Our day to day full of haste, stress, races and stress leads us to neglect something as basic as physical exercise. Among the different types of training that we can practice is one that will also help us improve our physical appearance. In this article we are going to consider how to correctly do the exercises of inner abdominals.
We are becoming more and more sedentary beings and this brings us a series of health problems that are linked to our way of life. We spend most of our time sitting and almost always with inadequate postures since we are in front of the screen of a computer or a mobile phone.
When we go to move, we rarely do it on foot or by bicycle, as years ago. Now we have the car to go almost anywhere no matter how close it is. We forget things as essential and necessary as walking or the simple fact of climbing a ladder. You may be interested in this article about the benefits of sport for our health.
In this article we are going to focus on a series of exercises for a very important part of our body, and sometimes forgotten, our abdomen. These exercises, which we will see below, will help us strengthen the abdominal muscles. And in this way, we favor not only the aesthetic part, but we will also get our body much more energetic and we get rid of some diseases.
The abdominal muscles form the central part of our body and therefore should be an important point to take into account when it comes to daily exercise. In this way we will improve our body posture and as a consequence we will reduce the chances of suffering injuries, pains or discomfort.
Also, if we strengthen our abdomen, we will be reducing fat and increasing our muscle toning. But at the same time, we help our digestive and intestinal organs stay in place and avoid constipation problems, for example.
Instructions
We will see a series of general instructions when doing any type of abdominal exercise.
- We must always lean on a flat surface.
- We have to avoid exercises that force us to arch our back.
- The exercises should be done calmly, without haste and thinking about the movement we are doing. This can be somewhat harder to do but, in this way, we make sure to prevent a pull or a contracture. Here I leave you an article on how to cure a muscle contracture.
- We must make sure that we support the lumbar spine well. Because if not, we run the risk of arching it and overloading its muscles.
- Tranquility and perseverance are the best allies when performing any type of exercise. It is convenient to start with few repetitions and go up as our body gets used to the exercise. In addition, the number of weekly sessions should also begin for about three or four days to increase as we feel better physically. This time should be controlled at least once a month, and so we can increase the intensity of our exercises in a constant and intelligent way.
Now let’s move on to some basic instructions for doing inner abdominal exercises:
- If we have weak muscles in the abdominal area, we do not guarantee enough tension to maintain good body posture. Therefore, we favor the growth of a small belly even if we have a low percentage of body fat. Therefore, to have a thin waist and a marked abdomen, we must also take care of the development of the internal abdominal muscles.
- Most abdominal exercises consist of a variation of the shrinking and elevations of the trunk. But very few assure us the use of any internal, oblique or transverse muscle.
- For the training of the inner abdominal muscles, we must also include static exercises.
- Therefore, the most effective exercise to work these internal muscles is the abdominal vacuum, which is also known as abdominal vacuum or stomach vacuum in English.
- For this type of exercises the most effective are the so-called plates.
- We start from the following starting position: we lie face down with our legs stretched and slightly apart. We lift the body, fixing the pelvis and supporting its weight on the forearms, elbows and the tips of the feet. We maintain this position and at the same time maintain tension in the abdominal muscles, the internal muscles of the torso and the buttocks.
- We keep the neck and spine in the same line. Our breathing should be normal, not agitated. Repetitions should last 10 to 30 seconds. Once done, we pause for about 30 or 40 seconds before doing a new repetition. As we said at the beginning, the secret is to do the exercises in a relaxed way, without the burden of many repetitions. Over time, we will increase the number and duration of them.
- As we said earlier, one type of static exercise is the so-called abdominal vacuum. This exercise should be done after about 3 hours after eating. We start from an initial position of standing, straight and with good posture. We exhale all the air contained in our lungs by putting the stomach. Then we make tension in our abdominal muscles and we pay close attention to this tension, that is, we concentrate on this part of our body and the tension we are exerting. We endure without air and with a tight stomach for about 10 or 15 seconds. Once this time has passed, we inhale air slowly while relaxing our muscles. We do three or four repetitions. Something very advisable is to do this exercise several times a day and we will notice the changes in a few weeks.
What You Need
Actually, when doing abdominal exercises, we think that we need a series of instruments or expensive gadgets to be able to carry out this type of exercises in a correct way. But nothing could be further from the truth.
To be able to do a routine of abdominal exercises and not die trying, we only need a mat, or cork carpet. We can find them in the market for very little money and this will help us not to notice the coldness of the soil or the hardness of it.
These mats will offer us three advantages: safety, ecology and comfort. Safety because, being non-slip, they will protect us from blows with the ground that can injure us. They are ecological because they are not harmful to the environment and can be recycled easily and sometimes, they are even previously recycled products. And they are comfortable to do this type of exercises for the abdomen because their surface will protect us and cushion the blows that we may suffer.
Councils
Finally, let’s see some tips for doing inner abdominal exercises:
- The best routine for working the inner abdominal muscles should include static exercises such as those mentioned above: abdominal planks and abdominal vacuum exercises. These exercises should be practiced regularly.
- These exercise routines should be repeated several times throughout the day, so that in a few weeks we see the results.
- But we must bear in mind that no abdominal exercise will help us lose the belly. It is a mistake to think that excess belly will be lost only by doing abdominal exercises. Here I leave you an article about some tips to lose your belly.
- In order to lose it and as a consequence lose our overweight it is necessary to include exercises that burn fat and the most important thing to accompany this type of training is to maintain a healthy diet.