The beautiful days are back and it’s usually an excellent time to refine your figure. Here are a few exercises to help develop abs before summer.
Summer is coming back and for some people, this provokes the desire to exercise again to get in shape before the beautiful days. Here are some practical exercises to forge your abs.
The “Gainage” or “Plank” exercise
There are two options for doing a sit-up, either you position yourself in the plank position, on your knees (if you are a beginner or if you are starting the exercises again…), or you position yourself in the plank position, but on the tips of your feet (for those who are already a little more experienced).
In plank position then, knee option, or toes
Stand on your forearms, with your elbows just under your shoulders. If you wish, you can join your hands or get more comfort or stability from it.
Make sure to round your lower back very slightly.
Movement to be done
It will be enough to maintain the position for a given period. Depending on your shape and build, this can vary from 40 seconds to several minutes. We advise you to repeat the exercise 4 to 5 times a day, with a short break of one or two minutes between each session and don’t forget to breathe well and above all, not to put yourself in apnea, try to “suck in” your navel when you inhale.
The exercise is known as the “reverse crunch”
Position to take
- Lie on your back, with your spine flat against the ground and your arms at your sides
- Bend your knees at an angle of 70 to 90
- Raise your thighs at the same angle to form another 90° at the pelvis, between the trunk and the thighs
- Place your hands behind your head or at ear level, and don’t cross your fingers if you have to put your hands together (support your head as if it were a balloon, basically)
- You can cross your feet at the ankles, or not. It’s up to you, feel comfortable in this position
The movement to be performed
The movement consists in raising your back from the ground by pulling on your abdominal belt to come to touch or almost touch the top of your knees with your nose. Avoid jerks, and do not pull on your neck with your hands.
Try to have a fluid, regular and relatively slow movement. Keep the position of the nose against the knees for 3 or 4 seconds, then release and go down slowly to put the head on the ground, the back relatively flat while you go down the head, your legs also go down, but try to make sure that your feet do not touch the ground.
We recommend 3 or 4 sets of 10 to 30 or even 50 repetitions, if you are already well sheathed, and take the time to recover between each set, about 2 minutes.
The “Crunch” exercise
Without a doubt, the most classic and most used movement because it is straightforward and intuitive to perform.
Position to take
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- Lie on your back, with your spine flat against the ground and your arms at your sides
- Your legs can be completely flat (for beginners), or you can also bend your knees at an angle of 70 to 90 ° (if you already have a base), your feet are then well placed flat on the ground
- Place your hands behind your head or at the height of your ears (again, you will support your head as if it was a ball to make it simple). You can also cross your fingers if you have to join your hands behind your
Movement to do
You will now curl your spine by pulling on the abdominal belt so that your upper body moves up towards your knees.
Once you have reached an angle of about 35 to 45° of your upper body in relation to the ground, you can hold the position for 1 to 2 seconds before coming back down slowly while keeping your head on the ground and keeping your back flat, without digging in the lumbar region.
Avoid drawing your elbows in too far, keep them well out on each side, and at the same time, when you lift your body, try not to draw your chin in but to keep it straight, without it touching your chest.
We advise you to perform sets ranging from 10 to 30 or 50 repetitions (depending on your shape, body type and the goals you set beforehand) before taking a short rest, about 1 minute 30 to 2 minutes. Do 4 or 5 sets a day for excellent results!
Gently and deeply train your abdominal muscles with the vacuum
The vacuum is a method of strengthening the abdominal muscles gently that is mainly found in yoga and Pilates and is often used by physiotherapists and midwives but very little by the general public.
Vacuuming is a practical and gentle exercise that has several benefits. This technique is excellent for relieving back pain and digestive issues.
As opposed to crunches and sit-ups, hypopressive abdominals are also called hypopressive abdominals. It is an exercise that gently and profoundly strengthens the abdominal muscles through a unique breathing technique.
This practice will target the transverse muscle, the deep muscle of the abdominals, located below the rectus abdominis. The transverse muscle is the muscle that allows you to have a flat stomach.
For women who have just given birth, strengthening the transverse abdominis will positively affect the perineum and the abdomen.
This will help fight against post-pregnancy diastasis. It is also an ideal exercise to practice when strengthening your abdominal muscles after a significant weight loss. However, it is not recommended for pregnant women.
How to perform the vacuum?
To perform the vacuum correctly, you must pull in your stomach and voluntarily contract your abdominal muscles while emptying all the air from your lungs. The diaphragm and the organs will be pushed upwards.
This will require a unique breathing technique, quite unusual when you are a novice and which takes place in 4 phases to be repeated between 10 and 20 minutes depending on the time at your disposal: exhalation, respiratory apnea, inspiration, breathing.
The exhalation phase: you have to empty all the air from your lungs by pulling your navel towards your spine while contracting your abdominal muscles.
The phase of respiratory apnea: you must block your breathing while contracting your abdominal muscles to the maximum. This phase generally lasts between 10 and 30 seconds, depending on your level.
The inspiration phase: you must inhale to the maximum by inflating the lungs while keeping the abdominal muscles contracted and the belly pulled in.
The best known hypopressive abdominal technique is the stomach vacuum. It is possible to do this technique in different positions, on your knees, on all fours, lying on your back or even sitting on a chair.
This technique can also be adapted to the prone position on the elbows, with the arms outstretched and to the side position. This way of strengthening the abdominal muscles in depth is also very present in yoga, Pilates and gentle gymnastics.
The benefits of the vacuum
In addition to promoting a toned and flat stomach, vacuuming provides many other benefits to the body, including:
- Improving posture, body shape and balance
- Strengthening of the perineum and abdominal muscles in depth
- Toning and strengthening of the pelvic floor
- An apparent reduction in the risk of organ descent
- Better control of urinary incontinence
- Reduction of anxiety and stress thanks to controlled breathing during the exercise
- Protection of the back and lumbar region thanks to the toning of the transverse muscles
- Strengthening of the perineum following childbirth