Our abdominal muscles get a lot of attention. Look in just about any fitness magazine and you'll find at least one article talking about developing a six-pack or reducing belly fat. While it's the cosmetic reason of our not wanting a protruding belly that gets much of the press, exercise to improve abdominal fitness is just as important--if not more so--for health reasons such as reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic. Exercise to improve abdominal fitness is a multipronged approach.
Burn the Fat
Often people spend countless hours, repetitions and money on abdominal exercise equipment while at the same time overlooking this very important step. The truth is that the most effective way to reduce body fat through exercise is through aerobic exercise. Abdominal strength and endurance exercises, such as crunches, alone will do very little to help you. Aerobic exercise uses body fat as its primary energy source and by reducing excess body fat in this region your abdominal muscles will be able to shine through. Moderate-paced jogging or fast-walking are two examples of aerobic exercises that will help.
Crunching Exercises
The basic abdominal crunch entails lying on the floor and bringing your torso and shoulders up and slightly forward about 30 degrees while compressing your abdominal muscles. According to author Len Kravitz, Ph.D., a number of research studies have shown that this type of crunch exercise--on your back with bent knees and unsupported legs--will maximize abdominal muscle activity.
Other crunch exercises include crunches on an exercise or stability ball; reverse crunches, in which you bring your bent legs toward your shoulders while contracting your abs; and vertical leg crunches, in which you crunch while reaching toward your toes with your legs straight up in the air.
A study commissioned by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) reported that the most effective crunch, utilizing home exercise equipment, was crunching while on an exercise or stability ball.
Squeezing Exercises
Your transversus abdominis muscles serve as your body's internal corset by compressing your internal organs, says Kravitz. To exercise these muscles think of exercises that require you to pull your belly button in toward your spine. One example of this type of exercise is the draw-in exercise where you get on your hands and knees on the floor and hollow out your stomach by pulling in your belly button toward your spine--without arching your back--and holding for about five seconds.
Rotational Exercises
The muscles along your sides are your oblique muscles. These muscles are important to rotating your torso and sideward bending. According to its commissioned study, ACE says that the most effective abdominal exercise is the bicycle maneuver. This exercise entails you lying on your back with hands behind your head and "bicycle" by bringing your knees up to about a 45-degree angle and alternately trying to touch your knee toward your opposite elbow. Be careful not to twist or pull on your neck.
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