Six Pack Abs Workout

For years now, sit ups have gotten a bad rap by many fitness “experts” who tout that sit ups are damaging to your spine.  Where did this strong opinion come from?  The way the sit up has been ostracized by the fitness community, you would suspect that hundreds of thousands of six pack abs seekers have destroyed their backs while performing this “dangerous” exercise!  Fortunately, that’s not the case, not even close.

The “sit-ups are unsafe” chant that can be heard echoing throughout fitness centers all over the world was actually born in the lab.  Studies have found that sit-ups stress the spine more than the crunch does.  And?  Taking a nap will stress the spine even less than crunched do.  Is napping a better ab exercise than crunches?  You can see how the stress argument is seriously flawed.  Every exercise that you perform creates some stress on the body.  It is that stress that encourages our body to adapt and get stronger.  This is the very nature of exercise.

Now, let’s take a second to investigate the sit-up.  The main reason why sit-ups add stress to the spine is because of the contribution of the hip flexors during the movement.  The critics assert that this hip flexor involvement causes compressive forces in the spine which is why sit-ups should be completely avoided.  Do they have a point, or are they overreacting?

The fact of the matter is, athletes and fitness trainees have been safely incorporating sit-ups and their variations for years now.  This alone should make it obvious that the “sit-up alarm” may be ringing for no apparent reason.  The truth is, I have never witnessed one spine get damaged at the hand of a set of sit-ups.  You would suspect that after 16 plus years as a fitness professional I would have at least seen one sit-up related injury if they were so harmful.

I still hear many trainers say to me, “Ok, I’m convinced that sit-ups are not so dangerous now, but since crunches work the abs just as well, why even bother with sit-ups?  Let’s see why they feel this way and why they can miss out on some advantages of sit-up variations.

The truth is that the abs are only responsible for the beginning portion of the movement during a sit-up.  Once you are in the finished “crunch” position, the hip flexors take over to finish the top portion of the sit-up.  It should be noted that although the hip flexors provide the movement in the top range, the abs are still contracting hard.  This contraction prevents your back from arching and contributes to the overall ab workout.

An additional benefit of the sit-up is that it burns more calories than does the crunch.  This is because the sit-up works through a greater range of motion and involves more muscle groups.  It’s no secret that in order to get six pack abs you must lose your layer of belly fat.  The sit-up increases your heart rate and burns more calories than crunching movements making this a very desirable “side effect”.

Although the sit up is not the most effective ab exercise, I do prescribe sit up variations on occasion to any client who I feel they are appropriate for.  I do believe that you should have a foundation of abdominal strength and no chronic back problems.  If you fit the criteria and use proper form, you will have no problems with this exercise.



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Exercise #1: Partial Sit-Ups

Primary Target: Upper Abs

Secondary Target: Lower Abs and Obliques

1. Lie flat with your back on the floor and your knees bent. Your legs should be secured under a piece of heavy furniture. (Note: I am assuming that you are doing this routine at home).

2. Place your hands crossed in front of your chest.

3. Flexing your abdominals, raise your torso until your torso is lifted about 30 degrees off the floor. Exhale as you perform this step.

4. Retaining tension on the abs, lower your torso to the beginning position as you inhale.

Safety Note: Maintain full control throughout the movement and avoid the temptation to rock back and forth.

Exercise #2: Lying Leg Raises

Primary Target: Lower Abs

Secondary Target: Upper Abs and Obliques

1. Lie flat with your back on the floor and your legs extended straight in front of you.

2. Place your hands at your sides by the floor for support.

3. Flexing your lower abdominals, raise your legs and exhale until they are perpendicular to the floor.

4. Retaining tension on the abs, lower your legs to the beginning position stopping just an inch off the floor as you inhale.

Safety Note: Maintain full control throughout the movement. Avoid the temptation to let your legs drop on the negative portion of the movement.

Exercise #3: Lying Leg Raise & Crunch Combo

Primary Target: Upper and Lower Abs

Secondary Target: Obliques

1. Lie flat with your back on the floor and your legs extended straight in front of you.

2. Place your hands at your sides by the floor for support.

3. Flexing your lower abdominals, raise your legs until they are perpendicular to the floor.

4. At this time, raise your shoulders and torso as far as possible from the ground in a curling movement without raising your back from the floor as you exhale.

5. Retaining tension on the abs, lower your legs to the beginning position and then bring your torso to the starting position as well while breathing in.

Safety Note: Maintain full control throughout the movement. Avoid the temptation to rock back and forth.

Exercise #4: Knee-Ins

Primary Target: Lower Abs

Secondary Target: Upper Abs and Obliques

1. Sit on the floor (or on the edge of a chair or exercise bench) with your legs extended in front of you and your hands holding on to the sides for support.

2. Keeping your knees together, pull your knees in towards your chest as you exhale until you can go no further.

3. Keeping the tension on your lower ab muscles, return to the start position as you inhale and repeat the movement until you have completed your set.

Exercise #5: Modified V-Ups

Primary Target: Upper and Lower Abs

Secondary Target: Obliques

1. Sit on the floor (or on the edge of a chair or exercise bench) with your legs extended in front of you and your hands holding on to the sides for support.

2. Simultaneously bring your legs up as far as possible while at the same time bringing your torso towards them as you inhale.

3. Exhale as you return to the start position and repeat the movement until you have completed your set.

Note: This is a modified version of the V-Up. In a true V-Up your starting position is lying down on the floor and bringing yourself up with no arm support.

Exercise #6: Crunches

Primary Target: Upper Abs

Secondary Target: Lower Abs and Obliques

1. Lie flat with your back on the floor and your legs in front of you bent at the knees.

2. Place your hands crossed in front of your chest.

3. At this time, raise your shoulders and torso as far as possible from the ground in a curling movement without raising your back from the floor as you exhale.

4. Retaining tension on the abs, bring your torso to the starting position as you inhale.

Safety Note: Maintain full control throughout the movement and avoid the temptation to rock back and forth).

Exercise Variation: I like to perform this movement on top of an exercise ball in order to achieve full stretch of the abdominal wall and thus get full range of motion.

Exercise #7: Knee-In & Crunch Combination

Primary Target: Upper and Lower Abs

Secondary Target: Obliques

1. Lie flat with your back on the floor and your legs straight in front of you.

2. Place your hands at your sides by the floor for support.

3. Slowly bend your legs at the knees bringing them towards your chest.

4. Once the knees are by your chest, raise your shoulders and torso as far as possible from the ground in a curling movement without raising your back from the floor as you exhale.

5. Return your legs to the starting position and bring your torso back to the floor as you inhale.



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The NOW generation has some smoke and mirror ideas about what it takes to acquire a sculptured set of six pack abs – they seek an instant method to obtaining six pack abs.

The NOW generation thinks that using dietary supplements or pills can get their dream of having toned and firm abdominal muscles in a quick manner but thereality is, there is no way that you could obtain such abs in an effortless way. If you’re among those got to have it now individuals who were misled regarding fast ab results, you may have been wasting time – and good money. 

The reason?…currently there is no solid scientific research sustaining theeffectiveness of diet pills or supplements functioning to give you well defined six pack abs.

No dietary supplements or pills have been proven to provide nicely toned six packabs because it’s through working hard that is the safest and most efficient method of attaining those results.

But then, what sort of activities are required of you to achieve great six packabs? Of course, when it comes to six pack abs, it’s about doing the right workout exercises.  For obtaining six pack abs, there are two basic methods you can achieve them with – doing the crunches and utilizing exercise equipment.

The crunch system of performing crunches is the most fundamental technique for working on your abs.

The principle is to crunch your abdominal muscles by laying your back flat against the floor and then bringing your feet back towards your body in a way that your knees are placed in a elevated position. Putting both hands and intertwining the fingers behind the neck, you slowly ball yourself up close to your knees in such a way that you feel your stomach is crunching and you feel the muscles are getting tensed.

In the beginning it does not matter how able you are at doing the crunches, however what is critical is the consistency you apply to this exercise. For example, if you can do only 20 repetitions of the exercise, it’s critical thatyou’re constant with it and that you execute it constantly.

The angle which is created tween your body and the knees shifts your muscles permitting it to build muscles. So, if you wish to change the result of yourexercise on you, you could extend your legs a bit further from the body andperform the same action.

You’ll feel the muscles within the stomach move differently and you will feel alittle more tense providing you a better workout, so the crunch method will taketime but it is effective and one you will be more pleased with the end result.

Let’s not forget about the venerable exercise machine. The fitness industry is in high gear producing a never ending stream of sexy fast solutions machines theyclaim are perfect for achieving marvelous six pack abs.

You’ll have to be the judge of any exercise device that claims to make it a no pain to gain for people on a quest for six pak abs.

Yes, there are sexy and not so sexy machines that you can buy that really do work on abs and they come in all price ranges…they work on the same principle as the crunches technique…the good news is, the right device can make it a lot handier and easier to accomplish your end goal of beautiful six pack abs to die for…the bad news? You usually get what you pay for and use consistently until you reach your goal.

 



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That can’t be right can it?

Surely if you do nothing else but do ab crunches all day long you’ll end up with a stomach like a washboard?

Er, well no, that’s not strictly true…

In fact, not only is it possible to get six pack abs without a single crunch, it’s also possible that relying on relentless crunching is moving you away from your desired flat stomach!

Ok, before I get carted off by the men in white coats, let me explain. Come to think of it, even if you *did* call the men in white coats, it would be *me* they would agree with!

It’s all to do with the physiology, the construction of the body around the abdomen. A six pack is a display of defined abdominal muscles. Crunching is a superb way of strengthening and building these muscles, but it’s vital to bear in mind, that if you currently don’t have that six pack, your ab muscles will most likely be covered with a layer of fat. It doesn’t have to be a rippling spare tire, Homer Simpson style, but there will be a layer of fat covering those muscles.

If you simply concentrate on building the abs, but do nothing about the fat, then as your abs develop, not only will they not be visible, but they will actually be pushing the layer of fat outwards! This is the last thing you want!

The layer of fat is one of the hardest areas to get rid of, so you need to start an all-round fitness regime if you really want a six pack. Try to focus on a good cardio workout, some sort of aerobic type exercise that will get your blood pumping and keep it in your target heart rate zone for at least 30 minutes and do your cardio at least 5 days a week for best results. Brisk walking, jogging, swimming and TaeBo are all good examples of a cardio workout. Gradually, and this won’t and cannot happen overnight, as the fat layer disappears, your ab muscles will become closer to the surface, and therefore more visible.

Take it from me, as someone who’s done it, the ab muscles get plenty of workout in everyday life, so are often defined enough so that once the fat layer had gone, they give off that familiar six pack look.

So there you are, a simple explanation of biology has got rid of almost any need for those horrible crunches!

You may want to do them to buff up your abs once the can be seen, but blimey they are hard enough to do at any time let alone if the effort is just going to waste!



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