It still worries me when I see a gym member plowing through an abdominal exercise, machine or otherwise, nonstop streamx she is clearly in pain broadband modem rental miserable. I stopped this lady to ask her why she was torturing herself this way and she looked at me, dejected and said the trainer told her to do 100 repetitions. What!! I told her firmly to cut it by 90%. I'm not internet business consultant what happened to her but I predict she gave up soon after out of boredom and frustration.
What are abdominal muscles? Let's break it down and study each one to understand the function of these marvelous muscles. The abdominals are made up of basically four sections.
1) Rectus Abdominis -- This is the long flat muscles at the front section that everyone wants to develop, the "six pack". These muscles run vertically on each side of the anterior wall originating from the sternum down to the pelvis. These two vertical muscles are separated by a band of connective tissues called the linea alba and they actual make up eight, not six pack muscles. The rectus abdominis is crucial in determining the posture of your body. They flex the lumbar spine when you bend and help to pull the rib cage and pelvis closer together.
2) External Obliques -- Part of the lateral abdominal muscle group, this is the largest superficial muscle of the abdomen. It actual sits on the lateral and anterior part of the abdomen. This muscle is not readily visible due to the fat it holds. The function of this muscle is to pull the chest downwards to increase the intra-abdominal pressure in the abdominal cavity.
3) Internal Obliques -- This is the intermediate lateral muscle which is located just beneath the external obliques. Its fibers run perpendicular to the external oblique muscles. It has two functions. One is to reduce the volume of the chest by being an antagonist to the diaphragm and second is to work together with the external oblique to achieve a torsional or twisting movement of the trunk
4) Transversus Abdominis -- The third muscle in the lateral group is located beneath the internal and external obliques. It helps compress the ribs and provide stability to the core.
Because each muscle moves differently, it only makes sense to work it differently to suit its function. Let's explore the type of exercise that works these muscles, even though it is virtually impossible to work them in isolation. However, we can still focus on the primary muscles we want to work. The muscle can be broken down further into upper, middle, lower abs and obliques. The middle and upper abdominal muscles are what create the elusive six pack. Let's list down the basic exercises for this muscle group.
a) Lower Abs -- Any movement that requires leg action will work this muscle
klcc kuala lumpur leg raises
Hanging knee raises
Lying leg thrusts (hip thrusts)
Reverse crunches (flat and decline bench)
Ab scissors
b) Upper & Middle Abs -- Any crunching motion where the chest is brought closer to the pelvis
Bench crunch with body weigh
Stability ball crunch
Crunch with weights
Cable rope crunch
Decline bench crunch
c) Obliques -- Any torsional or side movement
Ab bicycle (alternate leg to elbow)
Alternate oblique crunch
Any crunch machine with the side of the body facing front
A combination of any of these exercises done a maximum of 3 times a week is sufficient. You need to let it recuperate and grow so do not work them daily. They need at least 48 hours to recover. How many reps and sets do you need to do? A rep, or repetition is one execution of the exercise. A set is a total of reps completed. To build the muscles, it is advisable to execute between 10-15 reps. If you can complete the 15th rep with ease, it is too light. Increase the weight by 10-20% and do it again. The last rep should be difficult but not impossible. For the second set, increase the weight again by 20%. If you used 10 lbs for the first set, raise it to 12 lbs. You may only complete 12 or 13 reps and it's ok. Your muscles are being challenged as they should. You will complete 3 sets of one exercise before moving on to the next one. Make sure that you get between 45 seconds to 1 minute of rest before attempting the next set to avoid overtraining and injury.
Now that you have your abdominal training routine down to perfection, it's time to add cardiovascular exercise to burn the fat that's hiding those fabulous muscles that you are building. You can't spot reduce fat by doing countless repetitions. The body's fat burning mechanism can't be coaxed to burn fat at a specific location.
You don't need to spend an hour on the treadmill and kill yourself out of boredom. Experiment with high intensity or interval training for 20-30 minutes to bring up your metabolism for hours after you have finished. Do this 3-4 times a week. As you can see, you don't need and shouldn't be doing high reps, like a hundred sit-ups (sit-ups are not even in the list above). Why? Sit-ups can cause back injury and your abdominal muscles don't get work very much because you have now introduced the hip flexors to do most of the work. So skip it.
And finally, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables as well as cut down on business broadband packages foods and high fat desserts. Have 6-8 glasses of water daily to flush out toxins from your body. If you follow this program, you are surely on your way.
Nina Redza is a health professional who practices good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise. More information about training abdominal muscles and other muscle groups properly and effectively can be found here http://www.loseabfast.com
You can browse through Nina's homepage for more health and fitness issues at http://www.ninaredza.com
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