It still worries me when I see a gym member doing a crunch, machine or otherwise, non-stop and clearly in pain and miserable. I stopped this lady to ask her why she was torturing herself in this way and she looked at me, dejected and said: hang out told him to do 100 reps. That !! I firmly told him to cut it down by 90%. I’m not sure what happened to him, but I predict that he gave up shortly thereafter out of boredom and frustration.
What are the abdominal muscles? Let’s analyze and study each one to understand the function of these wonderful muscles. The abs are basically made up of four sections.
1) Rectus Abdominis – These are the long, flat muscles in the front section that everyone wants to develop, the “six pack.” These muscles run vertically on either side of the anterior wall and originate from the breastbone to the pelvis. These two vertical muscles are separated by a band of connective tissue called the linea alba and actually make up eight muscles, not six. The rectus abdominis is crucial in determining your body posture. They flex the lumbar spine when bending and help bring the rib cage and pelvis closer together.
2) External obliques – Part of the lateral abdominal muscle group, this is the largest superficial muscle in the abdomen. It really sits on the lateral and anterior part of the abdomen. This muscle is not easily visible due to the fat it contains. The function of this muscle is to pull the chest down to increase intra-abdominal pressure in the abdominal cavity.
3) Internal obliques – This is the medial lateral muscle that is located just below the external obliques. Its fibers run perpendicular to the external oblique muscles. It has two functions. One is to reduce the volume of the thorax by being an antagonist of the diaphragm and the second is to work together with the external oblique to achieve a twisting or twisting movement of the trunk.
4) Transverse abdomen – The third muscle of the lateral group is located under the internal and external obliques. Helps compress ribs and provides core stability.
Because each muscle moves differently, it only makes sense to work it differently to follow its function. Let’s explore the type of exercise that works these muscles, although it is practically impossible to work them in isolation. However, we can still focus on the primary muscles that we want to work. The muscle can be further divided into upper, middle, lower and oblique abs. The middle and upper abdominal muscles are what create the elusive six-pack. Let’s make a list of the basic exercises for this muscle group.
For) Lower abs – Any movement that requires the action of the legs will work this muscle.
Hanging leg raises
Hanging Knee Raise
Lying down leg thrusts (hip thrusts)
Reverse Crunches (Flat and Decline Bench)
Abdominal scissors
B) Upper and middle abs – Any crunching movement in which the chest is close to the pelvis.
Bodyweight bench crunches
Stability ball crunch
Crunch with weights
Cable rope creak
Refuse the bank crunch
vs) Oblique – Any torsional or lateral movement.
Sit-up bike (alternate leg up to elbow)
Alternate oblique crunch
Any crunch machine with the side of the body facing forward
A combination of any of these exercises performed a maximum of 3 times per week is sufficient. You need to let it recover and grow, so don’t work them on a daily basis. They need at least 48 hours to recover. How many reps and sets do you need to do? A rep or rep is one performance of the exercise. A set is a total of repetitions completed. To develop muscles, it is advisable to perform between 10 and 15 repetitions. If you can complete the 15th rep with ease, it is too light. Increase the weight by 10-20% and do it again. The last rep should be difficult but not impossible. For the second set, increase the weight again by 20%. If you used 10 pounds for the first set, raise it to 12 pounds. You can only complete 12 or 13 reps and that’s fine. Your muscles are being challenged as they should. You will complete 3 sets of one exercise before moving on to the next. Be sure to rest for 45 seconds to 1 minute before attempting the next set to avoid overtraining and injury.
Now that you’ve got your abdominal workout routine to perfection, it’s time to add cardio to burn the fat that hides those fabulous muscles you’re building. You can’t cut fat by doing countless reps. You cannot convince the body’s fat burning mechanism to burn fat in a specific location.
You don’t need to spend an hour on the treadmill and kill yourself out of boredom. Experiment with high intensity or interval training for 20 to 30 minutes to boost your metabolism for hours after you’re done. Do this 3-4 times a week. As you can see, you don’t need and shouldn’t do a lot of reps, like a hundred sit-ups (sit-ups are not even men the list above). Why? The abdominals can cause back injuries and the abdominal muscles do not work much because now you have entered the hips flexors to do most of the work. So skip it.
And finally, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as cut back on fried foods and high-fat desserts. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day to flush toxins from your body. If you follow this program, you are sure on your way.