit-ups as their exercise of choice, I recommend moving on to either crunches or planks. Both of these exercises will show you how to build muscle quickly and they each have far better benefits when compared to the standard sit-up. I suggest trying each of them and see how your body reacts over time. That way you will find the exercise that is best suited to you. So, how do you gain muscles, try building your core and the rest will follow.
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