Subscribe Feed (RSS)Lower abdominal exercises are an important part of any fitness or exercise program, particularly for athletes, because they can help with spinal stability and prevent lower back injuries.
The abdomen has two muscle groups, the rectus abdominus, which runs up and down the abdomen and functions by pulling the front of your pelvise toware your belly button; the other group, the transverse abdominus runs across the abdomen, beneath the rectus abdominus, and works by pulling your belly button inward toward your spine.
Correctly exercising the lower abdominal muscles isn’t easy. It takes a great deal of muscle control and concentration compared to other exercise. Often times, folks attempting to do lower abdominal muscle exercise cheat without even knowing it by using their lower back and hip flexor muscles. Sit-ups are the traditional lower abdominal exercise, but there are a number of exercises that are actually better.
For example, in the plank, you face the floor with your elbows touching the ground and your shoulders positioned above your elbow. You should position your feet as if you were about to do push-ups. To do the exercise, use your abdominal muscles to lift your body off the ground. Once you lift, you should try to hold the position for a few seconds.
Hanging abdominal leg exercises are also popular. In this exercise you hang from a bar and use your abdominal muscles to bring your legs upward. This exercise puts a lot of pressure on the abs, and can be diffciult to do, so it’s not for beginners.
Another great exercise for the lower abs is flattening your back against the floor. To do this, you should lie on the floor with your knees raised and your feet touching the floor. This will create a space beneath your lower back due to the natural curve of your spine. Using your ab muscles, you should try to make your back flat against the floor, and hold position. This type of lower ab exercise is one of the first you should learn before moving on to more complex exercises.
When exercising the lower abdominal muscles, you should feel these muscles working more than other muscles. If you don’t feel them, or feel other muscles working harder, you may not be doing the exercise correctly. When doing lower abdominal muscles, you should avoid back pain. If your back hurts, it means your lower abdominal muscles aren’t strong enough yet to perform the exercise or that you’re not doing them right. Also, you should perform your exercises slow and steady. Jerky abrupt motions aren’t likely to help you much and may even cause you to injure yourself. Doing the exercises slowly and steadily helps you get the most out of each rep.
Lastly, while doing lower abdominal exercises you should remember to breathe. While it may feel natural for you to hold your breath while doing lower ab exercises, it’s actually better for you and more effective to steadily inhale and exhale while exercising these muscles.
