The abdomen (stomach) is the center which coordinates over 90% out of the human movements.
Shape up your body with abdomen exercise!
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To trully create a flat belly are recommended a balanced diet and cardiovascular exercise 3-5 days per week, for 30-60 minutes. You must strengthen your entire abdomen: that means to do moves that address the four muscles: the upper rectus abdominus, the lower rectus abdominus, the obliques(external oblique and internal oblique), and the transverse abdominus - and there's no single exercise that's best for all of them. 1. The upper rectus abdominus. Is a large muscle that form the much sought after "six-pack" along the front of your abdomen. The rectus abdominus (upper and lower) starts at the sternum in your chest and runs all the way down to your pubic bone. The upper portion of this muscle ends at the navel, and is considered the strongest muscle in the abdomen. 2. The lower rectus abdominus.The rectus abdominus is actually one sheet of muscle, but we refer to the lower and upper areas as separate units because you must do different exercises to adress them. The lower area is on the front of the belly below the navel. 3. The obliques are located along the sides of the abdomen. They start at the hip of the hipbones and end at the rib cage. Strong obliques are the key to cinching your belt one notch tighter. 4. The transverse abdominus. Is considered a corset-like muscle and wraps around the pelvis, just below the rib cage. The transverse abdominus is very important because it helps to hold the internal organs in place, and helps support the lower back. To give your abs the best possible workout, you'll have to find several exercises that you can perform comfortably. Whatever workout you try, start slow and stop at the first sign of pain. Exercise plays an important role in maintaining good shape, good health and reduceing stress. |
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All These Exercises Will Change Your Body Shape!
There are a few pointers to make the abdomen exercises easier to do and complete as well:
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The experts divide exercise into three general categories:
A balanced program should include all three.
Types of Aerobic Exercise : Aerobic exercise is usually categorized as low or high impact. Examples of each include the following:
Types of Muscle Contractions : There are three types of muscle contractions involved in strength training:
Stretching is the activity of gradually applying tensile force to lengthen, strengthen, and lubricate muscles, often performed in anticipation of physical exercise and to increase the range of motion within a joint. Stretching is an especially important accompaniment to activities that emphasize controlled muscular strength and flexibility, such as ballet, acrobatics or martial arts.
Stretching is also believed to help to prevent injury to tendons, ligaments and muscles by improving muscular elasticity and reducing the stretch reflex in greater ranges of motion that might cause injury to tissue.( from Wikipedia ).
Stretching is also thought to improve recovery and may enhance athletic performance. The best time to stretch is after your muscles have had a chance to warm up.
Abdominal exercise routine can help you train your abs to their limits. Any good abdomen exercise program involves progressive increase in intensity. These exercises must be undertaken carefully. No exercise must be continued if it leads to extreme discomfort or pain.
Abdomen exercises can be largely divided into upper and lower abdomen exercises.The abdomen does not consist of separate muscles that you can pick on to work on, say, your lower abdomen or upper, which is why most exercises will work out the entire abdomen area.
Most of the abdomen exercises that involve the legs moving, like leg lifts or cycling lifts work the lower abdomen muscle clusters, while the exercises that involve only the upper body like simple sit-ups and cross-knee crunch work on the upper abdomen. Where you are doing exercises that involve lifting both your upper as well as your lower body, like doing sit-ups along lifting your butt,these work your entire abdomen wall as a whole.
CRUNCHES focus your effort solely on the abdominal muscles; should be implemented into your routine, that includes a proper diet and cardiovascular exercise. With crunches you toning and strengthening the abs.
Is quite easy to perform a crunch. Follow the next steps:
1.Lie on your back, wiyh feet on the floor so your knees are bent. Place your hands behind your head.You do not bend your neck during the duration of the movement.
2.Slowly curl forward and up using your abdominal muscles only and bring the bottom front of your rib cage close to your pelvis. Keep the small of your back (lumbar section) pressed to the floor throughout the whole movement. At the top position your shoulders blades should only be between 4-8 inches off the ground. This whole movement should take about 2 seconds to perform.
3.Pause at this top position for 2-3 seconds, to ensure full contraction of the abdominal muscles.
4.Slowly return to the initial position, keeping your abs contracted. Inhale as you lower your trunk back to the floor and exhale as you raise your shoulders off the ground by tensing your abs.
Performing this exercise rapidly isn't a benefit and it increases your risk of injury. Performing 100-150 crunches per day is not the secret; slow repetitions with 2-3 sets of 20 exercise are recommended daily. But... there are just as many expert opinions on how often is it best to work your abdomen muscles as there are exercises. While some swear by the daily dose, others insist three times a week is the best, and there is one opinion which feels a 36 hour gap is a must to let that boby part recover before working it again.
When the simple abdomen crunches become too easy, you can do them with a twist.
LEG RAISE . Lying leg raises are ideal lower abdominal exercise.
Single leg raise involves raising one leg from the floor. The double leg raise involves raising both legs from the floor at the same time and this works as an abdominal muscle exercise.
BICYCLE . It was ranked the best abdominal exercise by the American Council on Exercise.
Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground. Put your hands beside your head. Bring your knees up to about a 45-degree angle and slowly go through a bicycle pedal motion. Touch your left elbow to your right knee, then your right elbow to your left knee. Breath evenly throughout the exercise.
CAPTAIN'S CHAIR . This was one of the few on the "most effective" list that involves gym equipment.
Start with legs dangling and slowly lift your knees in toward your chest. The motion should be controlled and deliberate as you bring your knees up and return them back to the starting position. The back must remain straight.
AB EXERCISE WITH THE BALL . Offer a proper conditioning and balancing of trunk musculature.This minimizes spinal stress by strengthening and stretching both anterior and posterior muscle groups.
Balance is the key, since the challenge of maintaining perfect posture on the ball is fun, exhilarating and absolutely effective in building torso and trunk strength and stability.
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