Abs home workout

First of all, when it comes to ab workouts, there is a misconception that you need high amounts of reps to get lean abs. In actuality, you gotta train it like any other muscle with exercises using the full range of motion of the muscle, instead of doing more static exercises. When training abs, to make it show, what’s easier is to build the muscle big rather than to shed fat to try to reveal it.

It must also be noted that the function of the abs is not necessarily the classic motion of folding the body while lying down. The function of the abs is to bring the rib cage and the pelvis together. This is the reason physioballs are valuable as the complete contraction of the abs is not obtained when doing ab exercises on a flat surface. Therefore, a quick way to identify the wrong engagement of the abs is when your lower back hurts when doing ab exercises. When the lower back hurts, it is because the hip flexors are working during the ab exercise and not the abs themselves. Then, proper form when doing the sit-up is not sitting up but rolling up. You don’t just get up, you roll up like how you can roll a paper once instead of folding it. Some people may say that they still work their abs even though they have the wrong form but this is only true because the abs are still engaged as a stabilizer. Because of the abs’ misunderstood function, leg raises are also commonly done wrong. People do not appreciate it as one of the hardest things to do to work the abs since people just raise their legs and don’t curl their hips up. To make planks more effective, people can also concentrate on tucking their tail bone and squeezing the core like when doing crunches.

Another thing that people do not appreciate is the importance of training obliques due to them thinking big obliques will make them look like they have a bigger waist. In actuality, it’s important to train obliques because it shows more fully how defined the abs are. With aesthetics, “the V” is one of the most coveted by people and the key to that is the obliques. With functionally, obliques are also important with walking as it’s key to arms countering our feet in each step. For athletes, in particular, being able to maintain balance is a very foundational function to have. For example, deadlifts and squat plateaus can be caused by a limited core due to the inability to stabilize during the exercise. In these exercises, pulling things up off the ground, it’s never going to be an equal force from both sides so you need obliques to balance you.

As mentioned earlier, in training abs there’s a myth that high reps with exercise tones while low reps bulks. This myth comes from the fact that slow-twitch muscles produce less force but have more endurance while fast-twitch muscles produce more force with less endurance. However, the fastest way to build a certain look is to build the muscles. Then, in training abs that have few fast-twitch muscles, it is still better to train them as they have higher growth potential.

However, it must be noted here how important form is to properly lift without causing any injury. Because of this, it is recommended for workouts to be done with alternating low and high-intensity exercises. This is done to have opportunities to perfect form with lighter weight while overtraining can be avoided. Furthermore, a proper form with ab workouts has a lot to do with connection toom which can be simply established by rolling your hip bone and contracting abs when sitting down. To brace the core, a useful thing to think about is bracing to be punched in the gut.

Source: Mind Pump