Build powerful abs. How to pump up your abs: abdominal exercises for men at home. Exercises with additional equipment: fitball and roller

It is believed that those with a six-pack belly have put in a lot of effort to achieve their appearance. What if they followed simple rules who helped them build beautiful abs? Just a few effective recommendations and following them will help anyone pump up their abs to the coveted six-pack!

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There are many myths surrounding abdominal training. Perhaps they are the ones to blame for the fact that only a small number of people can achieve the treasured cubes. So that you do not step on these rake, we will list them with a detailed explanation.

Myth 1. Abdominal exercises will remove fat from the waist

Many people think that if body fat are in a certain place (for example, on the stomach), then you need to work on this particular area with exercises. In fact, body fat gradually disappears from your entire body as you burn more calories than you take in.

Why is it so difficult to make your abs show through if you have... overweight? The insidiousness of abdominal fat for men is that fatty tissue is deposited FIRST on the stomach, but disappears LAST!

Fat deposits are nothing more than stored energy. Your task is to force the body to use this stored energy.

Why is training just your abs for weight loss a bad idea? In fact, abdominal exercises are low-cost in terms of calorie burning. For example, 20 sit-ups will burn only 7 calories, while a McDonald's Big Mac contains approximately 570 calories. You shouldn’t even try to count how many of these lifts you need to do to burn this food.

Conclusion: Abdominal exercises alone will not get rid of excess fat.

There are many more high-calorie foods besides fast food that you should avoid if you want to keep your six-pack from being hidden under a layer of fat. Oh no, diet again! In fact, giving up junk food shouldn't be seen as a restriction or a specific diet - it's just a conscious step towards health that you should take and enjoy your choice every day.

Myth 2. To pump up your abs you need a lot of repetitions.

The abdominal muscles are no different from the rest of the muscles in our body and, accordingly, the principles of their training will be approximately the same (see). You don't do 100 biceps curls to get bigger. So why do the abdominal muscles need this? The same number of repetitions that you do for other muscle groups (no more than 15) is also true for the abs.

If the exercise is easy, that is, you can do more than 15-20 repetitions, then you need to perform the exercise in such a way as to complicate it. Otherwise, you will be training the endurance of the abdominal muscles, which is also good, but does not quite meet our goals. In order for the muscles to have a clear outline, be it the abdominal muscles, they need to be given volume, and not made to be durable.

Myth 3. Abdominal muscles need daily exercise

In fact, the abdominal muscles should be loaded no more than 3 times a week. At the very least, you need to give your muscles at least a day of rest. Like most muscles in our body, the abdominal muscles are made up of two types of fibers: fast-twitch and slow-twitch. Of course, first of all, our abdominal muscles are designed for endurance work, which consists in maintaining posture for a long time, for which slow-twitch muscle fibers are responsible. Fast fibers allow you to make sudden efforts. Such muscle fibers can easily (compared to slow-twitch fibers) be increased in volume through training. Abdominal exercises develop exactly this type of fiber (with the right approach, of course).

Myth 4. A few exercises are enough to pump up your abs.

In fact, the more varied the set of exercises you perform, the better and faster the results you can get. This is due to the fact that the abdominal muscles quickly adapt to the load and exercises performed if you do only one program.

Myth 5. By performing only abdominal exercises, ignoring diet, anaerobic exercises and other recommendations, you can achieve good results

In principle, this is possible if you are not overweight, you do not overeat, and your daily physical activity is already high. However, the most effective fight for the treasured “cubes” will be if you hit in all directions. Then the result will not be long in coming.

Where to start on the path to beautiful abs?

You need to start by setting a goal. To achieve something, you need to know where to move. The key here is to be specific: the more specific your goal, the more likely you are to achieve it. It’s not enough to say to yourself: “I want to have a beautiful figure.” This concept is too vague. But if you take a photo of beautiful abs and tell yourself that you want to achieve the same results, it will be closer to the point. For a constant reminder of your goal, you can hang this photo in a prominent place. It will be yours final goal.

At the same time, it is necessary to determine intermediate And short term goal. The following goal could be a short-term goal: “I want to get into a training regime, normalize my diet and other points that will lead me to an intermediate goal.”

For an intermediate goal, you can choose a specific parameter of your body (for example, waist size or weight) that you want to achieve in a strictly allotted time.

Basic abdominal exercises

At the beginning of your training, it is important to pay attention to the correct technique of performing exercises - this is the basis for future muscle growth and progress. You should start with basic exercises for the upper and lower rectus abdominis muscles, as well as the external and internal oblique muscles of the abdomen. The last exercise of the complex is designed to strengthen the internal long back muscles.

Exercise 1 “Raising bent legs in a lying position”

Exercise 2 “Raising the torso to the side from a lying position”

Exercise 3 “Lifting the upper torso from a lying position”

Exercise 4 “Raising opposite legs and arms while lying on your stomach”

Training program

These exercises should be performed in combination, i.e. one after another, allowing a break between them of no more than 5 seconds. Train 3 times a week, paying attention to proper exercise technique.

Warm up before your workout. Warming up warms up your muscles, protecting you from injury and preparing you for further exercise, promotes blood flow to the muscles, nourishing them, and allows you to concentrate on further training;
During exercise, keep your abdominal muscles (namely the abdominal muscles, not others) in constant tension;
Monitor the amplitude, speed of movement and the correctness of your actions. In other words, follow the exercise technique. There is no need to use jerks and rebounds from the floor in order to complete the desired number of repetitions. Quality is more important than quantity!;
Do not rest during repetitions of one set;
Don't forget to breathe. Try not to hold your breath while doing the exercises;
Focus your attention on the muscle being worked. If you are training your lower abdominal muscles, direct all your attention to this area. You should feel how it is being worked out during the exercise. This helps to better understand proper movement technique, isolate the muscles and remove tension from the accessory muscles.

Abdominal muscle training plan at home

If you have completed the basic training program, you can move on to more complex complexes. Before moving on to a new training program, work through each complex separately so that you can easily do the exercises from the video from start to finish, without violating the correct technique.

So, if you have mastered these complexes, you can move on to the training plan. The training plan is simple: on one day we do one complex twice in a row with a break of 2-3 minutes, on another day we also do the second complex, on the third day of training the third complex, and so on in a circle. Exercise 3 times a week or every other day (the main thing is that there is a gap of at least one day between workouts).

Complex No. 1

Complex No. 2

Complex No. 3

Sources:

Brungardt K.“Ideal Press” - Mn.: LLC “Poppuri”, 2003. - 208 p.

Hello!! And it doesn’t matter that you are not involved in bodybuilding. What we will be working on today not only concerns, but is also the subject of everyone’s dreams! And in most cases, it is laziness that becomes an obstacle to achieving the goal.

Let's think: flat - beautiful and sexy for girls, cubes - courageous, athletic for guys. Any guesses what this is about? Right! Today we will learn together how to pump up your abs to six-pack abs in the shortest possible time without going to the gym.

But first of all, you should know that strong, developed abdominal muscles, in addition to beauty, have a significant, positive effect on your body. Due to their anatomical location, the rectus abdominis muscles, which are the abs, hold the internal organs located in their cavity, and also promote straight posture.

By the way, this is why basic strength exercises such as deadlifts are extremely useful for training, both men and any girls. But today we train at home, which means we will manage with virtually no equipment. But who said that it is less effective?

If you are not lazy, approach it thoroughly, comprehensively, and perform the exercises correctly, then I promise: in a week of intensive training you will see obvious progress in the mirror. So let's get started?

Struggling with the stomach

In principle, everyone has more or less sculpted abs, even the most pot-bellied person - such is the structure and shape of the rectus abdominis muscles. But the fact that not everyone has them visible - here you can only blame yourself: not proper nutrition, sedentary lifestyle life and, as a result, subcutaneous fat, which hides all the relief under its thick layer.

Therefore, the first thing you should do to achieve the desired six-pack is to lose your belly. And here we need to make special efforts.

The first is proper nutrition. We exclude fats completely. From carbohydrates, we leave only porridge: buckwheat, rice, bread with bran, and bran in general, and everything is preferably unleavened. But you can and need more proteins: poultry, fish, veal, eggs, etc.

The second is cardio training. No matter how lazy you are, you will have to sweat if you want to effectively deal with excess roundness in the abdominal area. The best thing is morning running. Well, at least ride a bike. Don't want to go outside? Buy an exercise bike or treadmill– and you can do cardio at home. The main thing is to remember: cardio training is the most effective. This means that you can effectively and quickly remove your stomach and “de-fat” other problem areas only with their help. And how many benefits there are from such activities!

I hope you yourself understand that in the fight against stomach and extra pounds You can’t do without diets and cardio. But our business is the stomach. And today we need cubes. Therefore, let's define a set of exercises that we will definitely need to do at least every other day.

We will do most of them at home, some on the horizontal bar. Are you ready?

We train the abs

So, the first, obvious and indispensable exercise for the abs is, naturally, twisting. Moreover, it is better to combine them with lateral rotations of the torso from the very beginning, because abs are in perfect harmony with the oblique abdominal muscles.

Do it with an eye on your physical fitness. I recommend 3 sets of 30 repetitions. If they are easy for you, then use an additional load: a barbell plate or a dumbbell.

A more complex, but also effective version of crunches is from a sitting position. The starting point is the same – lying on the floor. Only this time, bend your legs at the knees and, most likely, you will need to fix them - to do this, move towards an armchair or sofa and tuck your socks under it.

The number of approaches and repetitions is the same. Easy - also use weights.

An excellent exercise for the entire abs is the bicycle. Surely you know it, but many people do it incorrectly. For it to be as effective as possible, firstly, you need to move your feet as well, simulating riding a bicycle, that is, applying pressure on the pedals, and secondly, in parallel with the movement of your legs,

You should use your abdominal muscles to lift the shoulder girdle area. Hands are locked at the back of the head, but at the same time, in the process of execution, you touch your left knee with your right elbow, your right knee with your left, etc.

To focus on your lower abs, you just need to lift your legs higher. If you do this on the floor, then do it this way: lie down with your arms along your body on the floor, raise your straight legs, trying not to bend your knees at all, up to an angle of 90°, maybe less, that is, stronger.

Raised, lowered - that, in fact, is the whole training.

But if you want the exercise to be truly effective, then it is best to perform it on the horizontal bar. The essence is the same, it doesn’t matter whether you rest your hands on the bars or hang on the crossbar - we raise our legs. Ideally, completely straight, the angle is also straight, or we stretch our toes towards the crossbar, if stretching allows, you can still hold at the top point for a couple of seconds. A simpler option is to bend your knees. But then try to lift it higher - so that your knees touch the lower chest.

By the way, it was especially effective to perform such an exercise on the horizontal bar, that is, twisting, alternating raising the knees to the left, straight, right, and so on in a circle. And if your food is rich in proteins, and you are not lazy, then I guarantee that very soon your abs will look like those long-awaited 6 packs and 2 triangles at the bottom.

At home, a wonderful exercise for both the upper and lower abs is folding yourself. Some may know this as a “pocket knife.” In principle, an apt name, because you really have to fold it in half.

Lie down on the floor. At the same time, raise your straight legs and torso, stretching your arms upward. I will say right away that for the unprepared, this is not the easiest exercise, and it will not be possible to perform it exactly, but this does not mean that you can neglect it: the difficulty is that the ideal top point is for your nose to touch your knees. You understand that you don’t have to bend weakly, but it perfectly stretches your back muscles and strengthens your abs. Therefore, for those who are more physically prepared, I recommend holding a dumbbell between your legs.

By the way, about “holding”! Another suitable exercise for strengthening the abs, recommended for every girl, is straight and lateral holds. By the way, not only the abdominal muscles are involved here.

Take the starting position as if you were going to do push-ups. Steel? Only now focus not on your arms, that is, palms, but on your elbows. To begin with, straightening up, try to hold for 45 seconds, and then increase the time.

Lateral holds, I think you yourself have already figured out how they are done. But just in case: lie on your side, focus on one arm, or rather the elbow. Now tense your whole body and straighten up.

Hold in this position for 45 seconds, and then, with progress, increasing.

Best exercise

In principle, these exercises will be quite enough for you to effectively train your abdominal muscles at home. If you do everything correctly, following a diet and doing cardio training to burn fat, then within a week you will feel the result, which, I am sure, will inspire you to even more intense exercise. And if so, then read our article “” to get rid of your belly fat even faster. And you can do abdominal workouts even every day, because these muscles recover very quickly.

Naturally, you don’t need to do all this at once. Choose 2-3 exercises and perform 3 sets of each. Be sure to change your training periodically so that your muscles do not get used to the load.

Finally, I’ll tell you one little secret. American scientists conducted a study and clearly determined that the most effective exercise for the abs that can be done at home is a bicycle, but in exactly the version in which I offered you - with rotations of the shoulder girdle.

A video has been prepared especially for you, containing a set of exercises to achieve ideal abs on your own. Naturally, I could not ignore it and not introduce it to you, dear readers. Read, watch and practice.

The main thing to remember is that in order to get rid of belly fat, you will have to sweat a lot. This means that any manifestation of laziness is excluded here. And if, in parallel with jogging, you actively perform strength exercises, which are crunches, etc., then some of the fat deposits will be converted into those same cubes, making them larger and more expressive.

To hone the correct technique for performing exercises and learn certain tricks that will help you achieve six-pack abs in a fairly short time, I recommend reading for free step by step video heading " Secrets of perfect abs".

Take care of your health, play sports. See you.

Strong abdominal muscles are needed not only to seduce girls on the beach, but also to provide stability to the midsection during deadlifts and squats. Well-developed abdominal muscles create a natural strength belt that protects your spine.

For you to see your beautifully developed abs, the percentage of fat in your body should tend to 10-12%.

Muscles involved in the formation of your torso

Rectus abdominis muscle
Oblique muscles
Intercostal muscles
Intra-abdominal muscles (deep abdominal muscles)

As is often mentioned, this includes the rectus abdominis (upper and lower) and the obliques. But we would still stop at two important points- these are your intercostal muscles, which give the appearance of the side of your torso, and the most important thing that many often forget about are the intra-abdominal muscles (deep abdominal muscles), to work which you need to perform a vacuum exercise in the abdomen. We have already looked at a more detailed anatomy of the abdominal muscles earlier (link below).

How to pump up your abs at home

This exercise pumps up all parts of the abs, including the obliques. Lie on your back. The hands are behind the head (but do not pull the head forward). The upper body is in a twisting state throughout the exercise. Perform 4 sets of as many reps as possible on each set. Rest between sets for 30-60 seconds.

3. Plank

The plank is a simple and effective exercise for training the abdominal muscles: all you need is a flat floor. And you won’t even have to make any movements, since the “plank” is a static exercise. This is its simplicity, but this is also particularly difficult, because the press is almost constantly under tension. To perform the exercise, lie down and rest your elbows on the floor. Forearms pressed firmly to the floor. The feet rest their toes on the floor. The body forms a straight line. Stay in this position for as long as possible.

More exercises and complexes for home abdominal workouts

How to pump up your abs in the gym

We offer 3 of the most effective abdominal exercises that you can perform in the gym.

Raising the torso on an incline bench is one of the main and most effective exercises for training the abdominal muscles. Lie down on a bench and straighten your torso completely. Hold your hands in front of your chest or behind your head. The lower back is pressed against the bench. As you exhale, by tensing your abs, bend your torso and lift. As you inhale, smoothly return to the starting position. Perform 3-4 sets of 15-25 repetitions (use additional weights if necessary).

Crunching with an overhead pulley can be very helpful. Make sure your lower back remains motionless at all times. Only the upper part of the body (and the hands with which you hold the handle of the block) should move. To reduce the stress on your elbows, use a palms-facing grip instead of an overhand grip. Don't use too much weight, otherwise you'll just be yanking on the cable, bending at the pelvis and working the muscles in your arms and upper back. Do the exercise carefully, without pelvic flexion. Only the spine should bend. Perform 3-4 sets of 15-25 repetitions.

In this exercise, the lower abdominal muscles receive maximum load. Lie with your back on an incline bench holding your hands on it top part. Tightening your abs, lift your legs off the floor. As you exhale, lift your legs toward your body, simultaneously lifting your hips and pelvis off the bench. As you inhale, return to the starting position. Perform 3-4 sets of 15-25 repetitions.

More exercises and complexes for abdominal training in the gym

How to pump up your abs on the sports field

To pump up your abdominal muscles on the sports field, we recommend using a horizontal bar and parallel bars.

This exercise is aimed at training the abdominal muscles and hip flexors. Straight leg raises engage the rectus femoris and tensor fascia lata muscles. When lifting legs with bent knees: rectus muscles and, to a lesser extent, external oblique muscles of the abdomen. Using a wide or medium grip, grab the bar of the horizontal bar. As you exhale, raise your legs to form a right angle between them and the body. As you inhale, slowly return to the starting position. Perform 3-4 sets of as many reps as possible on each set.

In this exercise, the emphasis is on the lower abs. Turn your back to the bars and grab the handles. With a sharp movement, pull your knees to your chest and then lower your legs back. At the lowest point, do not lower your legs completely; the abs should be in constant tension. Perform 3-4 sets of as many reps as possible on each set.

More exercises for abdominal training on the sports field

1. If you feel that the exercise is too easy for you and you do more than 25 repetitions in one approach, then you need to use additional weights in the form of a dumbbell or a plate, or use the resistance of a rubber band. Using additional weights in the range of 15-25 repetitions will help pump up your abs more efficiently and quickly.

2. Doing ab exercises right before deadlifts or squats will reduce the midsection stability needed for compound exercises. Hence the rule: it is better not to pump your abs before basic exercises.

3. Do not take long pauses between approaches and exercises - this will reduce the effectiveness of the workout. Rest between approaches should not be longer than 60 seconds (ideally 15-30 seconds), between exercises - no more than 90 seconds.

4. Abdominal muscle training should not be long, persistent and tedious. If you do everything correctly, you can achieve excellent results through short and intense exercise. There is no need to train your abs more than three times a week. We recommend performing 2-3 exercises of 3-4 sets 2 times a week (for example, Monday and Thursday). 10-15 minutes is enough to pump up all the abdominal muscles.

How to get rid of belly fat - the first stage

Most people who set themselves the goal of looking good, and not setting strength records, will first want to get rid of fat deposits around the waist. Everything is simple here - no matter how much twisting you do, you will have to create a calorie deficit. Even an hour of exercise on the floor cannot be compared with simply giving up sugar in tea and coffee and replacing it with some kind of non-calorie sweetener.

Fortunately, you don’t need belly fat diets and other legacies of fitness folklore. To the common man with normal or overweight, who eats haphazardly, that is, does not count calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates, it is enough to start eating rationally. This means counting all these indicators and balancing the diet, as well as creating a small calorie deficit so that the body begins to burn fat to replenish it.

Practice shows that cutting the calorie intake by more than 20% at home makes no sense. If you make a more serious deficit, a person will simply begin to secretly overeat or feel bad, and in the end, he will overeat in order to somehow regain his vigor.

For ordinary person It’s enough to get the number that you get if you multiply his weight by 30 and subtract 300 kcal to get the number with which you need to start losing weight. As you lose weight, this figure is recalculated. It is enough to reduce the weight by 5 kg to bother with recalculation.

Where to get kilocalories from? From a balanced diet. For an ordinary person who is not engaged in physically demanding work, 1.5 g of protein, 1 g of fat, and 3 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight is enough. It is necessary to “eat up” on proteins and fats. Carbohydrates can be reduced to 2 g if you are “not losing weight”, and physical activity is reduced to some home workouts with small dumbbells and walks for half an hour a day.

Rules for losing weight:

You need to eat not only balanced, but also varied. In practice, 3-4 are bought different types cereals, available seasonal vegetables, chicken breast and fish, as well as beef, plus eggs and low-fat dairy products. This is complemented by a bottle of butter, and a small amount of sour cream for sauces. From this set you can prepare most of the dishes popular in our country;
Approximately 10% of calories can be obtained from any food, including what is considered “food waste”, such as sweets or some snacks. Of course, such food retains fluid and will only stop visual progress, but it will help achieve actual progress. It’s simple - if you don’t strictly limit yourself, there won’t be breakdowns either, therefore, you will be able to lose weight faster than with “gluttons” of 2000 kcal every week;
How to keep track of all this? Usually they prepare some kind of side dish from cereals, bake chicken and fish, and stew vegetables with butter. This is the basis of the diet; meals are made up of lunch, lunch and dinner. For breakfast, for a change, cook eggs or eat cottage cheese. Sweets and other things are eaten on the day of heavy training, if there is a relatively large amount, or on any day, including in the calorie content;
All food is weighed and recorded in a diary in the Fat Secret app or any other. A healthy person does not need any special diets or exclusions of food groups. If there is a food allergy, exclude wheat, nightshade or dairy products, but this is rare;
Special diets with a lot of fat and little carbohydrates are needed only for those who already have a low percentage of fat, about 20 for women and 10 for men. In abs terms, this is when the “stripes” of oblique muscles and the outline of the upper abs are visible.

Priority to squirrels

People often talk about preferring proteins, but the point here is not to eat only meat, fish and eggs. The point is to gain 1.5 g of protein per 1 kg of current weight with any diet, no matter whether you eat meat in principle or not. This is necessary for building muscles, normal immunity, and normalizing appetite. Those who eat diets high in carbohydrates may suffer from swings in blood sugar levels and actual hunger pangs.

Make sure that with each meal you get:

Poultry, fish, eggs, or meat;
Cottage cheese or low-fat unfermented cheese;
Dairy products with high protein content;
Legumes, soy, or tempeh if you're vegetarian

If, despite all this, you cannot gain 1.5 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight, it is best to use sports nutrition products. A protein shake will eliminate the need to prepare protein foods, and will help get rid of amino acid deficiency and provide muscles with building material.

Vegetables and fruits

Here you have to be selective. If you are inclined to increased gas formation, you need to leave in your diet something that does not cause digestive problems. For most people, this means asparagus, cucumbers, salad greens, tomatoes, carrots and artichokes.

Colored and regular cabbage, broccoli, beets, mushrooms are wonderful healthy foods, but if your stomach literally swells from them during the period of “showing your abs” and preparing for the beach or photo shoot, it is better to exclude them.

Fruits should be included in the diet selectively. For most people, berries and green apples are ideal, as are kiwis and grapefruits when it comes to losing weight, but there is not much point in eating them if other fruits do not impair digestion and fit into the diet.

Only fruit and vegetable mono-diets are not recommended. Scientific nutritionists insist that they worsen health and negatively affect overall muscle mass and body condition. They should be included only for those who have kidney problems, and only for the period prescribed by doctors. To lose weight, and even more so to make your abs sculpted, it is better not to use such diets. Moreover, the story about the benefits of a protein-free diet has more in common with marketing than with the real benefits of the products.

Drinking regime

Typically, 30 to 40 ml of water per 1 kg of body weight is recommended. The amount of fluid actually depends on the region of residence and climate, physical characteristics and kidney function. The modern trend of “pouring” the notorious 8 glasses of water into oneself has very little in common with health. The liquid that comes with soups, vegetables and fruits is still absorbed by the body, although radical health sources believe otherwise. Many people recommend either drinking only water, or eliminating tea and coffee completely, and drinking only herbal teas and water. There is also an opinion that every cup of tea or coffee should be accompanied by a couple of glasses of water, because tea and coffee are diuretics. In fact, tea and coffee are unlikely to cause dehydration if a person drinks more than just them, so you should be careful when taking such advice. Excess water can cause swelling and will not only delay the appearance of the notorious abs, but can also contribute to heart overload.

Sample menu

Compose sample menu easy enough for yourself:

Breakfast should consist of some source of protein, such as eggs or cottage cheese, and also contain 200-300 g of vegetables or fruits as fiber for digestion. You can also include carbohydrates in this meal - porridge, bread, or legumes, if they are tolerated normally, will do;
Lunch – lean meat or fish plus vegetable salad, plus a side dish of cereals and vegetables;
Dinner – lean meat or cottage cheese plus vegetables;
Snacks if needed - fruit and dairy products, or some nuts

Do you need five meals a day to lose weight? Yes, if a person is otherwise uncomfortable with calorie and macronutrient restrictions, then he will have to eat fractionally. If it is not comfortable, there is no particular need for it. Modern science disproved the myth that it is necessary to eat little and often to speed up metabolism. Our calorie consumption does not depend on the frequency of “approaches to the table.” The thickness of the fat layer on the abdomen does not depend on this. It turns out that if eating fractionally is not comfortable, there is no reason to do so.

Cardio or aerobic training

Many people cannot lose weight not because they somehow eat incorrectly or do not exercise their abs actively enough. Calorie intake standards are calculated for people who move at least half an hour during the day, walk or perform active activities. physical work. Everyone else can add cardio or aerobic work into their schedule to lose excess fat.

Additionally, aerobic exercise reduces stress levels and helps you get rid of the cortisol belly that accompanies many stressful activities.

Aerobic training includes:

Club group programs - step, dancing, various interval training;
All types of video classes - Zumba, Tai Bo and other lessons available on free video hosting sites;
Running and walking;
Cardio exercises;
Swimming

The norm for such activity for any person is half an hour a day. If you need to lose weight faster and have the opportunity and physical capabilities, you can do more cardio, devoting up to an hour a day to it.

Is aerobics necessary to have ripped abs? No. For many, strength training and regular walks are enough to keep them active. Aerobic exercise is more of an element healthy image life, a way to cope with stress.

Abdominal exercises - stage two

It’s quite easy to pump up your abdominal muscles. People simply forget that this is an ordinary muscle and come up with some non-existent rules. They say that you must pump your abs every approach to failure and wild pain, burning, almost to the point of stopping breathing and a slight coma.

In fact, doing 2-3 working sets with a resistance that makes completing the final two reps challenging will be enough to pump up your abs.

Do I need to do a lot of exercise? It's hard for people to realize, but one exercise is enough - for men, for women, for six packs, for whatever. What kind of exercise is this? One or another variation of a direct twist or a reverse twist, for example, on the floor with weights or a hanging leg raise. This only works when the muscle receives enough stress to hypertrophy, that is, when a person performs an exercise for 10-12 repetitions and cannot perform more.

Most people prefer to spend time on some kind of abdominal exercises simply due to the lack of dumbbells and barbells at home, and poor physical fitness, which does not allow them to work on the horizontal bar.

Are the complexes effective? They definitely won’t make you any worse, but they can be safely replaced with a complex for all muscle groups and one correctly performed abdominal exercise. Doing a bunch of planks, leg lifts and body lifts can be done by those who don’t train their body much with weights, or who only do callisthenics.

For home training you need the following conditions:

A well-ventilated room, but without drafts;
Yoga mat or rubber mat on the floor;
Correctly chosen time - no need to pump the press on a full stomach, and just before bedtime;
Ideally, before training your abs, you should do strength exercises for the whole body, or at least do cardio

It is clear that the information in the sources is contradictory. But it’s difficult to find more useless advice than working out your abs every day for the sake of six-pack. Daily abdominal training leads to an increase in muscle endurance, not their strength and volume. Endurance muscles are rarely voluminous. Therefore, “download every day” can be safely left in the past, along with shaping and advice about “not eating after six.”

You need to train like this:

Always do a warm-up;
Never perform exercises on a bed or other soft surface;
Avoid clothing that restricts movement;
Concentrate on movements;
Add weights or make the exercise more difficult once your body gets used to it

This movement allows you to work your abs as a stabilizer and loads the transverse abdominal muscle. You need to stand on your forearms and toes, straighten your body, pull your stomach inward so that it is pulled in, and stabilize your body by breathing deeply and slowly.

The plank is performed for a while. The peculiarity of this movement is that you do not need to push your stomach forward or “sag” your lower back. The plank should become part of your morning routine, some sources say. Or part of every ab workout. In fact, this is not necessary. Professional fitness trainer Alwyn Cosgrove recommends in his book to stand in a plank only at the beginning of strength training for all muscle groups. In addition, he advises making the plank more difficult by standing with your forearms on your bare feet or raising your legs up, as soon as adaptation to the exercise has become significant.

The second exercise for the transverse abdominal muscle is the “vacuum”. It has nothing to do with abs per se, but it is the only exercise that is done every day. You need to stand straight, lean forward, rest your hands on your hips, push out all the air from your lungs and, under the influence of a vacuum, the anterior abdominal wall will be drawn inward. Stay in this position for 8-12 counts, and then repeat the exercise 2-3 times.

Anatomically, the rectus abdominis muscle is one muscle, but leg raises allow you to use it to a greater extent closer to the lower abdomen.

The following exercises are used:

Reverse crunches- most effective way pump up your abs in 5 minutes a day. The technique is to lie on the floor on your back, stretch your arms along your torso and raise your straight legs up until they make an angle of 90 degrees with your torso. Next, you need to use your abdominal muscles to lift your pelvis and straight legs, so that your legs pull behind your head. Having reached the highest point of your capabilities, return to the starting position. Do the exercise at a slow pace, and maintain it in the negative phase. This is the most effective way to pump up your abs in 5 minutes.
Leg Raise– This exercise is useful in the initial stage of training. You just need to lie on the floor and slowly raise your legs until they are perpendicular to your body. Then lower it just as slowly, but not all the way. After 10 centimeters remain between the legs and the floor, start a new repetition. To increase the load in this exercise, you can lift your legs while hanging on the bar. According to professionals, this exercise will help quickly pump up the six-pack on a girl’s stomach.
Bike. Take a horizontal position and place your hands behind your head. Starting the exercise, stretch your right knee to your left elbow, and vice versa. The unused leg should be straight and flat on the floor.
Scissors. Starting position, as in previous exercises. Start the exercise by raising your legs to a level of 40 degrees from the floor, and then alternately swing your right and left legs up and down. You cannot lower your feet to the floor until the end of the exercise.
V-shaped crunches. At the beginning of the exercise, take a horizontal position. Then perform a simultaneous lifting of straight legs and outstretched arms until they touch. This is a very hard exercise, but it is ideal for getting six-pack abs.
Burpees. Squat down so that your knees touch your chest and place your hands on the floor. The exercise consists of sharply pushing off with your legs and straightening them back, and then also sharply returning to the starting position.
Climber. Take a lying position and begin to alternately pull up and remove your left leg towards your left hand, and your right leg towards your right.

These same exercises can be performed with weights in the form of ankle weights. But it would be more anatomically correct to master the horizontal bar after you have acquired the skill of lifting your legs while lying down.

Everything here is simple and complex at the same time. The straight crunch is the simplest abdominal exercise; it involves bringing the lower ribs toward the pelvic bones from a lying position. But a person adapts to it quickly enough, so you have to do it with weights. This is where the errors start:

People take a weight and press it to their chest, thereby reducing the amplitude of the twist, rather than making the work more difficult;
“Technical complications” begin, such as fixing the feet on a bed or sofa, and hanging them down in a position of hyperextension of the spine, which provokes injuries.

Many people try to make it more difficult to pump up their abs by doing exercises from the inverted letter L pose without supporting the lower back on the floor, which is also fraught with injury. In the best case, with independent exercises here, a person will pump the muscles of the neck and hips, in the worst case, they will cause harm to the lower back. Therefore, it is better to leave this option to those who can only strain their abs and not their hips in this static position.

To pump the oblique muscles separately or not to pump them is everyone’s business. For many, bending to the sides widens their waist. Others already have overloaded obliques from barbell squats.

Nevertheless, the exercises for them are as follows:

Tilts to the sides;
Shoulder to hip crunches;
“Bicycles”, that is, simultaneous bringing of the hips and shoulders to an imaginary line perpendicular to the waist

A set of exercises for the press

The abs are pumped at the end of the workout, exercises without weight are repeated for a minute. The movements are performed one after another, doing 2-3 circles

Straight twist;
Leg raises;
"Rockets" standing;
Oblique twists;
Rock climbers;
Forearm plank

Beautiful abs in 8 minutes a day

The simplest thing you can do for your abs in 8 minutes a day is 2 rounds of the Tabata system. For 4 minutes, alternate 20 seconds of doing the exercise with 10 seconds of rest, choose any two abdominal exercises.

Developing your abdominal muscles is not as difficult a task as many beginners think. However, in order to pump up sculpted abdominal muscles, it is not enough just to perform the most effective abdominal exercises. Fitseven has already spoken in more detail about how. Successful abdominal muscle training involves the ability to keep your abs in conscious tension while performing exercises.

Since the abdominal muscles are closely connected not only with the muscles of the core, but also with the muscles of the back, if the exercises are performed incorrectly, a load is created on the lower back, which provokes the development of chronic pain. Before moving on to “advanced” exercises, it is important to learn how to pump the abs correctly using a set of exercises for beginners presented below.

Abs: workout for beginners

It must be remembered that the goal of the home set of abdominal exercises presented below is, first of all, to develop correct technique for beginners, and not at all setting records for the number of repetitions. More effective will be not a hundred fast ones, performed “somehow” and with poor technique, but ten technical ones, performed with a full feeling of involving the abdominal muscles in the work.

It is also recommended to include it in your workout - it is useful not only for strengthening the internal abdominal muscles, but also for reducing waist circumference. Ultimately, the development of the abdominal muscles should be based on both hypertrophy training and static exercises (for example, planks).

Exercises to burn belly fat

Let us remind you once again that you will only be able to see six-pack abs and a flat stomach after you achieve overall thinness through diet and special exercises. It is important to understand that abdominal exercises help to improve the shape of the abdominal muscles, and not at all to get rid of the existing fat layer.

Not a single abdominal exercise, even the most complex and performed in the most advanced simulator, can lead to fat burning. To get rid of a kilogram of fat, you will need to perform 500,000 abdominal crunches in a row - and belly fat will be burned last due to the characteristics of metabolism and genetics.

Press pumping scheme

When performing the abdominal training complex proposed below, you must constantly remember that the point of any exercise is to involve the abdominal muscles in the work - for example,. When doing crunches, you should feel your abdominal muscles, not your back, legs, or any other part of your body. Only in this case will you be able to achieve six-pack abs.

For training various types muscle fibers abdominal muscles, the program includes both dynamic exercises with movement and repetitions, and stationary ones, in which you need to stay in a certain position for a few seconds, creating a static load on the core muscles (various variations of the “Plank” exercise).

A set of abdominal exercises

Abs exercise	Exercise type	Recommendations for implementation
	Static // Oblique muscles of the press and core	20-30 seconds on the left and 20-30 seconds on the right side of the body. A total of 2-3 approaches.
	Dynamic // Obliques	10-15 repetitions on the left side of the body, then a 30 second break and 10-15 repetitions on right side bodies. A total of 2-3 approaches on each side.
		5-7 repetitions on each side of the body with a delay of 5-10 seconds at the top. A total of 2-3 approaches on each side.
4. Plank (elbow stand)	Static // Rectus abdominal muscles and core	Hold the plank position for 20-40 seconds, then take a 30-second break. A total of 2-3 approaches.
5. Exercise “Scissors”	Dynamic // Rectus and oblique abdominal muscles	10-12 slow repetitions, then a 30 second break. A total of 2-3 approaches.
	Dynamic + static // Obliques	7-10 repetitions on each side of the body with a delay of 5-10 seconds at the final point. A total of 1-2 approaches on each side.
	Dynamic + static // Rectus abdominis	10-20 seconds at the top of the exercise, then rest for 20-30 seconds. Just 3-4 approaches.
	Dynamic // Rectus abdominis, lower abs	3 sets of 10-12 reps
	Dynamic // Rectus abdominis	3 sets of 7-12 reps
10. Stretch your arms forward	Static // Core muscles	10-20 seconds with each arm extension, a total of 3-4 sets on each side of the body.

Home set of abdominal exercises

Leaning on your elbow, keep your body extended in a straight line from your head to your toes, consciously keeping your abdominal muscles tense. During the exercise, maintain a normal breathing rhythm and make sure that your pelvis does not drop too low.

Lying on your back, left leg on the floor, right leg on the left knee. As you exhale, tensing your lateral abdominal muscles, slightly lift left shoulder from the floor, pointing your elbow towards your right knee. Hold right shoulder pressed firmly to the floor and make sure that the neck muscles are not tense.

Using the strength of your lateral abdominal muscles, lift your body up, as if trying to reach your elbows to the tips of your toes, but do not push your right elbow off the floor and make sure that there is no excessive arching of your neck. At the top point of the exercise, hold for 5-10 seconds.

4. Plank (elbow stand)

Keep your body as straight as possible, keeping your abdominal muscles slightly tense and looking down to maintain the natural position of your spine. It is important not to raise your buttocks too high - to do this you need to slightly “twist” your pelvis inward.

5. Exercise “Scissors”

Lying on your back, arms crossed and located under the buttocks. Using the strength of your abdominal muscles, lift your outstretched legs, then begin to make alternating movements with them. Move your legs slowly and with the feeling that their weight is on your abs. Maintain a normal breathing rhythm.

Slowly move your clasped hands to the left, while pulling your right leg towards you. Hold at the extreme point for 5-10 seconds, feeling the tension in your abdominal muscles, then return to the center, lower your legs to the floor, rest for 10-15 seconds and perform for the other side.

Lying on your back, extend your arms forward and lift your legs slightly. As you exhale, use your abdominal muscles to lift your torso off the floor and stretch your fingertips toward your feet. Hold at the top of the exercise for 10-20 seconds, tensing your abs, then take a break for 20-30 seconds.

As you exit, squeezing your abdominal muscles, point your knees toward your chest, trying to slightly lift your lower back off the floor. As you inhale, slowly lower your legs down, but do not place them on the floor. Maintain conscious tension in your abdominal muscles for 10-20 seconds, then repeat the exercise.

This exercise is performed almost last so that the tired lateral abdominal muscles allow the rectus abdominis muscles to be fully involved in the work. Twist as you exhale, as slowly as possible, while looking forward and up.

Get on your knees, supporting yourself on your hands. As you exhale, tighten your abs and pull your stomach in as far as possible, then pull it out right hand forward and the left leg back. Hold the position for 10-20 seconds, without lowering your leg and constantly reaching forward with your arm. Switch sides.

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The first rule in training the abdominal muscles is a low percentage of subcutaneous fat, achieved through fat-burning training and diet. The second rule is the conscious involvement of the abdominal and core muscles in the work, which requires performing both static and dynamic exercises. The third rule is a slow rhythm of doing exercises and control over their technique.