Add these exercises to your workouts and become the owner of abs of steel.
Six or eight-pack abs are the cherished dream of many men, but not everyone knows how to achieve this cherished ideal. You can achieve abs of steel not only with endless crunches; there are many other equally effective exercises; By the way, too many twists can negatively affect the lower back. It's time to expand your arsenal of dream abs exercises.
The most effective abdominal exercises
It doesn't matter if you choose one exercise and build up your endurance or do five exercises at a time, these workouts are what you need to achieve your goal. Good luck!
Exercise "Polisher" with a barbell
Lie on your back, hold the barbell with outstretched arms at chest level. Without bending, lift your legs up. Lower your legs to the right, without touching the floor. Return to starting position and repeat on the left side.
Advice: When your legs are lowered as close to the floor as possible, stay in this position for a couple of seconds. This will not only allow you to work your oblique muscles more effectively, but will also strengthen your core muscles, which in this position actively tense to maintain balance.
Hang 5 kilogram weights on the barbell. Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, with your hands shoulder-width apart. Stand with your shoulders directly above the barbell and slowly roll the barbell away from you, then back to the starting position.
Advice: The further you move the bar, the heavier it gets. Don't try to jump over your head and make sure your hips don't sag. One short repetition with correct posture is much more effective than holding the barbell as far back as possible with a hunched back.
Rotations of the body with the pull of the upper block (“Lumberjack”)
Stand a short distance to the side of the machine, feet shoulder-width apart, and grab the cable handle with both hands. Without bending your arms, pull the cable down towards the opposite knee, rotating your body as you do so. Bend your knees slightly and lean on your far leg. Slowly return to the starting position.
Advice: Make sure that the cable does not “pull” you into the starting position, otherwise the effectiveness of the exercise will be halved. Return to the starting position slowly and with resistance. As you move backwards, slowly count to three.
Rotations of the body on the block
Grasp the cable handle with both hands so that your left arm is fully extended and crosses your body. Moving only your arms, pull the cable in the opposite direction until your right arm is completely straight. Return to the starting position and repeat the exercise.
Advice: Fix the position of your arms and shoulders, suppress the desire to tense these muscles to help yourself. The better you are able to isolate your core, the faster you'll be able to boast six-pack abs.
dragon flag
Lie on your back, grab the bench above your head with your hands. Bend your knees and push your legs up towards the ceiling, thus lifting your back off the bench. Slowly lower your legs and return to the starting position, then repeat.
Advice: Although this makes the exercise easier, do not swing your legs at the top. Instead, slowly stretch your legs to a crunch before pushing them upward.
Leg raises while lying on a bench
Lie on a bench, on your back with your legs hanging over the edge. Hold the edge of the bench with your hands to maintain balance. Keep your legs as straight as possible. As you exhale, raise your legs perpendicular to the floor. Then slowly return to the starting position.
Advice: Press your lower back against the bench - this will not only allow you to specifically work on your abdominal muscles, but will also protect your spine from injury.
Throwing a medicine ball on the floor
Stand with your legs slightly bent, holding a medicine ball in straight arms above your head. Lean forward slightly and, using your core muscles, hit the ball as hard as you can on the floor about 30 centimeters in front of you. Let your hands follow the ball to avoid falling forward. Catch the ball and repeat the exercise.
Advice: Make sure to perform this exercise as an abdominal exercise and not a shoulder exercise. Focus on curling your abs as you throw the ball to the floor. You will be surprised how much stronger you will become. The ball will bounce so high that you will have to avoid rooms with low ceilings.
V-crunch with medicine ball
Lie on your back, holding the ball above your head. Stretch your arms and legs, raise your palms and feet slightly above the floor. At the same time, lift your torso and legs up. Try to touch the medicine ball to your feet. Then slowly lower yourself back to the floor.
Advice: Don't let the weight of the ball pull you back to the floor. Make sure you have good technique and keep your shoulders off the floor. This way, the abdominal muscles will work throughout the entire exercise.
Leg and body raises
Lie on your side, put your right leg on your left. Place your right hand behind your head, move your elbow to the side, and place your left hand in front of you for balance. Perform a twist, while trying to touch your right elbow with your right foot. Do the required number of repetitions on your left side, then on your right.
Advice: If you're new to this exercise, you'll be more likely to feel tension in your hip flexors than in your obliques. Stretch after each set to loosen the tendons and increase the number of repetitions.
Side crunches
Lie on your back, bend your knees, and place your feet on the floor. Place your right hand behind your head, move your elbow to the side, place your left hand, palm down, perpendicular to your body. Tighten your abs, lift your shoulders off the floor, and reach your right elbow toward your left knee. Slowly lower yourself to the starting position. First, perform the required number of repetitions on one side and only then move to the other.
Advice: Perform this exercise at the end of every abdominal workout. This exercise is best for creating abs of steel.
Plank with two-point support
Stand in the classic plank position: legs and arms are straight, shoulders are above the palms, the abdominal muscles are tense, the whole body is in a straight line. Tighten your abs and, resisting the urge to lift your hips, raise your right arm and left leg parallel to the floor. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side.
Advice: Raising two limbs turns a standard plank into a dynamic exercise for high-quality development of the abdominal muscles. If, of course, you follow the execution technique. If you have trouble maintaining your balance, lift one limb at a time.
Body Lifting
Get into a plank position, supporting yourself on your forearms, with your hands shoulder-width apart. Place your palms on the floor and stretch your body upward, while your torso remains straight. Slowly lower to the starting position and repeat.
Advice: Is your goal not only pumped up abs, but also big and strong shoulders and arms? This exercise combines upper body work using a plank - 3 sets of 20 reps from any plank.
Crab
Sit on the floor, hands behind your back, knees bent in front of you. Lift your hips up, supporting yourself only on your palms and feet. Start walking using both your arms and legs.
Advice: Raising yourself just a couple of centimeters above the floor will only put stress on your shoulders. Keep your hips as high as possible. Try to walk about 25 meters and ignore the chuckles behind you.
Spider movement
Starting position: lying position. Lift one leg off the floor and pull it towards your elbow. Hold this position for a moment, then return to the starting position and repeat with the other leg.
Advice: To add complexity to the exercise and work your obliques more effectively, after pulling your knee to your elbow, move your leg back a little, then pull your knee back to your elbow and only then return to the starting position.
Crunches with leg raises
Lie on your back, stretch your arms up above your head. Pull your knees to your chest and at the same time lift your back off the floor and, helping yourself with your hands, perform a twist. Return to the starting position and then repeat.
Advice: Stretch your arms above you throughout the exercise. This will increase the range of motion, which has a positive effect on the work of the abdominal muscles.
Swing your legs
Lie on the floor, raise your heels 10-15 centimeters from the floor, while straining your core muscles. Alternately lift one leg and lower the other, as if you were swimming in a pool.
Advice: Cross your legs left and right, not just up and down. Then your abs will work in different directions, also using the oblique abdominal muscles.
Hanging Leg Raise
Grasp the bar, making sure that while hanging, your feet do not touch the floor. Allow your straight legs to pull your pelvis slightly back. Tighten your abdominal muscles and raise your legs until they are perpendicular to your torso. Stay in this position for a short time, then slowly return to the starting position.
Advice: Allow your legs to swing freely after each repetition. This will force you to tighten your abs more to avoid excessive swinging. If you hang around, you won't achieve success.
Crunches on the upper block “Prayer”
Kneel in front of the machine, holding the cable handles on either side of your neck. Without moving your hips, using only your abdominal muscles, try to reach your hips with your elbows. At the bottom point, hold for a few seconds and then return to the starting position.
Advice: Don't be afraid of aggravation. This is one exercise that doesn't depend on your body weight and you don't have to do 20 reps to figure it out. Keep a steady pace and do not make sudden movements.
Raising the torso with a sandbag
Lie on your back, bend your knees, hold a sandbag (sports equipment - a bag of sand) on your arms outstretched in front of you. Tighten your abs and lift your torso up so that your upper body forms a V with your hips. Slowly return to the starting position.
Advice: To make the exercise easier, rest your feet on something. In another situation we would call this cheating, but you're doing the exercise with extra weight, so it's forgivable.
Russian crunches with weight
Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you and hold a sandbag with your arms outstretched in front of you. Quickly turn the body left and right, while moving the sandbag in different directions.
Advice: Avoid moving your shoulders and glutes to isolate your abs as much as possible. This will force your core muscles to work even harder to absorb the impulse from shifting the bag.
The secret to perfect abs
Target muscles: Abs
Equipment: barbell
Initial position. Standing, feet shoulder-width apart, back straight. Place the bar on the trapezius muscles (trapezius), near the back of the deltoids, without pressing too hard.
Performance. Alternately rotate your torso from one side to the other. We turn the body sideways to the maximum limit, while not turning the pelvis, keeping it straight.
When performing the exercise “torso turns with a bar”, when turning to the left when the right shoulder is in front, the following muscles are involved: the left internal oblique abdominal muscle (inside), the right external oblique abdominal muscle, abdominal muscles, and slightly the upper and lower abdominal muscles are also involved quadratus lumborum and left erector spinae. When turning to the right, the opposite muscles are activated.
For beginners, to make the exercise easier, the bar can be replaced with a gymnastic stick (or at home with a mop).
To obtain excellent results, you need the maximum number of approaches with multiple repetitions of this exercise.
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Exercise program to develop biceps strength and endurance
Developed biceps have always been a symbol of strength. We bring to your attention a set of exercises to develop strength and endurance. Traditionally, the complex includes basic exercises aimed at both the strength and mass of the biceps, and at working out individual areas in one workout.The gym can be dangerous if you exercise mindlessly. You must listen carefully to your body. If any exercise causes you discomfort, stop doing it immediately and consult a trainer. Perhaps you are doing something wrong, or perhaps this exercise simply does not suit your body for a number of reasons. There are 8 generally accepted dangerous exercises and 8 safe exercises that can be used to replace them.
1) Pull a vertical block behind your back.
Why is it dangerous: When you raise your arm to shoulder level, the distance between the acromion, the end of the shoulder blade, and the rotator cuff shortens. With repeated movements, the acromion rubs against the tendons, which leads to swimmer's shoulder syndrome - pain in front and above the shoulder due to stretching of the supraspinatus muscle. Only people with mobile shoulders are able to perform a vertical pull-down behind their back correctly.
Safe analogue: craving for the chest. The latissimus dorsi muscles are also worked, without the risk of strain. 
2) Military back press.
The principle of operation is approximately the same as that of pulling a vertical block behind the back, but the spine is subjected to greater load. Shoulders are also at risk of strain. 
Safe analogue: classic military chest press. However, the standing barbell press is a dangerous exercise in any case. If you are a beginner, be sure to seek help from a trainer. 
3) Pull to the chin.
Another wide back exercise that tends to damage your shoulders. It is fraught with chronic pain due to pinched nerves in the shoulders. 
Safe analogue: Dumbbell lateral raises, but don't overdo the weight. 
4) Leg press at an angle of less than 90 degrees.
A brilliant exercise for working almost the entire spectrum of muscles of the lower body: buttocks, thighs, calves. But if you do it incorrectly, namely bending your legs at an angle of less than 90 degrees, you can greatly overstrain your lower back and damage your knees. It is fraught with arthrosis and inflammation of the meniscus. 
Safe analogue: classic leg press at an angle of 90 degrees. Change the platform settings so that you feel comfortable. Press until a right angle is formed between the thigh and shin. 
5) Smith machine squat.
A common mistake newbies make is thinking that squatting in a Smith machine is easier and safer. This is wrong. The Smith machine forces you to unnaturally squat vertically. Because of this, the squatting technique is disrupted, and there is a risk of injury to the back and knees. 
Safe analogue: classic squat with free weights. Perform the exercise in a power rack or with a partner to back you up. Also ask your trainer for advice on proper technique. 
6) Rotations of the body with the bar on the shoulders.
The exercise is not common, but it is worth mentioning. It is believed that this exercise works the oblique abdominal muscles, but in fact it affects the spine most of all and not in the best way. When turning the body with weight on the shoulders, the vertebrae rub. 
Safe analogue: diagonal twists on the floor. A traditional exercise to work the oblique muscles of the spine. And no harm to the spine. 
7) French press.
What is good for a Frenchman is death for a Russian. After several years of regularly performing this exercise, you can forget about healthy elbows. 
Safe analogue: close grip bench press. Works the triceps much better by lifting more weight. 
8) Twisting with hands behind head.
Remember how we messed around in physical education classes at school? You take it and simply drag your head forward, almost without straining. But as children, we didn’t think that we could damage our cervical vertebrae this way. In addition, this form of exercise mainly strains your lumbar back muscles, not your abs. 
Safe analogue: reverse crunches. No pressure on the spine and perfect working out of the abdominal muscles.
- This is one of the simplest and at the same time most difficult exercises. It would seem that it could be simpler than turning from side to side, but learning how to contract the oblique muscles correctly is very difficult! In addition, you often stress your spine by performing heavy compound exercises. For example, deadlifts work the long back muscles very hard, which is why part of the load they usually perform is transferred to the spine. True, this effect occurs only when you have trained your back; the rest of the time, pumped up long back muscles, on the contrary, help to support your back, relieving the load from the spine.
However, when you twist your torso, your spine twists, so you need to be especially careful here! Also, it is important that the exercise still brings benefits, and for this you need to use the right technique! On the one hand, tilting your torso to the right to the left is not difficult, on the other hand, pumping up the oblique muscles with this movement is quite problematic.
Work of muscles and joints
The oblique muscles, which emphasize the ribs, are responsible for tilting the body from left to right and turning from front to back. But when you turn your body, you can feel that other muscles are also tense, especially those located in the lumbar region. The back muscles are stronger, so they steal part of the load; you should learn to relax them and purposefully tense the oblique muscles. Therefore, the exercise is best performed with a stick, without weight.
On the other hand, additional weights will help you build muscle more effectively. True, bulky oblique muscles spoil the waist, and therefore it is recommended to learn to contract the oblique muscles with a stick, as well as perform body turns with it. The only time you should use additional weights is during a strength training program. But remember that it overloads the spine, so be careful!
Torso rotations - diagram
1) Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2) If the exercise is performed with a stick, then it should be placed in the middle of the trapezoid. If with dumbbells, then you take one dumbbell in that hand. in the direction in which you will tilt, and place the other on your belt.
3) Slowly and under control, lean to the side, without moving your pelvis, as if twisting a little, and linger at the bottom point for 1-2 seconds.
4) From the lower phase, also slowly, with exhalation, straighten the body to its original position.
5) When the exercise is performed with a stick, you should bend in the other direction, but if you do it with a dumbbell, then continue to bend in one direction, after which, having completed the approach, take the dumbbell in the other hand and perform the same without resting between approaches number of repetitions on the other side.
Anatomy
Torso twists pump up the oblique muscles, which are not as important as the abdominals, but still serve as stabilizers in heavy compound exercises like deadlifts or squats. It is important to take into account that it makes no sense to increase the mass of these muscles; it is much more important to remove subcutaneous fat, which requires not so much training as diet. A sports diet will cope with this task perfectly.
Pumping up these muscles is quite problematic for those who have problems with the spine, so twisting the body is not a mandatory exercise. Of course, strong oblique muscles won’t hurt anyone, but you shouldn’t attach much importance to them!
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Genus. 1984 Trained since 1999 Trained since 2007. Candidate of Masters in powerlifting. Champion of Russia and South Russia according to AWPC. Champion of the Krasnodar region according to IPF. 1st category in weightlifting. 2-time winner of the Krasnodar Territory championship in t/a. Author of more than 700 articles on fitness and amateur athletics. Author and co-author of 5 books.
Place in : out of competition ()
Date of: 2012-05-29 Views: 159 874 Grade: 5.0
Why medals are given to articles:
Additional- internal oblique abdominal muscle
Difficulty of execution- light
Standing body rotation - video
Weight and reps for beginners
For men: 20 - 30 repetitions (each side) without weight. 2 - 3 approaches.For women: 20 - 30 repetitions (each side) without weight. 2 - 3 approaches.
Load by muscle group
The load is indicated on a 10-point scale (the total load is summed up)Description of the exercise
Not a very effective exercise. Rather suitable for warming up. It is practically useless to do it with a small weight, and dangerous with a large one. Alternatively, you can try bending over. Main features
1. It is the oblique muscles that create the corset that keeps the waist in good tone. 2. Place your hands on the edges of the stick and look ahead as you move. The amplitude of movement should be maximum. The back is straight. The spine is positioned vertically. 3. The most common mistakes are tilting the body forward or rotating with the head. This performance makes your head spin. 4. Rotation should be performed for 2 - 3 minutes. Minimum 100 repetitions in each direction. 5. Do not rotate with the bar from the barbell. You may injure your back. Take a light gymnastic stick. 6. This exercise can also be done from the top block. The advantage is that you can use weights in this case.