Your core muscles affect your entire body. They help maintain balance and stability. They include the pelvis, lower back, hips, and abs. If your abs aren’t strong, your other muscles have to do more work and compensate for that weakness. It affects your posture and can cause back, hip, and leg pain. Signs of weak abs include love handles and a puffy belly. While these ab exercises won’t solve the entire problem, they will tone your abs and help reduce back, hip, and leg pain.
You don’t need equipment to do ab exercises.
Crunches have always been a favorite for people who want to build strong abs, but they don’t strengthen all core muscles. Push-ups, planks, rollouts, and mountain climbers are excellent for building strong abs. Planks are the simplest to learn but one of the hardest to do correctly. While you want to hold planks as long as possible, you’re better off doing a 30-second plank maintaining the proper form than doing a three-minute plank improperly.
Do the plank properly.
Lay on the ground face down with your elbows directly under your shoulders and forearms on the ground extended toward the front. Your legs should be straight with your weight resting on your toes and elbows. Create tension in your body by squeezing your glutes. An easy way to do this is to pretend you’re pulling your belly button to your backbone. Keep your muscles tight and your back in a straight line. Your face should be facing downward. Maintain that position. Your bottom shouldn’t be elevated above the body nor should your belly or hips dip downward. Hold for as long as you can. You can do a high plank, putting the weight on your feet and the palms of your hands as you keep your arms straight. Do a bent-knee high plank with your weight on the palms of your hands and knees. There are a multitude of variations that work all the muscles on different planes.
Aerobic exercises can work the abs.
Riding a bicycle works your abs. You can get a mild ab workout by riding your bike to the store or peddling away on a stationary bike. Bicycle crunches are even better to build your core. One of the most grueling ab/cardio workouts is a burpee. It’s a combination workout that mixes some of the greats. Start in a standing position with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders. Bend at the waist to put your hands on the ground in front of you as you bend your knees. As your hands touch the ground, jump your feet backward and get into a high plank position with your back straight. Jump your feet forward, then jump straight up back into the starting position.
- Have a large selection of core or abdominal exercises and rotate them throughout the week. Do three sets of two of them each day. You can use push-ups and planks as both strength training and core exercises.
- If you want the cut look or a six-pack, exercise alone won’t do the trick. A layer of fat covering your toned abs hides all your hard work. A healthy diet can help reduce your fat as you build muscle.
- Cut out sugar. Food and drink with added sugar spikes insulin levels and that can lead to the accumulation of belly fat. Avoid soft drinks both diet and regular. One study found that people who drank diet soda had more belly fat.
- An inexpensive jump rope can become a valuable piece of equipment if you’re trying to build abs. Start with the basics and move on to boxer jumps or high-knee jumps. Create a HIIT workout by alternating the intensity.
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