Sunday, October 31, 2010

How to get abs of steel?

To flatten your stomach and even get a six pack you need to perform different kinds of exercises to strengthen all muscle groups in your abdominal area. Here are a few:


Sit-ups

You all know how it works... Sitting down with your legs bend 90 degrees, pull yourself toward your knees and down again. Keep your head and shoulders of the ground at all time. Your heels should stay on the floor and make sure your back is as straight as possible. Sit-ups work the upper part of your abdominal muscles.
Sit-ups

Plank

Lift your body of the ground, resting on your elbows and toes. Keep your back straight and don't let your knees touch the ground. Hold as long as possible (at least 1 min!). Plank is the most important exercise if you want a flat stomach. Sit-ups will give you a six-pack (growing out your muscles), plank will draw your stomach in by activating your transversus abdominis (the muscle that acts as a corset by pulling your stomach in).
Plank


Leg Raises

Lie down on your back, hold on to a pole. Lift your legs up to a 90 degree angle and slowly lower them down until they almost touch the ground (don't tough it, though!), then lift them back up, and down again... Leg raises primarily work the lower abs.
Leg Raises


Spider

Get down on your feet and hands (see picture below), then lift up your right arm and your left leg. Then change it to be the left arm and right leg, and again... Spider is a core exercise like the plank which also improves your balance.
Spider

Happy workout!

1 comment:

  1. Great tutorial! I'll give these a go for sure.

    ReplyDelete