Abs Workout

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Abs

It's important to have a strong core for health and wellness reasons.  It's also nice to have strong, defined abs to help you feel good and confident as you go about your life. Strong abdominal muscles can do your body a world of good, helping to maintain good posture and preventing lower back pain and aches. Your abs play a large part in supporting your back and also affecting the tilt of your pelvis - meaning the stronger your abs, the stronger the support in your body.
I'm going to cover a multitude of effective ab exercises that are easy and effective.  The following ab exercises are non invasive and will help you build and maintain strong and defined abs for the rest of your life.  It's important to remember that every person is unique and that is why I have created a Custom Home Workout Video made specifically for you.   

Here is a video demonstrating 12 different Abs exercises.

Crunches - Legs in Top Position

Start on your back and have your feet as close to the glutes as possible. Make sure you relax the neck by looking at the ceiling. Place the hands-down the centre line, I call this top position. Squeeze your abs as tight as they can go, this will be your starting point. Make sure your head is relaxed by having your eyes looking at the ceiling. Crunching 50 micro-crunches in a row and hold on the last crunch nice and tight. Take 3 deep breaths while holding this crunch. Then, do 50 more micro-crunches. Holding after the micro crunch position and take 3 deep breath's. Now place your left hand into what we call a 'guard position' and the right hand over the left side, reach over your left thigh and crunch. Do 50 crunches and then hold for 3 breaths. The final position will be placing your right hand in guard position and left hand over the right thigh. Do 50 micro-crunches from this position and hold for 3 deep breaths.


abs-top-position-hands-down-center

Legs in Top Position, Hands Down Centerline

  1. Place feet as close to the glutes as possible.

  2. Place hands down centerline.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.
abs-top-position-left-hand-over

Legs in Top Position, Left Hand Over Thigh

  1. Place feet as close to the glutes as possible.

  2. Reach left hand over right thigh.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.

abs-top-position-right-hand-over

Legs in Top Position, Right Hand Over Thigh

  1. Place feet as close to the glutes as possible.

  2. Place right hand over left thigh.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.

Crunches - Legs in Middle Position

The second level position we call the mid level where the feet are halfway between your glutes and the ankles. Place the arms down the center line of the body, (between the legs) and get into a full micro crunch. Feeling the ab muscles fully crunched, micro-crunch from there. Do 50 crunches and hold on the last crunch nice and tight for 3 deep breaths. Again, place your left hand into what we call a 'guard position' and the right hand over the left side, reach over your left thigh and crunch. Do 50 crunches and then hold for 3 breaths. The final position will be placing your right hand in guard position and left hand over the right thigh. Do 50 micro-crunches from this position and hold for 3 deep breaths.  

abs-middle-position-right-hand-over

Legs in Middle Position, Hands Down Centerline

  1. Place feet in middle position.

  2. Place hands down centerline.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.
abs-middle-position-left-hand-over

Legs in Middle Position, Left Hand Over Thigh

  1. Place feet in middle position.

  2. Place left hand over right thigh.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.
abs-middle-position-right-hand-over

Legs in Middle Position, Right Hand Over Thigh

  1. Place feet in middle position.

  2. Place right hand over left thigh.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.

Crunches - Legs in Bottom Position

The final position of the abs workout is the bottom position. You will find that your abs are beginning to feel stronger and your core strengthening which will lead us to the next the next blog Push ups. For the Abs bottom position, keep your heels will be touching the ground and the toes will be facing the ceiling.  The legs will be almost fully extended, with a slight induction in the knees.  Placing the hands down the centerline of the body, begin in full micro-crunch mode.  Crunch from here, 50 crunches.   When you're done, breathe in 3 deep breaths.  Finally, place your left hand into what we call a 'guard position' and the right hand over the left side, reach over your left thigh and crunch. Do 50 crunches and then hold for 3 breaths. The final position will be placing your right hand in guard position and left hand over the right thigh. Do 50 micro-crunches from this position and hold for 3 deep breaths. 

abs-bottom-position-hands-down-centerline

Legs in Bottom Position, Hands Down Centerline

  1. Place feet in bottom position.

  2. Place hands down centerline.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.
abs-bottom-position-left-hand-over

Legs in Bottom Position, Left Hand Over Thigh

  1. Place feet in bottom position.

  2. Place left hand over right thigh.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.
abs-bottom-position-right-hand-over

Legs in Bottom Position, Right Hand Over Thigh

  1. Place feet in bottom position.

  2. Place right hand over left thigh.

  3. Micro crunch 50 crunches.


Benefits of Strong Abs

Posture

A strong core helps prevent lower-back pain, greatly improves mobility and strength in the hip joints, thigh muscles and glutes. Having stong healthy abs not only prevents back pain, it can also relieve the aches realated to a "sore back". Core strength improves peoples awareness of performing every day movements such as lifting a simple box, bending over gardening, or just sitting at a desk because maintaining a straight spine becomes a subconscious reflex over time. A strong core will also improve your posture which will make you taller and feel more confident. Posture is important because the way you stand and sit will over time, impact how you feel and look on a daily basis. Ideal posture places the least amount of compression on the back as possible, resulting in minimum wear and tear on the spine. "Bad posture" occurs when your pelvis tilts forward, causing an exaggerated spinal curve. Strengthening the core will correct bad posture by distributing weight evenly throughout the human body. Engaging in core exercises builds abdominal muscles, opens up hip flexors, and strengthens the lower providing you better posture so you feel better and life becomes easier. In daily living and during exercise, it's important to maintain neutral hips, meaning a standing person should have a slight curve in their lower back and their belly button shouldn’t come forward. To ensure neutral hips, pull the belly button up towards the ribs, or ribs toward the belly button. Imagine lifting the belly button and ribs towards one another. That helps achieve a tall posture.

Lungs and Breathing

We all need to breathe and we breathe better with a strong core. Breath training and core strength training go hand-in-hand. Building stronger breathing muscles, such as diaphragm and intercostals, translates into better core strength, and at the same time, a stronger core creates a way for easier breathing. Strengthening the core and obtaining neutral hips will hold your body better and make it easier to breathe because your organs and diaphragm will sit in the proper position. This breathing-based approach (which has improved the health and bellies of thousands of men and women) interconnects deep abdominal breathing with gentle movements to train and develop core muscles inside out.

In order to have a healthy core that provides a tight mid section, we must not focus on the "six-pack muscles" and instead, develop our innermost abs first. The best way to do that is through your breath. Shallow breathing doesn’t quite work, what does work is intentional and deep abdominal breathing that engages an important muscle that we rarely think about: the respiratory diaphragm. The respiratory diaphragm lives inside the lower rib cage. Using your breath to stretch this muscle completley causes all deep muscles in your core to engage. Understanding why breathing this way can transform your core requires a short lesson on the body. Your torso is like an elastic or a muscular cylinder so to speak. Simply said, a strong and functional abdomninal area is resilient like a rubber band. If your abs are always tense from holding in your belly to look thin, you can lose your range of motion and your muscles won't be used at complete potential. Once you learn how to train the core through breathing, you can develop stronger abs anytime and anywhere. When you turn on your abs through the breath, sitting and standing become toning exercises. Rather than holding your abs tight during exercise, breathing this way when you work out will power up your core while improving your health. Everything good happens from the inside out.


Now that you have a great foundation to explore and exercise core strength, we are going to cover Push ups  because upper body strength is just as important to core strength.

Get regular information on fitness and general self-improvement, starting with your FREE Subliminal Abs Audio today.