Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Most Effective Home Ab Workouts

By John Alvino

When most people attempt to perform ab workouts at home, they usually just lie on the floor and engage in a marathon of crunch repetitions. This all too common approach will never lead to a well-balanced set of six pack abs.

For starters, the floor crunch only provides enough resistance to cause a training effect in beginners. Once you develop a base of strength, the crunch will only serve as an exercise capable of maintaining your current strength level.

Secondly, the crunch only trains the abs in one range of motion: flexion of the trunk. Flexing the trunk is only one of the many ranges of motion that your abdominal muscles are capable of. Any well designed ab workout will include exercises that target all major ranges of motion. The bottom line is, the crunch alone can never provide a complete ab workout.

Instead, you must utilize several effective ab exercises, each one training your abdominal musculature in a different movement pattern. Although this may seem confusing, it is actually very simple once to understand the basic function of your abdominal muscles.

I'm not about to bore you with an anatomy lesson. I know you want an effective ab workout and you want it now! So that's what I'm going to give to you. I'm going to lay out a ready to use ab workout that you can begin using immediately. This workout is result producing and requires absolutely no equipment, making it perfect for a training session at home.

1a) Reverse Crunch On Floor 3x20-25 30 sec rest 1b) Straight Body Side Crunch On Floor 3x12 (5sec hold) 30 sec rest 2a) Plank 3x60 sec 30 sec rest 2b) Seated Russian Twists With Leg Cycle 3x20-25 30 sec rest

Now I will give you a detailed description on how to properly execute each exercise:

Reverse Crunch On Floor- Lie on your back on the floor. Bend both your knees and your hips until they make 90 degree angles. Bring knees toward chest by contracting your abdominal muscles. You butt will rise off the floor. Be sure to maintain a constant knee angle throughout the range of motion. Return until hips are again at a 90 degree angle. Repeat for the prescribed number of reps.

Straight Body Side Crunch On Floor- Lie on your side on the floor. Keep your arms straight out above your head. Be sure to keep your legs straight. Lock your fingers together. Now raise both your arms and legs up so that neither are in contact with the floor. Hold this contraction for the prescribed number of seconds.

Plank- Get on the floor in a push up position. Support your body on your forearms and your toes. Be sure to keep the abs tight and hold your body in a straight line. Do not let hips sag or hike them up too high. Hold for the prescribed number of seconds.

Seated Russian Twists With Leg Cycle- Sit on floor and cross your arms across your chest, grabbing the opposite shoulders. Lean back until your upper body makes a 45 degree angle to the floor. Rotate trunk to the right while simultaneously bringing your right knee towards your chest. At this point your left elbow will be touching your right knee. In a smooth motion rotate to the left and repeat this on the other side. Continue to alternate until you finish the prescribed number of reps. One full rotation equals one rep.

Now you have a result producing ab workout you can perform with no equipment whatsoever. Do this workout two or three times per week for the next month. After this month is over, it will be time to progress to a more advanced ab workout.

A nice set of abs is in YOUR future! Begin this routine and start getting results today! - 15438

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