Best Abdominal Exercises
If you want to have a well toned abdomen, you will have to follow a few simple, effective and abdominal exercises. But remember, you will have to be diligent with these exercises to get excellent results.
Abdominal Exercises to do at Home
To reduce the flab around the abdomen region, you do not necessarily have to go to the gym. You can do the ab exercises at home as well and get the same, if not better results.
Abdominal Crunch
This is one of the most trusted exercise. The steps to do this exercise are:
- Lie flat on the exercise mat, bend your knees and keep your feet on the floor. Make sure your feet are firmly pressed down on the floor.
- Support your neck, by placing your hands behind your neck. The fingers of the hands should be interlocked with each other.
- Contract your abdominal muscles and lift your head, shoulders and back off the floor but your lower back should not be raised.
- It is important that you use the abdominal muscles and not your neck muscles, else you will not get the desired result from the exercise.
This exercise helps in working the rectus abdominis and the obliques. Let's see how to do it:
- Lie on the floor facing the sky, keep your legs extended straight but cross them at the knees.
- Contract the abdominal muscles and lift the shoulder blades off the floor, as if you were to touch your chest to your legs.
- Your legs should not move and like I have mentioned in the previous exercise, you need to work the abdominal muscles and not your neck muscles.
- Slowly lower your shoulders, but do not lower your legs.
This exercise is rated as one of the best exercise for the abdomen because the exercise works both the rectus abdominis as well as the waist.
- Lie flat on the floor with your hands placed under the head.
- Fold your legs and bring the knees towards your chest.
- Now, lift your head off the floor and move your legs backwards and forwards, as though you were to pedal the bicycle.
- When you are pedaling, you should try to reach the right elbow to the left knee and left elbow to the right knee.
There are a number of ab exercises, which you can do using weights too. Along with the exercises mentioned below, you can also do the ab crunches with weights. In that case, you will have to place some weight on your abdomen, when you do the exercise.
Leg Raises
This is one of the most effective and best abdominal exercises for womenand men alike. It helps in working the lower abdominal as well as the upper abdominal region. The steps to do this lower abdominal exercise are:
- Tie ankle weights to both your legs and lie with your back on the floor. Support your lower back by placing your hands under the lower back.
- Contract the abdominal muscles and raise both your feet off the floor to about eight to ten inches.
- Hold in the position for 5 to 7 seconds and then slowly lower your legs.
- When you are doing this exercise, you will have to make sure that your back is firmly placed on the floor otherwise, you can injure your lower back.
To do this exercise for the lower abdomen, you will needs weights.
- Tie the ankle weights to both your ankles and lie flat on the floor.
- Place your hands next to your buttocks on the floor.
- Slowly lift your feet off the floor and try to bring your knees to your chest. When you are lifting your legs, make sure you do not jerk, else you can injure your lower back.
- Hold in the position for a few seconds and lower your legs. Repeat the exercise.
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