The 7 Best Ab Workouts

I had a lot of challenges determining the best ways to flatten my potbelly until I came across a fitness expert. She advised me to try out ab workouts which I did and results were positive. I was happy and decided to share my experience with the world. That is the reason why I am penning this blog post with the hope that you and many other potbellied as well as obese persons will benefit.

Hipless crunch

This is a variation that has a direct impact on the abs without involving the hips or any of the upper parts of the body. It is easily achieved through having the calves rest on a flat and raised surface with arms extended. The chin should never be pulled towards the chest as it will become difficult. If your shoulders or neck cannot maintain a relaxed posture then that will be the time to stop the variation.

No-hands reverse crunch

The hands are anchored overhead which helps to make muscles around the belly active. This is the posture that you should assume when using this variation. You can have the legs straightened if you want the exercising to be a bit hard and strenuous. Tilting the pelvis will make it more effective.

V crunch

This is an exercise that will have a good coordination of the lower and upper body parts in ensuring they move concurrently. This helps to increase the amount of muscle fibers to your body’s midsection. The chest should always be lifted and back straightened when doing this variation.

Side plank

You must be able to balance your body well for you to manage this exercise. It is a bit complicated over the rest but very effective in working out the abs. You should lie on either the right or left side with the elbow just below the shoulder and feet loaded together. Your posture should be precise such that the legs, hips, torso, neck and head are on a straight line.

Reverse crunches

You will do this as you lie on the floor using your back. Your hands should be below the head and knees curved such that you will be able to lift up to an angle of 90 degrees. The space between the chest and chin should be considerable to make it possible inhaling and exhaling.

Crunches with heel push

In this, the hips are usually raised when crunching up. The feet have to be vertically positioned in a way that they face the roof. It has very minimal differences with the vertical legs variation.

Crunches with arms extended

The arms are extended above your head with this variation that is considered to be more traditional. In the process of crunching up and down, your arms should squeeze the ears to attain the right posture.

Determining That You Are Exercising Too Much

I am one of the many people who like exercising to stay fit. One problem is that I have gotten into it deeply that I am always told to stop exercising too much. It took me a lot of time before I could understand that I am exercising more than I am required. I found that to be very dangerous and would not wish to see another person endure the same. In this blog post, I will share some of the signs that helped me understand that I was exercising too much. You can draw some positives from them and also help you determine your exercising levels.

Soreness- now and then, my muscles would get sores and persistent pain that was very difficult going away. It could even take a week until I realized it was because of my exercising. It never hit my mind that I was overdoing the workouts until I decided to reduce the frequency. Everything returned to normalcy within a short period.

Lowered energy- I now know that when one exercises too much, the body becomes weak rather than strong. My energy levels started taking a dip and for a while I thought I was sick. I went for medical checkups but all diagnosis returned negative results. My doctor advised me to lower my training frequency and that is how I regained my normal energy level. The cause was over-training.

High blood pressure- many people assume that only old people suffer from high blood pressure but I can prove them wrong. Even young people fall victims to the same once they train too much. I never experienced this but studies have proven so. Strenuous workouts have a negative effect on one’s blood pressure.

Feeling guilty- you will always feel guilty of absconding your duty once you miss out on a single day to train. This is something I experienced and it had grave implications to my exercises. I used to train like three times in a day with little knowledge that I was overdoing it. It got into my system which found it difficult skipping even a single session. If that happens to you then be sure you are training excessively.

Mad at interference's- one time I got sick and was heavily depressed that it interfered with my training program. I thought it was normal for any person but later realized I was doing my training too much. It took the intervention of an expert to bring it to my attention that everything was not okay.

Obsession- if your mind is always thinking about training then it’s a sign that you are training too much. Such obsession is not normal and you need to take control of the situation early enough. Always take a rest from your training to think about other necessary issues.

About Author:

As a fitness expert, the author has been very influential in helping the masses watch out their training frequency to avoid overdoing it. He has many blogs, websites and social pages from where interaction with his audiences is enhanced. It’s the best way to address matters concerning weights and staying fit through training.