Anatomy of six pack abs

 Anatomy of six pack abs

 

The most asked about muscle group without a doubt, has to be the abdominals. This is next to the glutes of course. Everyone is looking for that nice flat stomach, or the washboard six pack abs. This muscle group also takes the most work.

Without the right nutrition plan, you can do all of the crunches in the world & it won’t make a difference. Your abs are covered by a layer of body fat. If there’s too much body fat, you won’t see the results of your efforts underneath.

Genetics comes into play too. Some people were born with fitness model bodies. Some people have to work a little bit harder. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen at all, it just means that it will take a hell of a lot more work than the genetically gifted.

So, with nutrition & genetics aside, how do you get the coveted six pack? It all starts with anatomy & working from the inside out.

Most people want to worker their “lower abs”. What they really want to work is their deep internal muscles that support the body. The Transverse Abdominis. The core.

The best way to start working your core is using the “drawing-in maneuver”. It’s as simple as pulling the navel in toward the spine. You want to focus on the region just below the navel pulling in as well.

You should do this all day long. In your computer chair at work, while you’re out & about running errands & most definitely during every single exercise. This maneuver activates your core, not only making it stronger, but stabilizing your body helping to prevent injury to your spine.

If your abs are strong from the inside, the outer muscles, the Rectus Abdominis, will work more efficiently. Then you’ll be on your way to a kick butt set of abs that you’ll want to show off.

Ab Exercise - Double Crunch

I like the double crunch because if performed correctly, you can isolate the lower and upper region of the abdominals. Please note, contrary to popular belief, we do not have separate upper and lower abs.

Starting Position

Lie on the floor face up.

Bend your knees until your legs are at a 45-degree angle with both feet on the floor.

Your back should be comfortably relaxed on the floor.

Place both hands behind your head.

Movement:

Contracting your abdominals, raise your head and legs off the floor toward one another.

Slowly return to the starting position stopping just short of your shoulders and feet touching the floor.

Key Points:

Exhale while raising up.

Inhale while returning to the starting position.

Ab Exercise - Reverse Ab Curl

This exercise isolates the lower region of the abs. Don’t worry if you can’t perform a lot of them. Just keep practicing.

Starting Position

• Lie on the floor with your back relaxed and your hands on the floor by your hips.
• Keep the upper back pressed into the floor throughout the exercise.

  Movement
  

• Contracting your abs, raise your butt and gently roll your hips off the floor stopping when you feel a full contraction of the abdominals and can no longer lift your hips.
• Slowly return to the starting position.

  Key Points
  

• Exhale while lifting your hips.
• Inhale while returning to the starting position.
• Keep your eyes on the ceiling to avoid pulling with your neck.
• Your hands should not be used to lift the head or assist in the movement.

Ab Exercises - Vertical Scissors

Starting Position

Sit on a chair or bench with your legs extended in front of you.
Your hands should be under your glutes for balance.

Movement

1. Contracting your abdominals, lift your right leg as you lower your left leg.

2. Reverse the positions of your legs by lowering your right leg and raising your left leg, mimicking a scissor.

Key Points

Breathe rhythmically throughout the exercise.

Squeeze your glutes and hip muscles as you switch legs, but make sure to focus on contracting your abs (this is not a leg exercise).

BONUS: Abdominal Vacuum

This exercise is based on time and not reps. The Transverus Abdominis muscle is muscle that holds your abs tight and flat. It’s a thin sheet of muscle running along the sides of the abs and joins connective tissue behind it and is your body’s natural corset. When you suck your stomach in, you have just used your Transversus. This is the only muscle that can help pull the stomach inward.

Position yourself on the floor on all fours. Keep your back flat and maintain this position throughout the exercise.

Start by exhaling absolutely every bit of air from your lungs. Then, relax your abdomen and let it hang like a loose sling, but don't increase the arch in your lower back. Next, pull the navel in as if I just told you to suck in your stomach as tight as possible. Continue to breathe lightly through your nostrils, but make sure you’re pulling your navel in as tight as you can. Hold the contraction for 40 seconds but make sure it’s very tight. In time, you’ll notice the abdominal area pulled in and looking flatter. This exercise provides benefit with no repetitious movement.

Immediately return to the first exercise and repeat the program until 12 minutes is up.

For Tight Abs, It's Quality That Counts

Having trouble developing your abs? To develop tight abs, focus on isolating them fully by using a very short range of motion, but very high intensity, during your abdominal exercises.

With ab training, most people have the tendency to unintentionally use other muscles, most notably the hip flexors, to aid in completing the exercises. This takes a great deal of stress off of the abdominal muscles themselves, which, of course, defeats the purpose of ab training.

Three main reasons why most people fail to sufficiently isolate their abs and train them properly:

1. They simply don't recognize that the correct way to train abs is by squeezing them together very hard in an accordion-type manner rather than by bending excessively at the waist (which is a "waste" of time, forgive the pun).

2. They take the easy way out. It's a lot more difficult to actually contract the abdominal muscles together hard than it is to bounce up and down like a jack-hammer.

3. They are more concerned with how many reps they do than with how intense each rep is. You see it all the time--people in the gym doing sets of 50, 100, even 200 or more crunches.

Total nonsense. If you're really working your abs intensely, a set of 12-15 reps should leave your midsection burning.

Working your abs within a fairly limited range of motion helps combat all of these detrimental tendencies.

When you do Crunches or Reverse Crunches, for instance, you want to focus intently on contracting the abs and really squeezing them together hard, but your body should only actually move about 4-6 inches.

And once you Crunch up hard, don't simply release on the way back down—make the negative portion of the movement work for you as well by maintaining tension in your abs throughout the full range. Give it a try and firm up that midsection intelligently.