Weight Loss Spotlight

Abs

Firm & Tone Abs

Your abdomen muscles consist of your straight ab muscles and your oblique muscles. Your straight abs needs a good workout at the end of each session at the gym. You can never get to much abdomen workout in. Besides these muscles hold your hold body together so they need to be strong and in shape not just to look good.

There are a couple of very important little pinpoints to remember when doing sit-ups and other stomach exercises. A lot of people put their hands under their neck and pull on their neck instead of contracting their abs to bring their torso up. You should keep your hands under your neck for support, but don't pull on your neck trying to break it off.

When lying in the sit-ups position on the floor on a matt preferably, make sure you keep the lower part of your back to the floor through the complete movement. Barely lift your shoulder blades off the floor when contracting your abdomen. Focus and picture in your mind that you are trying to bring your ribs closer to your ribs when lifting your upper body off the floor. If you contract one row of abs at the time rolling up slowly only using the abs, then you should feel it and you should get results. Especially when working your abs you need to use what we call the mind to body-connection, to force the abs to do all the work.

Every muscle will find a way to try not to work and to cheat instead letting some other muscle group take over and do the hard work when it gets heavy. The abs are no different, they are actually the worst when it comes to escaping the hard work.

When training in the gym and finishing up your workout with ab exercises, try to squeeze in at least one lower back exercise like a couple of hyperextension sets to strengthen the lower back muscles as well. If you don't work you lower back muscles and only abdomen, the abs will get too strong and your lower back will suffer when they can't keep up with all the movements involving the strength of the abdomen.

A good stretch in the end of the abdomen workout is also of importance for your posture and your balance between the front (abs) and your back (lower back). If you don't stretch out the abs they get shorter and shorter and start pulling your body forward and downward making you walk hunched over. A good abdomen stretch is to lie down on your stomach, place your hands palms down on each side of your chest.

Now lift your upper body off the floor pushing yourself up using only your hands. Look to the ceiling and stretch out your whole torso and abdomen area. If this stretch is too strenuous for you, lie on your stomach and put your elbows on the floor on each side of your chest with palms of your hand facing up. Then pull yourself slowly upward and forward on your elbows. That should give you a pretty good stretch too in our abdomen muscles and your lower abs.

If you work out three to four times a week, you can always finish your work out session with abs. They will rarely get over trained and recover it seems, a lot faster then any other muscle group in our body.

For your side abdomen muscles, your obliques, you can simply perform all the sit-ups you do for the straight abs only switching over diagonally to the side instead. You can bring your knee up and let your elbow and knee meet on top of the sit-up while crossing over alternating legs and elbows.

Hanging leg raises are another version of abs exercises, which are a little bit more advanced and requires a little bit more strength in the abs. Using the straps attached to a cable cross station, you simply use the abs to bring the legs to your upper body either straight or bent. The leg raises can also be performed on a bench where you lie on top of the bench on your back, grabbing the edge of the bench above your head with both hands as support, and remember to push your lower back down to the bench through the whole movement.

Start with your legs straight up in the air from you hips. Then slowly lower your legs using your abdomen to resist with keep going down off the bench until you reach the limit where your back starts to come off the bench. Then use the abs to slowly pull the legs up again to a straight up position.

A third version of leg raises performed on the bench, are the knee-raises. Sit on the edge of the bench and grip the bench with both hands behind your back. Then lean back a little and press your legs into a straight position right in front of your body. That's your starting position. Now bend your legs and use you abs to bring your bent knees up towards your chest meeting the knees with your upper body before slowly coming down to a straight leg position again.