Training Your Abdominals – Part 6: Mixing It Up

Your abdominals and your core play such a varied role in our everyday lives. Almost everything we do involves core stability to a certain extent – even sitting upright involves core stability. Core strength will heavily influence your athletic ability, and can also make you less likely to suffer from lower back problems. I’d be willing to bet that far more lower back trouble is caused by lack of exercise than by poor technique in the gym.

Given that your core twists, turns, bends and stretches its way through your day, why restrict your training to sit ups and leg raises? Go for a more comprehensive approach to abdominal training, and indeed to whole body training, and you will find that your strength and lean muscle develops in a more even way, rather than centering around one or two muscles and movements. Here’s one or two ideas to think about to keep your abs workout fun and effective:

Yoga

I would advise almost anyone, competitive athlete to weekend gym warrior to undertake a regular program of stretching. Flexibility and suppleness are great ways to keep your body young, and the poses in yoga can do a great deal to improve core stability and strength.

The Plank is a Superb Core Muscles Exercise For Your Abs

The Plank is a Superb Core Muscles Exercise For Your Abs

Yoga is also an excellent way to recover from a hard gym session. Stretching will bring extra oxygen to muscle fibers without putting a heavy strain on them, aiding the recovery and development processes.

You can also incorporate yoga-style poses into your abs routine. “The plank” is an excellent example. It is similar to the press up position, but with your arms bent, and your weight supported on your elbows. Keep your back straight and your head and neck in line with your spine, and hold the position for 30-60 seconds. You will fell your abdominals slowly tense during the exercise, while you support your weight with the ancillary muscles.

Pilates

Pilates is similar to yoga in that it concentrates on breathing, although it is more dynamic and exercise based, although stretching also plays and important part. It uses various apparatus and concentrates heavily on core strength.

Classes like these can be a great addition to your fitness program. They are more social than training on your own, and can be excellent as a method of motivating you to get in to the gym. They also tend to ensure that you warm up and warm down properly – if you are training on your own, if you are anything like me, warming up and down, and stretching may only be given passing attention. They can also be an excellent source of new exercises and healthy training habits for your own program.

Circuit Training

For those of us who prefer a boot camp approach, circuits can be an excellent addition. Circuit sessions can vary widely in content, but they tend to concentrate on short bursts of effort on a circuit of different exercises. They usually include sit ups and leg raises, but they tend to be for the development of cardiovascular fitness and strength endurance, rather than specifically for building strength and lean muscle. Nonetheless, you will get the group motivation factor, and the added fitness benefits will make your overall fitness program more rounded and comprehensive.

Train With A Partner

Ab workouts with a partner can add an extra dimension. Get your partner to push your legs back down during leg raises to add extra resistance. He can push then in any direction to improve your reaction time, and put added emphasis on your ancillary muscles, particularly your obliques. Or try passing a medicine ball back and forth at the top of sit ups. Another good exercises is performing twists back to back with your partner while passing the medicine ball in a continuous circle. Excellent for the obliques and serratus. Just get “Eye of the Tiger” on the sound system and crack on!

Wrapping It All Up

In the last few blogs, I’ve tried to summarize the basics of the crunch movement and the leg raise movement, and talked about some of the ways you can incorporate them into your program. Start with the basics, and make sure you can do them properly before you move on to anything more complex. That way you will know your abs are getting the best workout, and that you are minimizing the risk of injury. After all, a lower back injury can have a big impact on your life, even if it is not severe.

And just like any element of your fitness program, don’t get stuck in a rut. Think of fun new ways to train and methods that will keep you interested and wanting to come back for more – that is the true secret to fitness success. And if you run out of ideas, why not ask me and fellow members by posting a question as a comment?