Table of Contents
Introduction
Abdominal training can be cracked down into a few distinct categories. Training for sport-specific or abdominal function, and performance, need the abdominals to be used in an isometric, measure-resisting fashion.
Having a strong, marked, and defined abdomen is many people’s goal, especially with a view to summer. But to have a marked and defined abdomen (or ” six pack ” as some call it) is not enough to train it; it requires an integral work of the core, varying and combining both dynamic and isometric exercises, introducing it with a frequency, intensity and adequate volume and, of course, and not least, having a low-fat percentage.
Abdominals Training – Crunches – Strength Exercises to Strengthen your Core
Abdominals Training – The abdominals ensure the tonicity of the anterolateral wall of the abdomen. The term abdominals are commonly used to refer to exercises intended to strengthen these muscles. The two expressions Doing abdominals or working the abs often replace weight training exercises to strengthen the abdominals in everyday language. The abdominal exercises increase the strength and power of the moving abdominal strap. They guarantee an optimal transmission of the impulse forces and a dynamic balancing of the body when the torso is vertical, in the running, as horizontal, in swimming. Their contraction increases the intra-abdominal pressure, and the Kegel exercises’ reasonable control of the pelvic floor muscles is an absolute prerequisite for their strengthening.
Abdominals Training – How to train your abs properly?
An abs training program varies in its content depending on the athletic level and the target objective. Anesthetic goal is to have well-drawn abs in the shape of a chocolate bar or a slim waist. A possible functional goal is to improve running efficiency through a better standing core. Whatever the purpose, poorly done abdominal strengthening exercises can cause long-term pressure on the pelvic floor and weaken the pelvic floor. There is an invariable muscle toning order to avoid such inconvenience.
Program of 13 Exercises to Strengthen the Abdominals
This 13-exercise abs training program divides into three levels of practice, beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Sports recovery program
Head-shoulders lift
Half hands to floor crunch
Half crossed crunch
Push Back Knee
Physical maintenance program
Crunch
Rear rocker
Elbow knee
Elbow-knee cross
Regular training program
Half neck hand crunch
Half crunch hands in the air
Back wrap for the lower abdomen
Half foot crunch
High knee-elbow touch for oblique abs
Abdominals Training – How to strengthen the abdominals?
We ask in order:
- first, the pelvic floor with Kegel exercises
- then the deep and lower layers of the abdomen, the transverse ones, with sheathing and the stomach vacuum
- then oblique abs (half cross crunch, for example)
- and finally, the superficial layer constituted by the significant rights (crunch and sit-up)
The surface layer of the abdominals
How to have abs quickly without risk? First, it is necessary to strengthen the pelvic floor then the transverse and, only then, do the classic exercises of flexion and rotation of the bust, transverse and pelvic floor remaining constantly contracted. What happens if this order is not respected?
The consequences of poor performance are a risk of incontinence and premature ejaculation. Suppose we neglect, before any action, to tone the pelvic floor and to retract the belly. In that case, that is to say, to contract the transverse, the rectus abdominals shorten by employing and exerting a push on the internal and lower part of the transverse. If it is relaxed, the volume of the abdomen is no longer required. This volume compressed by the rectus femoris will push the pelvic organs downwards and weaken the perineum, all the more so if we have neglected to exhale and thus bring up the diaphragm during the effort. No space is then available. Just like toothpaste squeezed into a tube, the viscera pushes into the only place possible, the pelvic floor.
The pelvic floor in top view
Women after childbirth are particularly aware of this problem; post-pregnancy rehabilitation sessions allow them to re-tone the perineum and all of the abdominal muscles by muscling the elevator of the anus with kegel exercises.
The Kegel exercises consist of pulling up the muscles around the anus, vagina, and urethra to hold urine or gas. When you master this contraction well, you can reproduce it anywhere, but you can refine it in specific postures, namely the deep squats (also called bottom squat) and cossack squat postures. These two squats are the best exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor, but only for people who have already mastered kegel exercises. You have to know yourself well to stop bending your legs in a squat at the right height. It is that which causes a controllable pressure on the pelvic floor by the contraction of the muscles surrounding the anus and the vagina. We quickly realize that the pressure increases very noticeably with the descent in a squat.
Going even further, we can also imagine practising kegel exercises while jumping rope, a movement that is not recommended when one suffers from urinary leakage due to a weakening of the pelvic floor but which is perfect as a test. Control to assess your tone level and control after a cycle of learning kegel exercises in the lying, then sitting and finally standing.
Kegel Exercises
Kegel exercises should be practised preventively by all sportspeople. Many very annoying problems in their second part of life, i.e. after a competition, such as an organ descent or prolapse, mild or permanent incontinence and premature ejaculation, will thus probably be avoided.
The control of the muscles of the pelvic floor prevents these disorders. It is also necessary not to have them too stretched and tired during the sporting efforts! It would help if you did not go too far without being overly worried because strengthening the abdominals is obviously very useful. Long crunch sessions without awareness of the sheathing and exercises with loads in blocked breathing should avoid.
Abdominal Belt Anatomy
Four main muscles make up the abdominal girdle: the rectus abdominal, the transverse, the major oblique and the minor oblique. The psoas locates in the abdominal cavity but behind the viscera and very close to the anterior aspect of the spine.
The Great Law is the most superficial abdominal muscle. It is a rather slender muscle that extends vertically on the fascia of the three other muscles of the abdomen. It originates from below on the pubis, then goes upwards and attaches to ribs 5-6- and 7 of the xiphoid appendage of the sternum. He is the most direct of the trunk flexors; it straps the bust and is, in this, comparable to a suspender. It brings the rib cage closer to the pubis by contracting.
Transverse
The transverse is the deepest muscle in all of the abdominals. It considers being one of the stabilizing muscles of the trunk. Its fibres are horizontal and, when contracted, reduce the abdominal region’s diameter by tucking the belly. It is the main element of the muscular strap of the abdomen and can even compare to a naturally flat stomach sheath: it is the transverse that must be toned to flatten your stomach. Finally, the transverse is the muscle that causes the action of coughing.
Large oblique and small oblique
The Grand Oblique covers the front and side of the abdomen. When the two sides contract, the muscles flex the trunk. The fibres are oblique and cause the box to tilt sideways to the same side and rotate to the opposite side. Given its rounded shape on the side and the front, the large oblique has a more pronounced effect than the rectus abdominals to flatten the abdomen and reduce the waist circumference. If the transverse muscle is a sheath, the oblique abs are more of a natural cuff. They locate under the large oblique. The slight oblique attaches below the femoral arch, the iliac crest, and the lumbar fascia. Its fibres terminate on the last four ribs and the aponeurosis of the lesser oblique. The fibres fan out, and their action on one side allows the lateral inclination and rotation of the trunk to the side.