Muscles require regular use in order to maintain strength and functionality. The abdominal muscles coordinate with the back muscles to keep you erect, maintain abdominal pressure and perform movements such as bending and lifting. While you work your abdominal muscles every day, additional abdominal exercises can be performed daily and should be a part of your weekly fitness program.
Benefits
Exercising the muscles of your abdomen forces them to bear more than their normal load, making them stronger. Weak abdominal muscles can contribute to back pain and could affect your posture and physique. Strong abdominal muscles keep your stomach from extending outward, aid in respiration and help protect the muscles of your back and spine. Because muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, strong abdominal muscles increase your metabolism, which can help you maintain a healthy weight.
Abdominal Muscles
Your rectus abdominus muscle runs from the bottom of your rib cage to your pubic bone. This long, flat band of muscle is divided into eight sections and is responsible for the appearance of six-pack abs. Your rectus abdominus helps bring your rib cage toward your pelvis and aids in lifting your head when you are lying down. Your internal and external obliques run along the sides of your abdomen and help you bend from side to side and flex and rotate your trunk. Your transversus abdominus muscles lie deep in your abdomen and aid in respiration and maintaining abdominal pressure.
Frequency and Technique
Because your abdominal muscles get regular exercise every time you get up from a lying or sitting position and each time you bend or rotate your trunk, exercising them daily rarely results in muscle fatigue. If you work your abdominal muscles to fatigue, give them a day off before exercising again. While daily exercise is optimal, aim to exercise your abdominal muscles at least three to five times per week. Getting the maximum benefit from your abdominal workout regimen requires adherence to proper technique. Consult a fitness professional to ensure you are working your abdominal muscles rather than your hip flexors, which can cause stress on your lower back.
Recommended Routines
Full situps can put added pressure on your lower spine. Because the abdominal muscles lift your head and shoulders for only the first 30 to 45 degrees during a situp, crunches -- lifting your head and shoulders barely off the ground -- isolate the ab muscles better than situps. Perform each crunch slowly, concentrating on contracting the muscles. The bicycle maneuver -- alternately bringing each knee to the opposite elbow -- helps work the obliques as well as the abdominus rectus. Perform each exercise eight to 10 times and include three to seven other exercises that isolate the abdominal muscles into your regimen.
Member Comments