Strengthen your core and tone your abdominal muscles with these effective at-home exercises. Incorporate these workouts into your routine for a stronger and healthier body.Abdominal training is not only a path to the coveted “six-pack”, but also an important component in the process of maintaining overall health and well-being. Together with personal trainer Irina Bolotova, we tell you how to strengthen your abdominal muscles at home.
Essentially, the abdominal muscles, commonly referred to as the abs, are the external and internal obliques, the rectus abdominis, and the transverse abdominis. There are many reasons to strengthen your abs: let’s focus on the main points.
- A strong core helps to maintain good posture and keep the spine in the correct position, which is especially important if you lead a sedentary lifestyle.
- The abdominal muscles create a natural corset that protects internal organs from injury and supports them in the correct position.
- The abdominal muscles are involved in the digestion process, helping to move food through the gastrointestinal tract.
- Regular abdominal exercises speed up your metabolism, which helps in weight control.
- The abdominal muscles are involved in stabilizing all body movements, and therefore, thanks to the exercise, overall coordination improves.
” If we are talking about women, then they have almost the most important abdominal muscle – the transverse, which controls intra-abdominal pressure. With its proper tone, there will be no problems with a protruding belly, no pain in the lower back. A weak transverse muscle can lead to more serious diseases, such as hemorrhoids, urine leakage and even prolapse of the pelvic organs “
Abdominal exercises at home
It is quite easy to pump up your abs at home. For most basic exercises, a mat is enough and there is no need to spend money on additional equipment. The technique of execution is also clear and accessible: the main thing is to strain your stomach and not compensate for the load at the expense of the lumbar region.
Classic exercises
- Crunches – lie on your back, bend your knees, press your feet to the floor, put your hands behind your head. As you inhale, lift your shoulders and shoulder blades off the floor. Tighten your abdominal muscles. Hold at the top for a few seconds. As you exhale, return to the starting position.
- – lie on your back, arms extended along the body. As you inhale, smoothly and very slowly lift your straight legs up. As you exhale, lower them. Keep your lower back pressed to the floor. The abdominal muscles should remain tense.
- Side plank – lie on your side, lean on your forearm, stretch your legs straight out, place your feet one on top of the other, lift your hips up, keep your body in a straight line from head to heels, look forward. Hold this position for 30-60 seconds. Repeat on the other side
- Side bends (with and without weights) – stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, hold a dumbbell in one hand, place the other on your waist, fix your hips, tuck your tailbone inward, hold your lower back. Slowly bend to the side, tensing your abs and keeping your hips in place. Return to the starting position. Do a few bends. Repeat the exercise on the other side.
- Scissors – lie on your back, stretch your arms along your body, lift your legs off the floor to a height of 20-25 cm, lift one leg even higher and at the same time slightly lower the other, change legs. During the exercise, the lower back should be pressed to the floor.
Exercises using your own weight
- “Slide” : lie on your stomach, get into a plank position, rest on your palms. Push and lift your pelvis up by tensing your abdominal muscles. Return to the starting position. Keep your lumbar region under control – the bend should be very small.
- “Dead Bug” : Lie on your back, raise your arms and legs up perpendicular to the ceiling, bend your knees slightly, press your lower back to the floor, tighten your stomach. Slowly lower your right hand behind your head and simultaneously straighten and lower your left leg. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement with your left arm and right leg.
- “Little Book” : sit on the edge of a chair, stretch your legs forward, bend your knees slightly, rest your palms on the chair, placing them near your hips. Raise your legs off the floor: note that you should sit on your buttocks, not your tailbone. As you exhale, pull your legs toward you, bending them at the knees. As you inhale, return to the starting position. Do several repetitions.
- “Mountain Climber” is an exercise that strengthens not only the abs, but also the buttocks and thighs. Take a support position lying on the floor: lean on your palms and toes (arms and legs shoulder-width apart). Tighten your abs. Alternately pull one leg to your chest, bending it at the knee, then return it back and do the same with the other leg.
- Oblique crunches : Lie on your back, bend your knees, press your feet to the floor, and place your hands behind your head. As you inhale, lift your shoulders and shoulder blades off the floor. Gently turn your body to the side, trying to touch your elbow to the opposite knee. As you exhale, return to the starting position. Do the same on the other side.
Exercises for women: what are the specifics
Abdominal exercises for women are essentially no different from those for men. They are universal. The question is different: men and women have different figures, and based on this, you need to pay attention to which muscles should be pumped up in order to acquire beautiful, toned shapes. For example, girls who have a naturally wide waist should not do oblique crunches. By engaging the oblique abdominal muscles in the work, they will only increase the waist. In addition, you need to be careful when training during critical days, when heavy loads are not recommended.
How to quickly pump up your abs
“How to quickly pump up your abs?” is one of the most popular questions people come to the gym with. However, trainer Irina Bolotova does not recommend asking the question this way.
” It is important to look not in the direction of quickly pumping up the press, but in the direction of harmonious development of your own physique. But often girls in an attempt to lose weight and remove volume in the waist begin to train intensively, vigorously pumping up the press, for example, doing oblique crunches every day, and do not get the desired result. And all because not a single muscle is capable of increasing in a short time. In addition, if we do not change our diet, we, on the contrary, will increase volumes “
Fitness Trainer Commentary
Super asked trainer Irina Bolotova to answer the questions she encounters most often when the conversation turns to how to pump up the abs.
How often should you train your abs?
Doing abdominal exercises every day is not recommended because it can cause hypertonicity of the abdominal muscles and lead to problems with the diaphragm. Plus, the body needs time to recover after exercise. On average, it is 36-72 hours, depending on the intensity of the workout. I recommend doing abdominal exercises 2-3 times a week. But in general, when you work on other parts of the body (for example, doing squats or back exercises), the transverse abdominal muscles are still included in the process. And that means they are being strengthened.
Who shouldn’t do abdominal exercises?
In any case, it is worth consulting a doctor. If you have hernias or protrusions, then some forms of physical activity are contraindicated for you, for example, you need to be careful with any kind of twisting. And I would also single out women who were diagnosed with diastasis after childbirth: they really need to be careful with some abdominal exercises. They should never strain, that is, increase intra-abdominal pressure in the abdomen. After such training, there will definitely be the opposite effect, and in the future, serious problems may arise, such as prolapse of the pelvic organs.
Why, despite regular exercise, does my belly still not go away?
If you think that you can remove your belly only through abdominal exercises, then you are deeply mistaken. To reduce the volume in the waist area, you must first adjust your diet. And then pay attention to the correct functioning of the diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles. It happens that a protruding belly is associated not with weak abdominal muscles, but with problems with the diaphragm.