Safe Seated Abdominal Exercises In A Chair

If your your zipper won't zip or your love handles hang over your jeans, then the time has come to work on your abs. Low-impact abdominal exercises that require no jumping, jolting or excessive stress on your joints and muscles can be executed safely from the comfort of a stable chair.

Seated Sit-Ups

You don't have to get down and dirty on the floor when you perform sit-ups. Seated sit-ups not only tone and firm your lower abs, but they spare you discomfort from a hard floor. Charlene Torkelson, exercise expert and author of "Get Fit While You Sit," recommends that beginners start with 10 sit-ups, adding on 10 more at a time as you progress. To perform seated sit-ups, sit on a sturdy, armless chair, feet together and fingers interlaced behind your head. Bend your head and torso toward your knees, and then straighten back up to the start position.

Seated Leg Lifts

Because seated sit-ups only work on the rectus abdominus, the long muscle extending the length of the abdomen, you should also perform seated leg lifts. Seated leg lifts target the transverse abdominus, the corset-like muscle that wraps around your pelvis. Sit on an armless chair with your hands holding the sides and your legs extended straight out in front of you. Slowly lower your legs to 1 or 2 inches off the floor, and hold for five seconds. Lift them back up, and repeat. After 10 repetitions, you should feel your stomach muscles contracting.

Abdominal Twists

Jorge Cruise, fitness guru and author of "8 Minutes in the Morning to a Flat Belly," says that any move that twists or bends your body from side to side enhances, tones and strengthens the obliques, the muscles located along the sides of your midsection. Abdominal twists do just that. As an added bonus, they can be executed anywhere you sit -- at your computer, watching television or reading the newspaper. Sit with your fingers interlaced behind your head. Tighten your tummy, and slowly rotate your torso from left to right. Place a ball between raised feet and you can strengthen your thighs as well.

Captain's Chair

The American Council on Exercise ranked the captain's chair the top exercise for strengthening the obliques and the second best exercise for toning the rectus abdominus. While the conventional captain's chair is usually performed on a piece of gym equipment that bares the same name, you can safely execute this exercise on an armless chair. Sit with your palms on the chair seat, fingers curled around the edges of the seat. Shift your body weight onto your palms and raise your thighs off the seat of the chair, and then slowly lower them. Perform 10 to 12 repetitions.