Exercises for Stomach
The stomach is the most important area of your body to work out if you want to have good posture and stabilize the bones and ligaments that make up your core. The stomach is made up of 9 muscles including the diaphragm, the transverse abdominis, and the quadratus lumborum. Each of these is important for a strong mid section, but the main exercises for stomach that you will need to concentrate on, are for the upper abdominals, the lower abdominals, and the obliques as outlined below:
Stomach Exercises at the Gym
At the gym, you will have access to a number of different machines that will assist you when doing exercises for stomach.
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These will allow you to focus on more specific parts of the abdomen, and really target the main muscle groups. The gym equipment also gives you a bigger variety of exercises than you would normally be doing at home. For all round ab toning you can use the cable pull down exercise. You will kneel on a mat holding the cables above your head and using your stomach muscles, pull your body down. Another great all round exercise is to do sit-ups on the decline bench. You can use a weight for this as well to add more resistance. For the lower abs you can make use of the cable machine to do reverse crunches. The cables are placed around your ankles and you then pull your knees into your chest while leaning back at about 45 degrees. You must take care to keep your back straight while you do this. For your oblique muscles you can also use the various cables to do side bends, but you can also use the dumbbells, and medicine balls to do side bends and side crunches.
Stomach Exercises at Home
At home, the exercises you do will all depend on what equipment you have. If you don’t have any equipment, you can still do some very effective upper, lower, and oblique ab exercises. Basic crunches, sit ups, side bends, reverse sit ups (using a chair), leg lifts on the floor, knee pull ups (hanging from a door frame or strong tree), and side crunches will all help you to strengthen your abdominal muscles. If you have dumbbells or a medicine ball, this will enhance your stomach exercises at home.
Working the Upper Abdominal Muscles
The upper abdominals are normally the easiest of the stomach muscles to work out, and generally these will become stronger a lot faster than the lower abs. Most exercises will actively work the upper abs, so if you want to target another muscles group more specifically, you must make sure you are using the correct technique. The upper abs will see the biggest and best results from any sit ups and crunches, as you are lifting your upper body to achieve the contraction. Make sure that you also release from this position slowly so that you work the muscles properly.
To find out more about exercises for stomach, see page 2 of this article right here: Flat Stomach Exercises