The abdominal muscles are the powerhouse of the body. Known anatomically as the rectus abdominis, these muscles generate strength in sports and they are involved with multiple bodily movements throughout the day. For building strength in the abdominals, various types of exercise equipment can be used--either at home or at the gym.
BOSU
A BOSU is a half moon-shaped training tool that has an inflated dome side and hard plastic flat side. Exercises on the dome side include crunches, sit-ups, bicycle crunches and dead bugs. To do dead bugs, lie on your back with your legs lifted, knees bent 90 degrees and shins parallel to the floor. Extend your arms straight above your chest and hold until you are fatigued. The flat side can be used to do a fast motion exercise called mountain climbers. Place your hands on the edges of the BOSU, then quickly shift your foot position on the floor as if you were running in place horizontally.
Wheel
An ab wheel is a small rubber wheel that has a handles sticking out of the sides. Exercises are performed by grabbing the handles, then pushing the wheel forward and back on the floor from a standing or kneeling position. For a variation, place your feet on the handles and extend your legs behind your body with your hands on the floor. Because the wheel is small and versatile, maneuver it in various directions when training to get the most out of each exercise.
Slant Board
A slant board is a popular gym tool that is used for multiple inclined and declined ab exercises. It has a flat, padded board with padded upper supports that you can grab onto or hook your lower legs under. Decline crunches and sit-ups are performed with your lower legs hooked under the supports, and reverse decline crunches are performed with your head near the top and your hands grasping the padded support above you.
Cables and Bands
Cable machines and resistance bands are used in similar fashion to work the abs. Exercises like side chops, high to low chops, low to high chops and crunches can be done with each piece of equipment. To do chops on a cable machine, fasten a single handle to one weight stack, hold it with both hands and move it in a fast motion to the opposite side of your body. Resistance band chops are done the same way, except you need to hold both handles of the bands with your hands overlapping and fasten the center of the band to a door or post.
Weights
Ankle weights, dumbbells and medicine balls are types of free weights used for additional resistance with abdominal exercises. Ankle weights, for example, can be worn when doing leg lifts and bicycle crunches. Dumbbells are held above the chest with decline push crunches on a slant board or for regular crunches on the floor. Medicine balls are used in multi-planar exercises like Russian twists, diagonal chops and pullover crunches. To do pullover crunches, get into the starting crunch position on the floor with the ball held straight behind your head. As you move your body up, lift the ball over your head and above your knees.
Member Comments