Six Pack Abs: Exercise #5: The Hundred

0


The Hundred is an abdominal and core strengthening exercise that is adapted from a pilates workout routine. It targets the rectus abdominis muscle—the muscle that develops your six-pack abs.

The rectus abdominis muscle stretches from your pelvis to your ribs and is responsible for flexing your torso. Six-pack abs are developed by strengthening and bulking up the rectus abdominis and decreasing the amount of subcutaneous fat that could be covering the abdominal muscles.

The Hundred is a pilates-based exercise that targets the core muscles—those of the abdominals, hips, and back. Pilates movements develop abdominal control and pelvic stability, both of which are important to developing and strengthening the abdominal muscles and developing six-pack abs.

The Hundred is a strengthening and toning exercise that requires a great deal of abdominal muscle control and coordination to maintain the position for an extended period of time. To perform The Hundred, lie on your back on the floor or on a mat.

As you inhale, slowly roll upward, bringing your chin toward your chest and lifting your upper back and shoulders off the floor. Aim your gaze toward your toes and make sure not to tuck your chin too deeply to put strain on your neck.

Activate your abdominal muscles and extend your legs, pointing your toes in front of you. Your arms should also stretch forward, fingers pointing in the same direction as your toes. Slowly lower your legs to the point where they begin shaking then raise them up about an inch.

Make sure your lower back is in contact with the floor and that you are not arching your back, as this may lead to injury or discomfort. Take five short breaths in and five short breaths out as you pump your straight arms up and down.

Aim for five arm pumps per breath in, and five pumps for each breath out. Continue this until you reach a hundred. You may need to take breaks at first, but your goal should be to perform a hundred pulses in one session.

End The Hundred by either rolling into child’s pose or pulling your knees into your chest while lying on your back and wrapping your arms around your legs, releasing the tension in your lower back.

To make this exercise easier, bend your knees so your shins are parallel to the floor, hips flexed. This makes it easier to ensure your lower back stays in contact with the floor and reduces the muscle strain on your hip flexors.

If you have upper back or neck injuries, you can do the opposite by keeping your back flat on the floor but elevating your legs as you would in the original version of The Hundred. This will keep you from putting extra pressure on your upper back or neck, which may lead to injury.

To make The Hundred more challenging, lower your feet toward the floor. You shouldn’t lower your feet to the point that your lower back raises up from the floor, but to a point where you can feel a distinct strain on your abdominals.

The Hundred targets both the upper and lower abdominals, which will help you achieve the six-pack abs look. However, in order to see the six-pack easily, it is imperative that you reduce your belly fat.

You can have strong, well-defined abs, but they will not be evident if there is a layer of fat covering them. Reducing fat can be done by changing your diet and incorporating more cardiovascular exercise into your daily routine. A good rule of thumb is to perform 30 to 45 minutes of moderate to high-intensity cardiovascular exercise four to five times each week.

Six-Pack Abs: Exercise #4: Plank

0

The plank is a fairly basic exercise that targets the entire musculature of the torso, known as the core muscles. Of these core muscles, the muscle that runs vertically up the length of your abdomen is known as the “rectus abdominis” muscle.

This muscle is the one that gives you six-pack abs. The rectus abdominis muscle is a band that reaches from the pelvis to the ribs and is responsible for flexing the spine and bringing the upper torso toward the waist.

The plank is a stability exercise that tones and sculpts your midsection, making your abdominal muscles more prominent. There are many different versions of the plank exercise, so it is easy to find one to meet your needs and your athletic ability.

The plank targets your abdominals, hips, and back muscles. Additionally, planking can help tone your arms, since you use them for support in this exercise.

The plank does not require any additional equipment other than your own body weight, so it is an easy exercise to perform at home or at the gym. To perform the plank, lie on your stomach on the ground and place your hands on the ground near your shoulders.

Tuck your toes as if to perform a push up and raise your body off the ground, balancing on your hands and toes. Make sure your back is straight; your shoulders, hips, and heels should all line up. Don’t allow your hips to bridge upward or to sag toward the ground.

It may help to squeeze your glutes together to help support your hips and keep your back straight. Keep your abdominals tight, focus on tightening your abs and keeping your hands directly below your shoulders for the best stabilization.

Hold this position until you can no longer keep your abs tight or until your arms will no longer support your body weight. Lower your body to the ground, rest for a minute, then raise your body up into the plank position again. Try to maintain the plank longer each time you perform it.

To make the plank easier, place your elbows and forearms on the ground, making sure your elbows are in line with your shoulders. This is a good adaptation of the exercise if you have wrist problems. You can also adapt the plank position to target your oblique muscles in addition to your rectus abdominis muscle.

To do this, rotate your body so you are lying on your side on the ground. Place your elbow and forearm on the ground, aligning your elbow with your shoulder. Stack your feet on top of each other and press your weight through your arm and feet, elevating your hips off the ground. Hold this position for as long as possible before lowering your body to the floor.

You can also make the plank position more difficult by integrating different adaptations of the exercise. One adaptation is to perform the plank as normal, with your arms fully extended, then raise one arm off the ground, pointing your fingertips forward.

At the same time, lift the opposing leg off the ground, pointing your toes out behind you. Make sure your entire body is in a straight line—your fingers, shoulders, hips, raised knee and toes should all be in a line.

A more advanced adaptation of the plank is to raise your body into the original position—either on your hands or on your elbows—then bend one knee and bring it up toward the same elbow. Alternate on the opposite side and continue alternating sides until you reach fatigue. This adaptation targets your obliques and your rectus abdominis.

 

 

 

 

Six-Pack Abs: Exercise #3: Captain’s Chair

0

Performing leg raises on the captain’s chair can help develop the rectus abdominis muscle, helping you form a better six-pack. The rectus abdominis muscle is a band of muscle reaching from the pelvis to the ribs.

When an individual is slender, and lacking excess belly fat, you can see the developed rectus abdominis muscle in the form of a six-pack. While it may appear to be six individual muscles, it is actually all the same muscle, but the connective tissue within the muscle causes the appearance of breaks in the muscle.

The captain’s chair is a piece of exercise equipment common in many gyms across the world. It is a free-standing machine that usually consists of a back pad, foot rests or steps, forearm pads and handles.

The upper portion of the machine resembles a chair, however there is no place to sit—this is where your abdominals come into play. Since the captain’s chair allows your legs to hang free, there are a variety of exercises that can be performed on the chair. One of the most common is the leg raise.

To perform the leg raise on the captain’s chair, first climb up on the machine using the steps. Place your back flat against the pad, resting your forearms on the forearm pads and grip the handles. Slowly step off the steps of the machine, supporting your body weight on your arms and letting your legs hang free.

Contract your abdominal muscles to raise your legs and lift your knees toward your chest. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat. It is important not to rely on momentum to propel your legs upward. Therefore, you should not swing your lower body while using the captain’s chair.

Instead, focus on using a slow, controlled motion to lift your legs upward, targeting your abdominals. To make this move more challenging, you can lift your legs while keeping them straight, rather than bending your knees.

Keep your back pressed against the pad throughout the exercise to avoid back strain and avoid arching your back. Aim for three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions of the leg raise.

If you notice your arms starting to fatigue, or you can no longer lift your legs without arching your back or swinging your lower body, you should stop, rest your body, and return to the chair when your muscles are more rested.

You may not be able to perform three sets the first time you try this exercise, so it is important to recognize your limit and increase the number of repetitions over a period of time.

To increase the definition of your six-pack, it is important to ensure you don’t have excess belly fat covering the abdominal muscles. Even if your abdominals are strong and may be defined, if you have a high body fat content your fat may obscure the muscle definition.

Fight the fat by incorporating a daily cardio workout into your routine. You should perform 30 to 45 minutes of cardio exercise—running, walking, cycling, working out on the elliptical, or playing sports—four to five times each week.

Aim to keep your heart rate in the recommended fat burning or cardiovascular workout range for your age. It is also important to mix up your abdominal routine so you don’t perform the same exercises every time you head to the gym.

Confusing your muscles is integral to maximizing your workout and ensuring your muscles don’t get “trained” to a usual routine.  Integrate abdominal workouts into your routine by performing exercises that target your abs every other day. You should also make sure you work out the opposing muscles of the back to reduce soreness and increase core strength.

 

Six Pack Abs: Exercise #2: Bicycle Maneuver

0

The bicycle maneuver is a popular abdominal exercise to target the rectus abdominis muscle. The strengthening and bulking up of the rectus abdominis muscle is what will result in you having six pack abs. A study by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) found the bicycle maneuver required more activity in the abdominal muscles than did regular crunches.

The test on subjects using the bicycle maneuver recorded about two and a half times more activity in the rectus abdominis muscle, and about three times more activity in the obliques, when compared to normal crunches.

The bicycle maneuver does not require any additional equipment other than your own body weight, making it an easy exercise to perform at home, at the gym, or while travelling.

Some people prefer to perform the bicycle maneuver on a padded mat to cushion the lower back; others are fine performing the exercise on the floor.

To perform the bicycle maneuver, lay on your back on the floor and place your hands behind your head, or to the sides of your head with your fingertips touching your ears, elbows extended. Bend your knees and lift your legs off the ground.

Your knees should be bent at about a 45-degree angle with your toes pointed toward the ceiling. Keep your low back pressed into the ground to support the lower back. Alternate pressing your legs outward, imagining your feet are pushing pedals as if on a bike. While pedaling, twist your torso as you bring your opposite elbow to the opposite knee.

For example, as you pull your left leg in, twist so your right elbow touches it and vice versa. This twisting motion works out your obliques, while the pushing motion of the legs targets the lower portion of the rectus abdominis. To make this exercise more difficult, raise your head, neck and shoulder blades off the floor.

This will force you to hold a crunch position while doing the bicycle motion, forcing your upper abdominals to work more. This can be a rather strenuous exercise, so it is important to remember to breathe continuously while performing the exercise.

To achieve six-pack abs, aim to perform 3 sets of 25-30 repetitions. If you notice you are sacrificing your form to get through the number of repetition, consider reducing your goal number of repetitions and slowly building up to the required number.

It is more important to do the exercise correctly, with the proper form, than to do a large number of repetitions.

In order to see six-pack abs, you need to reduce your belly fat. You could have very strong, defined abs, but they may be hidden underneath belly fat. Therefore, it is important to incorporate cardiovascular exercise into your daily workouts.

You should maintain a heart rate that is high enough to burn fat for 30 to 45 minutes four to five times each week. You may choose to play high-intensity sports that involve running, such as soccer, basketball, or floor hockey, run, cycle, or use an elliptical to get your cardio workout.

You should aim to incorporate exercises into your daily workout routine that target your abdominals and your other core muscles, including those of your back, muscles of the pelvic floor, the transverse abdominal muscles, and your obliques to gain the most strength.

The stronger your core, the easier it will be to perform more advanced exercises to target your abdominals. Performing exercises that only target your abdominals, without working out the opposing muscles of the back, can lead to back strain and may result in injury.

 

Exercise #1 for Six-Pack Abs—Full-Range Sit Ups

0

Looking to get six-pack abs, but don’t want to do any more crunches? Try out the GHD, or Glute-Ham Developer, machine.  The GHD encourages you to perform sit-ups that require the full range of motion of your torso, ensuring both your upper and lower abdominal muscles are targeted. This type of sit up targets the rectus abdominis muscle—the one that results in the six pack appearance.

To use the GHD, sit on the padded portion and slide your ankles between the cushioned rollers. Make sure your feet are flat on the foot board. Scoot your bottom back, so you are positioned on the back half of the GHD’s seat pad.

Bend your legs as you lean backward, reaching your arms over your head and touching the floor when you are fully extended. Straighten your legs and use your abdominal muscles to pull your torso back up, reaching forward with your arms to reach your toes.

If you find the GHD too difficult to use, you may consider using an AbMat, which is a small, padded device that you lay on the floor to support your lower back while going through full-range sit ups.

The AbMat allows you to use the same basic movement used with the GHD, but does not allow the extreme extension of the spine, as the floor provides a limit. Small inflatable disks or soft, inflatable balls can also be used to support the low back when performing full-range sit ups on the floor.

Your abdominal muscles, formally called the “rectus abdominis”, are actually bands of muscle that connect your pelvis to your rib cage. Six-pack abs are formed when the belly of the muscle in these bands bulks up between the small pieces of connective tissue in the abdominal muscle.

However, you will not see defined six-pack abs if you hold a great deal of fat on your body, since belly fat covers these muscles. Therefore, it is important to incorporate a rigorous cardiovascular component to your daily workout. You should aim to perform 30 to 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise 3-5 days each week for optimal results.

Full-range sit ups target the entire length of the bands of the abdominal muscle, from the point where the muscle connects with the pelvis all the way up through the rib cage.

The further back you lean, and the more extension you have in your back, the more it stretches your lower abdominals, forcing you to use them more to initiate the sit up.

The upper abdominals assist you in finishing the sit up, giving you the “crunch” feeling.  Full-range sit ups mainly target the rectus abdominis muscle, but also recruit the obliques and other core muscles as secondary movers to complete the movement.

It is important to focus your efforts on your abdominal muscles when performing these exercises. If you don’t focus or put forth full effort, you may end up not working the target muscles, or you may end up causing yourself injury.

Always focus on good form from the start through the finish of your exercise. If you find yourself sacrificing form to achieve the desired number of repetitions, you should lower your goal number of repetitions, making sure each repetition is done with correct form and that the focus is on your abdominals.

A good rule of thumb is to aim for 3 sets of 15 to 25 repetitions, making sure to take a short break in between sets. It is not necessary to do hundreds of repetitions to get six pack abs.

10 Ultimate Six Pack Abs Exercises

0

Want to build impressive six pack abs without having to spend hours every day working out? Here are 10 of the best exercises you can include in your six pack abs workout to help you get in shape as effective as possible:

 

Bicycle – The bicycle is one of the most effective exercises to help you build six pack abs, and is fairly easy to do. Simply lie on your back, lift your shoulders off the ground, place your hand behind your back, and bring your knees to your chest. Extend your right leg completely, hold for half a second, and bring it back to your chest as you extend the other leg. Repeat 20 times per leg, cycling through the motions smoothly as if you were riding a bicycle.

Twist and Crunch – Lie on your back, bend your knees, and lift your feet into the air until your knees form a perfect 90 degree angle with your body. Do a crunch, but twisting to the side as you crunch up instead of straight up to your knees. Repeat 15 times per side.

Captain’s Chair – The Captain’s chair machine enables you to hold your body weight with your legs hanging beneath you. Lift your knees to your chest straight once, lift and twist to the right, repeat to the left, and extend your legs straight out in front of you. Repeat 10 times.

Russian Twist – On a decline bench, use your legs to hold your body and use your stomach muscles to sit at a 90 degree angle to your thighs. Hold that pose, extend your arms, and twist first to the right and then to the left. Repeat 20 times per side.

Vertical Leg Crunch – To perform this exercise, straighten your legs and raise them into the air while lying on your back. Place your hands behind your head, and bring your head up as close to your knees as possible. Repeat 15 times.

Woodchop – Stand with a pulley machine on your left side, and turn your torso and shoulders to grasp the handle. Keep your arms fully extended as you use your stomach and side muscles to help you bring the handle across your chest to your left side. Repeat 10 times per side.

Long Arm Crunch – Lie on your back as if you were doing regular crunches, and place your feet flat on the floor. Extend your arms straight over your head, and keep them straight as you perform the crunches. Repeat 20 times, and hold a dumbbell in your hand to make the six pack abs exercise more intense.

Jackknife – To perform this exercise, lie on your back with your arms extended over your head and your legs perfectly straight. Without bending your arms or legs, raise your limbs directly towards the ceiling until they are a few inches apart. Hold for a second as you touch your toes, and keep your limbs perfectly straight as you return them to the floor. Repeat 10 times.

Ab Roller — Grip the handles of the ab roller firmly, and get in the pose you would be in to do a push up (back straight, legs extended, arms straight beneath shoulders). Slowly roll the ab roller out until your arms are fully extended above your head, and slowly roll the Ab Roller back towards your face as you push yourself up back into the push-up position. Repeat 10 times.

Front Plank on Ball – Place your hands on a bench, and place your feet on your exercise ball. Roll the ball back until your body is completely straight, and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat 2 or 3 times.

 

These are the best six pack abs exercises to do in your six pack abs workout, and you can bet your boots that you will see great results by doing these exercises regularly.

 

 

How to Avoid Cramps during Ab Workout

0

Six pack abs are what many people strive to achieve when performing daily workouts. However, far too many people rush their exercise routine and cause injuries to their bodies. Therefore, you need to understand how to exercise correctly to ensure that you do not get cramps. If you follow the right guidelines and six pack abs diet plans, you will see excellent results in a short period of time.

 

Prior to exercising, there are several different things that you should do, which will help you to remain uninjured. Stretching is incredibly important and can ensure that you do not suffer with cramps during your six pack abs workout. When you stretch your muscles for at least 1 minute, you will ensure that they are ready to be worked.

 

You will need to be focused and ensure that you follow the correct six pack abs diet to achieve the results that you want. Getting the perfect abs can take time; however, if you follow the right exercise plan, you will see results. You need to understand the food that you are consuming, and how it will affect your body.

 

Alongside the perfect diet, you will need to ensure that you perform the correct exercise routine, which will allow you to build up your muscle. If you do not pace yourself and perform the correct exercises, you will suffer from cramps, which can be incredibly painful. You need to ensure that you eat small meals several times a day and never over eat.

 

Cutting back on carbs is essential, and will ensure that you can achieve the perfect six pack abs without over exercising. Carbs can be a problem if you consume too many, and overeating can cause issues throughout your workout. You should ensure that the six pack abs diet that is being followed contains proteins, and healthy fats.

 

Consuming fresh, healthy foods is essential, and will ensure that your body is less likely to suffer with injury and cramps. If you feel physically fit, you will perform far better and achieve the right results with your abs. Exercise is essential; however, you must not overdo the routine, or your body will begin to object.

 

Exercising every day can be bad, and if possible, you should rest for two days to allow your body to recover. This will ensure that your muscles can heal, and you are less likely to cramp when carrying out the six pack abs routine. Cardio, abdominal exercises and weight lifting, can all help achieve your fantastic looking body.

 

You may want to see results quickly; however, you should not push your body too hard, as this will cause cramps and leave you unable to exercise. You need to ensure that you always warm up correctly and that you build up to difficult exercises. If you follow the correct procedure, you will have the perfect six pack abs before too long.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... Next »