Abdominal exercises strengthen the main muscles of your stomach and the muscles at the sides of your waist. These muscles provide stability when performing many tasks, including exercises such as squatting and deadlifting. Your abdominal muscles also help maintain proper posture during daily activities. Abdominal exercises, along with cardio and a healthy diet, will help slim your midsection and tone your stomach. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any strength-training program.
Rectus Abdominis
The main muscle of your abdominals, the rectus abdominis, runs from the bottom of your ribcage to your pelvis. When this muscle contracts, it pulls your ribcage toward your pelvis. When it contracts in an isometric manner, where no movement takes place, it keeps you from collapsing forward, such as under the weight of a heavy squat. Your rectus abdominus is composed of the same type of fibers as other muscles; there is no reason to train it with a lot of repetitions. However, by training your abdominals using added weight, results will follow.
Obliques
Your obliques are located at the bottom of your ribcage and connect to your pelvic bones. Your ribs and pelvic crests are located at your sides. These muscles provide power when you rotate your torso, such as swinging a bat. These muscles also contract isometrically to keep you from leaning to one side or the other, such as when you press a heavy weight overhead. Like your rectus abdominis, your obliques need to be trained hard to see results.
Working Your Rectus Abominus
Any movement such as situps or crunches, where you bring your ribcage and pelvis closer together, works your rectus abominus. To perform a basic crunch to train your abdominals, lie flat on your back and bring your knees in until your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Cross your legs at the ankle with your knees bent. Cross your arms on your chest and curl yourself up by contracting your rectus abdominus. Touch your elbows to your knees. As you get stronger, hold a weight on your chest to work your abdominal muscles harder.
Working Your Obliques
To work your obliques, hold a dumbbell in one hand and put your other hand behind your head. Keep your back arched and avoid leaning forward. Lean as far as you can to the side with the dumbbell. Straighten up by contracting your oblique on the opposite side of the dumbbell and pull yourself over as far as you can. Repeat for 10 to 15 repetitions, then switch sides.
Other Abdominal Muscles
Other abdominal muscles such as the transversus abdominis muscle lie underneath the main muscles of your abdominals. This muscle contracts inwardly to tighten and maintain intra-abdominal pressure, which is the ability of your core to maintain stability. Targeting this muscle, which contracts through breath control, involves mostly isometric breathing exercises. However, to properly maintain a contraction in your transversus, you must hold your breath, which is not advised while exercising.
References
- "Strength Training Anatomy"; Frederic Delavier; 2010
- "Physiology of Sport and Exercise, Fourth Edition"; Dr. Jack H. Wilmore, et al.; 2007
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