If you want to be serious about having toned abdominal muscles, it’s going to take a lot more than a few sit-ups. You can start by learning about which ab workouts are effective and which are a waste of time. The main thing that you need to know before starting your ab workout is that you have not 1, but 3, sets of abdominal muscles that all need to be exercised.
These 3 muscle groups are the transverse abdominis, the obliques, and the rectus abdominis. If you neglect any of these 3 muscle groups, your ab toning exercise will not have the full desired effect.
The transverse abdominis wraps around the lower part of your rib cage. It helps protect your internal organs and is the muscle primarily responsible for core strength and stability. The transverse abdominis is the most difficult of the abdominal muscle groups to tone.
Good ab toning exercises for the transverse abdominis are deep breathing exercises or water exercises. The Vacuum, a deep breathing exercise performed by filling your lungs to capacity and exhaling while sucking your stomach in, is effective for targeting this first muscle group. Hold the Vacuum at the point where you feel the muscles tighten for 2 or 3 seconds and then release. Try performing sets of 8 on a daily basis.
It is easy to neglect your obliques when creating your workout plan. However, if the appearance of your abs is important to you, working to tone the obliques is critical. Men’s Health magazine polled women from around the world about what they thought the sexiest muscles on a man were, and the obliques were a top ranked muscle group.
An effective ab toning exercise for the obliques is the Bicycle Twist Crunch—lie on your back, as for a sit-up, with your hands clasped behind your head. Lift your right knee up to your chest and contract your stomach muscles to raise your shoulder blades up off the ground. Twist so your left elbow is pointing at the raised right knee. Then reverse sides (left knee, right elbow). Try for a minimum of 6 repetitions on each side.
The rectus abdominis muscles are the easiest of the abdominal group to tone, and they are the muscles most responsible for that “6-pack” look. Double Vertical Leg Lifts are a good ab toning exercise that will give the rectus abdominis muscles definition.
Lie on your back, and lift your legs until they are at a 90-degree angle from the floor. Cross your ankles and clasp your hands behind your head. Contract your stomach muscles to lift your shoulder blades off the group and your feet toward the ceiling. You will feel the burn in all parts of your abdominal region. If you repeat this ab toning exercise 3 times daily you should start to see results in as little as 2 weeks.
