Abdominal training at home - check out our tips!
2016-10-10
Today I would like to touch on abdominal training performed at home.
The training of this part performed at home will be very similar to the training performed at the gym, where many exercises are performed using the body's own weight, and we can easily replace the machines with training equipment that will not take up much space at home, as well as being useful for training the other parts, I mean here medicine balls, power Band training rubbers and tRX training tapes.
What matters is the quality of repetitions, not the quantity
Initially in most of the exercises the weight of your own body will be sufficient stimulus to strengthen and develop abdominal muscles, but over time we can introduce the above-mentioned equipment to increase the intensity of training, because constantly increasing the number of repetitions will not bring results, when training abdominal muscles as well as when training other parts, the principle that quality counts, not quantity, is great. In my opinion, it does not make sense for me to do 200 abdominals or even more, it is as if we want to do series for every other part consisting of 200 or more repetitions with very little weight.Correctly performed exercises done in small amounts but with full commitment will be far more effective than doing as much as possible at all costs ?tummies?, but it is a very common phenomenon especially in abdominal training.
Personally, I do 2 to 4 exercises per workout, the number of exercises depends on the number of abdominal workouts per week and the period of time recovery between workouts. The best solution will be to perform 3 abdominal workouts per week, there is no point in performing abdominal exercises every day because these muscles, like any other, need regeneration, so the more often the workout will be performed, the volume of the workout should be smaller, while with fewer workouts per week, such as 2, you should increase the volume of this workout, that is, perform more exercises more series, and increase its intensity, shortening the intervals between exercises or using additional load in the form of medicine balls or Power Band tapes.
As for the number of series in a given exercise, I would recommend doing 3 to 4 of them, and the number of repetitions between10 and 20. The best solution at the beginning will be to train the abdomen 3 times a week on each workout we do 3 exercises in 3 series. Exercises are selected in such a way that each affects the abdomen in a different way, we can distinguish exercises for the straight muscles of the abdomen, divided into the upper part and the lower part, and oblique abdominal muscles. In the following section, I would like to describe some exercises that we can do at home. The first exercise will be trunk bends in lying backwards, or so-called "trunk bends. ?tummies?, exercise known to all very effective, provided that it is performed in the right way engaging fully abdominal muscles.
Exercise 1 - trunk bends in lying backwards
When performing the prone, only the upper part of the back is detached from the ground, the hands are kept by the head or on the chest, and remember not to pull on the head and not to overload the spine in the cervical region. In the last phase of the incline tighten the muscles and make an exhalation of air, returning keep the abdominal muscles tense all the time. We can also use a medicine ball to perform the bends, in which case we perform the exercise holding the ball behind our head or against our chest.Exercise 2 - leg raise lying down
In the next exercise, we can already engage the lower abdomen more by performing various types of leg raises while lying down. We can do leg raises, or lift the legs and keep them above the ground while keeping the abdominal muscles tense, and of course we can add different kinds of ?scissors? vertical or horizontal legs. When doing leg raises, try to work your legs to such an extent that you maintain constant muscle tension, that is, do not lower them completely to the ground or lift them too high because you will lose tension in your muscles. An excellent solution for these exercises will be to use additional weight on the legs in the form of special leg weights. We can modify the exercise to further fatigue the muscles by performing a leg raise to an upright position, and then perform a hip raise upward, pulling the hips off the ground, i.e. performing what is known as a "hip lift. ?candle? and slowly lower the hips and then the legs stopping them at the final stage of the movement just above the ground.Exercise 3 - trunk twists
To improve the lateral abdominals, I recommend performing trunk twists in a standing position, we can use a rubber band for this by hooking it at chest height, perform a trunk twist by holding the rubber band with both hands in front of you in straight arms at chest height, after a certain number of repetitions, we change sides. In this exercise, I recommend using a much higher number of repetitions even up to 50, or we perform this exercise on time then the duration of the exercise per side about 1 minute. In people with a tendency to develop oblique muscles, I would avoid side bends in the standing position because they can cause the development of these muscles and, as a result, widening of the waistline.Exercise 4 - pulling the knees up to the chest
Another exercise that I recommend is to draw the knees to the chest in a balanced sit, here again the weights worn on the legs will be of excellent use. In this position we can also perform twists of the trunk, for which we can use a medicine ball, which at the time of twisting the trunk touches the ground, the exercise should be performed alternately, touching the ground once on one side and once on the other side.Isometric exercises
At the end of the workout we can add an isometric exercise for ourselves and it will be the forward support on the forearms, in this exercise we do not make any movements, we try to keep the body in one line by keeping the muscles in tension, the key to maintain this position will be the tension of the abdominal muscles, which after several previous exercises will be very much involved in this exercise. When arranging a workout plan for the abdomen, I would consider first of all exercises that affect the straight muscles of the abdomen, one aimed at improving the upper abdomen, the other more involving the lower abdomen, plus one exercise for the oblique abdominal muscles. Starting I can do such training even 3 times a week doing 2-3 exercises in 2 series, and after some time increase the training volume by increasing the number of series and the number of exercises. After finishing the exercises, it is worth remembering to stretch the muscles, the best in this case will work arch support in forward lying, we take the position as if to ?push-ups? and lower the hips to the ground.The right diet
It should be remembered that the key element in order to improve the appearance of this part will be a proper diet, training alone will not cause the sculpture of the abdomen, yes it will bring an effect in the form of strengthening this part of the muscle, may improve the strength and endurance of these muscles. Continuously increasing training volume or increasing intensity without a proper diet will not reduce fat from this part of the body.Author of the article:
Bartholomew Baranski
https://www.facebook.com/bbaranski.personal trainer
