Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Most Effective Home Ab Workouts

By John Alvino

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.

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 a mat. Flex both knees and hips to 90 degree angles. Bring knees toward chest by flexing abdominal muscles, raising butt from floor while maintaining a constant knee angle. Return until hips and knees are again extended to 90 degree angles. Repeat for the prescribed number of reps.

Straight Body Side Crunch On Floor- Lie on your side on the floor. Keep your hands straight out above your head, in line with your body. Keep legs straight. Lock your hands together. Simultaneously raise your arms and legs up so that neither are in contact with the floor. Hold this position 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 hold your body in a straight line by keeping your abs tight. Do not let your hips or head sag. 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 fluid motion rotate to the left and repeat 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! - 15266

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