Friday, April 20, 2012

Awesome Abs!

I came across this video from one of the dance related e-mags I subscribe to.

Check it out. Do it.

Some of my notes below if you care to hang out a bit longer!
The exercises in the video are;
A version of the reverse sit up. This exercise targets the rectus abdominis. If you are a woman and have given birth, this is a very important exercise to have in your abs arsenal! Having the arms alongside the body, palms down, gives some toning work to the arms and shoulder complex as well.

Criss-cross is next. This exercise targets the external obliques and internal obliques. Take your time, as demonstrated in the video. You get more out of this exercise when you slow down as opposed to speeding through. Stopping the knee so that it stays aligned with the hip (table top leg position) increases the challenge even more. Notice the breathing cues. Me like.

V Sit. This baby targets everything. The full v sit is pretty intense. A good build progression would be to keep the knees bent as you come up into the v. If this is still too intense at first, keep the feet on the ground, knees bent and just focus on the action of the upper body. Build your progressions from there. Notice how the lady doing them keeps her shoulders down, not over set, but firmly in place. When you can do a round of these, help yourself to a bad-a** badge!

Side Plank Crunch. Obliques, rectus abdominis and transverse abdominis are all targeted with this exercise. I find stacking my feet to be uncomfortable at times, so staggering the feet (one foot placed slightly in front of the other) is a nice alternative.

I'll have some planks, thanks! Planks really are an all around great and effective exercise. A gem in bodyweight training. I like the time progressions given. After awhile you and friends (your amant, perhaps) can have 2.5-5 minutes contests!

Superman (or Superwoman). This exercise is a great one to finish with. After all the contracting work, now the core muscles have an opportunity to work in the opposite direction. The placement of the hands behind the head, elbows stretching out, gives the front of the chest a nice stretch and opportunity to open up. An excellent counter movement to our techno world of hunching over iphones and computers.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the dance that is life!



2 comments:

  1. Thanks Erin...always love new exercise ideas for abs..my nemesis ;-)

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    1. What I really appreciate about this series of exercises is that it targets the abs, but also works the whole body along the way!

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