Whole abdominal wall
Hanging leg raises
Hold onto a bar. Pull your knees up to your chest, when you bring your legs back down, keep your feet in front of your lower back. Lilt or pelvis forward as you lift your knees. Time your leg lifts to neutralize swinging. This exercise requires practice to master.
Reverse crunch
Lie on a bench, holding on to it over your head. Pull your knees to your chest, rolling your body into a ball. Extend your legs as close to parallel to the bench as possible. Keep your back in contact with the bench. This is an easier one.
Whole body roll-ups
Lie on a bench, holding on to it over your head. Pull your knees to your chest, rolling your body into a ball. Extend your legs as close to parallel to the bench as possible while keeping only your upper back in contact to the bench. This one is a killer! Start by extending shallow and progressively work towards full extension.
Lower abdominals
Knee raises
Keep your upper body tight, so you don't hang by your shoulder joints. Roll the pelvis forward as you bring up your legs to accentuate the abdominal contraction.
Leg lowering
Keep your lower and middle back pressed flat against the floor and lower your legs as low as you can without resting them on the floor, then bring then back over your stomach. Exhale on the way up.
Ab Wheel
Originate the pull from your abdominals. Start with a short range of motion and increase as you get more proficient.
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Obliques
Side knee-ins
Sit on the end of a bench tilted to the side, with only one side of your glutes on the bench. Extend your legs straight out, not down. Tighten your obliques as you pull your thighs towards your chest. Perform your rep goal, then repeat for the other side.
Stick twists
Sit on a bench with a bar across your traps. Clamp your legs around the bench to keep your hips straight, and twist as far as you can comfortably from side to side. Perform your reps rapidly, using momentum. Slow reps are useless on this one.
Upper abdominals
Weighted crunches
Lie on a crunch/sit up bench with your legs held in the brace. Bend your torso forward, rounding your back. Exhale with each contraction. When they become easy, you can hold weight and/or slant the bench back to increase difficulty.
Plyoball crunches
Same as standard crunches, just stretching back over the ball. This allows greater stretch to the abs. You may also hold weight on your upper chest to increase difficulty. Be sure to secure your feet under something if you use additional weight.
Lower abdominals
Pelvic tilts
Lie on a bench or the floor with your feet pointed straight over your hips. Lift your butt only 2-3 inches from the bench and tilt your pelvis upwards. This should isolate your lower abdominals, important to balance out the lower back. If you have lower back pain, you should do this exercise. If your back hurt while you do this one, keep your feet on the surface and practice tilting your pelvis and tightening the lower abdominals.
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