Monday, April 18, 2011

Ab Workouts That Work

By Will Schlepinger


There are all sorts of opinions about ab workouts, which ones are the most effective, how often they should be done, whether you should do old fashioned exercises or whether it is better to use a machine. Whatever approach you take, it's important to take a holistic view of fitness and exercise your entire body. This will actually help your ab region as well because you will be burning calories while you tone your groups of muscles. The following exercises are workouts that are recommended by the fitness experts.

Just about one of the best workouts that you can do, especially for your lower abs, is reverse crunches. Many people do regular crunches, and these can be good, but by themselves they won't necessarily get you the kind of toned look you want. Reverse crunches are helpful for any routine that you already do. Whereas with a normal crunch, your knees are on the floor, with the reverse crunch you keep them off the ground, in a bent position, while holding your hands behind your head. The idea is to bring your head and knees as close together as you can without straining with each crunch. You should feel the pressure in the abdominal region.

Dancing is incredibly beneficial for your abs because different kinds of dances work different muscle groups. Many gyms now offer dance classes, and these can be fun, as they're done to lively music in a group setting. Of course, you can also dance while you're at home, especially when you use an exercise video. You might even find a few on YouTube. You could also take classes in things like Latin dance, belly dance and ballroom dance and then practice a lot. The advantage to this form of exercise is that it can be fun, so you'll be motivated to do it often and it won't feel like a chore. This gives your entire body (especially your abs) a great workout.

Most people think that sit ups are the best thing you can do for your abs but they're also the exercise most people hate most. The worst thing about sit-ups is how many of them you need to do to get the results you crave. The better alternative is to use a machine that uses the same basic movement a lot more efficient. There are lot of different ab machines that you can use to imitate the motion for sit-ups but that give you quite a lot more support and a wider motion range which will help make the motion safer and more effective at the same time. Some of these machines are called ab chairs, but there are many others as well. These machines will give you the same effect after five minutes that you would have gotten after a much longer period of grueling traditionally done sit ups.

In conclusion, it's a good idea to do ab workouts that are not too tedious for you so that you're motivated to stick with them. After all, when it comes to working out, consistency is what matters most. There's nothing bad about doing one type of exercise for a while and then changing things up every few months; in fact, this can often be quite beneficial. The important thing is to do something that's effective, whether it's one of the ab workouts we've covered here or another good alternative.




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