If you’re heavy around the middle, working your abdominal muscles — or abs — will whittle you down, right? Wrong. What you’ve got there is fat. Even with strong abdominal muscles underneath, you can’t achieve a flat front unless you lose the fat.
To do that, you need to burn more calories than you eat. Abdominal muscles are not large muscles, so working them isn’t going to burn many calories. Walking and jogging are better calorie-burning activities.
The muscles in your abdomen, pelvis, lower back and hips are part of what is known as the core — the area of the body where your center of gravity is located. Developing a strong solid core gives you increased balance, stability and controlled movement that will help you improve performance. You use core muscles when you reach up to get a glass off the top shelf, bend down to tie your shoes, or swing a golf club. Strong core muscles also improve posture and protect you against back injuries.
What are the best abdominal exercises? For the beginner, nothing seems to beat the simple crunch.
The simple crunch
- Lie with your back on a padded floor.
- Prop your feet against the wall or on a chair at a 90-degree angle to help you keep a neutral spine position in which your back is not too arched or too flat. As your abs get stronger, try putting your feet flat on the floor with your knees bent.
- Cross your arms over your chest or hold them straight up.
- Cough to engage your ab muscles.
- Using these muscles, lift your upper body off the floor, raising yourself about 6 to 12 inches. Exhale as you go up. This will help maintain a space between your chin and chest.
- Hold this position briefly.
- Slowly lower yourself while inhaling. But don’t relax all the way down — keep your shoulders slightly off the floor.
- Repeat until your ab muscles are fatigued. Stop immediately if you experience pain in your lower back.
- Do this every other day, as you would any strengthening exercise.
As your abs strengthen, add more challenging exercises. You can increase resistance by holding a dumbbell across your chest. And, while most ab machines don’t offer benefits over the crunch, using a fitness ball can increase the challenge by putting you on an unstable surface.
Update: 2004
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