does anyone have any good stomach exercises or workouts? i find that situps on their own are too easy and i have to do loads before i feel any effect. i want a program that really makes you stomach burn and preferably includes the obliques.
thanks in advance
“satisfaction loses, humility gains”
I do 2 kinds of stomach exercise which should compliment each other.
They’re kinda made-up methods based on my interpretations of what others have said and my own experiments. I’ve been meaning to get some clarification on my methods so I’ll explain what I do here.
1st is the situp - I do 30-35 of these only.
Lie down with knees raised and feet flat on the floor.
Loose fists held touching the ears.
Tense stomach to lift the shoulders and head upwards from the floor - not curling up towards your knees but quite straight up. You don’t get very high off the floor doing this. Then let yourself down gently.
2nd is the leg raise - same 30-35
Lie down with hands supporting around and below the tailbone. Palms facing down on the floor.
I keep my head and some of my shoulder up (as above) for this entire exercise.
Raise straight legs to vertical and then continue with bent knees like i was trying a backwards roll ie my knees end up near my face and my tail bone is off the floor.
Then go back down but don’t let your legs touch the floor. Only put your legs down at the end of the exercise.
Be careful doing that. It took me a while to come up with this after finding many ideas put too much strain on things like the back. This one I find comfortable though I would like some expert advice on it.
There’s more to say but I have no time now.
The powers of Kung Fu never fail!
– Hong Kong Phooey
crunches
Hey Fellas,
Crunches are great. (David, what you’re describing there sounds more like a crunch than a situp).
With situps, depending on how they’re performed, you can be working your hip flexor muscles more than the abs, even though it still feels like you’re giving your abs a good workout. Especially if you anchor your feet by getting someone to hold them or hooking them under something.
I do a variety of crunches to target upper and lower abs and the obliques. Even though the abs are all one muscle, conventional crunches (moving upper body straight towards your bent-up knees) hits the upper abs more, and leg-raises, or reverse crunches, are better for working the lower abs. I do my leg-raises sitting in a chair (bum perched right on the edge). I do oblique or lateral crunches for the external and internal oblique muscles.
It’s important with crunches to push down the small of your back so as to keep it flat on the ground while both raising and lowering your upper body. I raise and lower slowly, too.
As for how often, in my case, 150 total, 2-3 times per week, as follows:
Conventional crunches: 2 sets of 25 reps.
Crossover crunches: 2 sets of 25 reps.
Sitting reverse crunches (leg raises): 2 sets of 10 reps.
Oblique crunches: 2 sets of 15 reps.
I take 1 minute’s rest between sets.
Cardio and diet are also important if you want your abs to show (ie reducing bodyfat).
Max
To know the unseen, you must first learn to see.
Conventional crunches. Try with your fists in your hips–that way you won’t use your arms to pull yourself up.
Ab circles–in the position of conventional crunches, but instead of just coming up straight, you go around in a circle–left for 30 then right for 30. Your shoulders should come off the ground, but be sure you don’t go up too high.
Oblique crunches (with knees to left then to the right). Try crunching totally sideways, then try crunching looking up at the ceiling. Amazing how a little difference in position will work muscles differently.
Cross crunches. This one, come all the way up and touch elbow to opposite knee. Also, do this one while bicycling your legs, so you bring your left knee in and twist your right elbow to it, etc.
Lower abs. Leg raises are good–don’t worry about bringing your legs all the way up, below 90 degrees is good. Do a few sets slowly then do some fast. Try doing leg raises and when your legs return to the bottom, split apart, then come back together and raise up again. Also, try brining your legs into your chest and shooting them back out.
Kneeling (don’t do this if you have bad knees or a bad back). Cross your arms across your chest, curve your back and touch your head to the floor then come up. DON’T use your hands or arms. If you can’t go all the way, go as far as you can until you build up to going all the way. Your back should be arched, but flat is one way to start out.
Also, try going into an iron bridge from standing and coming up again. This one, for beginners, is good to do near a wall. You climb down the wall with your hands into an iron bridge then climb back up it.
That’s just a few for now.
Robin
Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.