Beebleblog

 

This exercise works the abdominals (the stomach muscles – Beeble). It concentrates on the lower portion of the rectus abdominus (the 6 pack – Beeble) although it does work the whole stomach. The lower section of the abs is often forgotten about with your usual sit ups and crunches. It is used, but far less than when the movement commences from the lower section like in today’s exercise. I have shaded the area in blue on the diagram. This exercise will firm your stomach but will not necessarily make it flat. It all depends on how much body fat you have above the muscle. Treat the body as a whole and you will get the best results for your body. That means a good all over body workout.

 

 

Lie on your back with your legs at 90 degrees vertically in the air. The aim is to raise your hips off the ground and lower them back down again slowly and with control. However you have to make sure you do this correctly. The movement of your legs must start from the abs. You must draw your tummy button in and “pull” the stomach upwards towards your chest so you are shortening the muscle. A bit like you would in the crunch but in reverse. It is very easy to swing your legs towards your head to aid in the movement. Do not do this as it does not help you in the long run. If you are a beginner to ab exercises you will find this very difficult and may not be able to get your hips off the ground. This is not important as you will use the right muscles while you are in the process of trying. You could end up using the wrong muscles by forcing the hips off the ground.

 

Once you have tensed your stomach muscle and your hips are as high as the stomach muscles will take them (don’t go too high and don’t force it – Beeble) you then need to slowly and in a controlled way lower the hips back down to the ground. If you can’t get your hips off the ground then slowly relax the tummy muscles. There you have it: one repetition. Remember to breathe throughout the exercise. I would personally breath out as you contract the stomach muscles (raise the hips – Beeble) and breath in as you lower the hips.

Video Guide

 

If you watch the video below by clicking on the play button you will see that as with the crunch the movement is relatively small. This is because our abs are only designed to work in quite a small range so anything above and beyond is using other muscles. I keep my hands out to the sides for stability. When doing this exercise it is tempting to push down to help the movement. Don’t! This is cheating and will not help you develop the ab muscles. You will also see that I keep it nice and slow and maintain that speed throughout the movement. Try and do the same as it is much more beneficial than trying to just complete as many as you can.

 

 

 

Keep the movement slow and controlled

Keep the lower back firmly in the ground when your hips are down

Breathe (sounds silly, but we often keep holding our breath – Beeble)

Only go as far as your stomach will take you

Only use your stomach muscles to complete the movement

 

 

Don’t hold your breath

Don’t move too quickly (quality not quantity - Beeble)

Don’t arch your back

Don’t just swing your legs

Don’t go any further than getting your hips and lower back off the ground

Don’t use your arms to help with the movement

Don’t do this if you have a bad back

 

 

This is actually fairly complicated even though the movement looks relatively simple. This is because there is lots that you need to bear in mind before the movement starts. Once your legs are raised they can act like a lever on your body. If you lower your legs towards the ground it will want to pull your upper body upwards. What actually happens is that it arches your back which will put a lot of stress in this area. Make sure when you do this exercise that you draw your tummy button in towards your spine (like at the beach! – Beeble) and when your hips are on the ground you do not let your lower back arch up off the ground.

 

If you have a bad back then do not attempt this exercise. Check with your doctor first and read up on our bad back section. Done incorrectly this exercise could make your back worse. When your back is better it will be exercises like this that will help protect it (all in good time, don’t rush – Beeble).

 

 

Personally I would pick 4 to 6 different stomach exercises and complete 20 repetitions of each and do a total of 1 to 2 sets each. So that would be a total of 80 – 240 abdominal repetitions in total (Ouch  – Beeble). May sound a lot to some and may sound like not enough to others but remember it is quality and not quantity. People who are doing over 240 abdominal crunches are potentially just wasting time. With this actual exercise you should find 20 plenty enough. (It should be harder than it looks – Beeble). 

 

I hope this has been of interest and has helped. If you have any questions please leave them in our comments section on the link below. Tune in again for more exercises, tips and advice. Thank you for reading and please help spread the word.