Most ab workouts designed for home use usually involve nothing except a variety of boring and oftentimes useless floor crunches. I can assure you that these very typical workouts never deliver the results that we are looking for.
First of all, the crunch can only serve a purpose to some beginners. Once you become strong enough to bang out sets of 50 or more, the resistance the crunch provides is just too little to cause a training effect.
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.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you with a lesson in anatomy. Instead, I’m going to lay out a complete, ready to use ab workout for you. The following workout contains only exercises that require no equipment whatsoever, making them ideal for a home training session. Here it is:
1a) Reverse Crunch On Floor 3×20-25 30 sec rest 1b) Straight Body Side Crunch On Floor 3×12 (5sec hold) 30 sec rest 2a) Plank 3×60 sec 30 sec rest 2b) Seated Russian Twists With Leg Cycle 3×20-25 30 sec rest
Follow the simple instructions below to ensure yourself that you are performing each exercise properly.
Reverse Crunch On Floor- Lie on your back. Flex both knees and hips to 90 degree angles. Bring knees toward chest by rolling your pelvis back like a wheel. You must maintain a constant knee angle. Return until hips are again extended to a 90 degree angle. Repeat for the desired number of reps.
Straight Body Side Crunch On Floor- Lie on your side on the floor. Keep your arms straight out above your head, in line with your body. Your legs must remain straight. Lock your hands together. This is the starting position. Now simultaneously raise your arms and legs up so that neither are in contact with the floor. Hold this position for 5 seconds. Return to starting position and repeat.
Plank- Get on the floor in a push up position. Support your body on just your forearms and your toes. Be sure to keep the abs flexed and hold your body in a perfectly straight horizontal line. Do not let hips drop or raise them up at all. Hold this position 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.
There it is folks! You now have a simple yet effective ab workout you can perform anywhere/anytime. Use this three times per week for up to one month. After completing this outine, you will be ready to move on to a more advance workout.
A nice set of abs is in YOUR future! Begin this routine and start getting results today!
