Clearly, physical activity is not the most joyful thing on Earth. Luckily, there are tips for working out when you don’t want to work out, which is pretty handy on the practicality scale. The only problem is, if you do it wrong, you’ll lose all the benefits of your efforts, even if you don’t jerk off. So here are some rules to follow to finally crunch correctly and have cinder block abs, or something like that.
1. Pulling on his head too much
Don’t try to deny it, we all know that you’ve done sit-ups with your head too far back, as if you wanted to stay as far away from your knees as possible (at the same time, given their mouth, we can understand). However, this position will not help you have amazing abs and will just hurt your neck which will make you want to scream “stooooop” after two minutes. To avoid this, don’t hesitate to help yourself with your small hands to support your head, or even take a towel and place it under your neck to pull on the sides with your hands and thus make the pain forever. Your red face will thank us.
2. Wedge your feet under furniture
So, I know, urban legend has it that when you wedge your feet under furniture (or let someone sit on your toes), you work your abs more deeply. This is totally false because this position will mainly work the iliopsoas, the muscle between the thigh and the pelvis, which will interfere with the work of the abs. You may even end up with pain or injury so let your feet live their life off the ground if that’s what they want.
3. Go too fast
As with food (or sex), doing everything very quickly is not necessarily a sign of great success. Already, you should know that doing as many abs as possible in two minutes has no interest and that in addition, it increases the risk of injury by nimping. To work your muscles well, you have to break everything down and look for amplitude, that is to say, a great movement well executed, which you control from start to finish. Why do you think people who do pilates are always super savvy? Because they take the time to do five sit-ups a minute. Too smart guys.
4. Exercising too much
As for speed, we all think in our hearts that by doing a maximum of abs seven times a week, we will have a body like a big bastard its mother in two weeks. Already, this is false, and above all, it prevents the muscles from regenerating and it once again increases the risk of injury. So to avoid breaking all the limbs of your body, don’t hesitate to take breaks between sets of exercises, but above all, don’t work the same group of muscles two days in a row. If you do sit-ups on Monday, then do arm or leg exercises for the next 48 hours (or go to the bar and fuck your ass off, that’s fine too).
5. Work only the front abs
Yes, we must not forget that we do not only have six to eight abs hidden under a thick coat of fat. There are also the side muscles, called “obliques”, which must be worked to work the entire abdominal strap. In addition, it strengthens the back muscles and helps you maintain your posture better. What more could you ask for than this exercise? Thank you life !
6. Only do the same exercises
Now that you know how fast and how often to perform your abs exercises, let yourself be tempted by a small change in routine. Because if you always do the same exercises without ever varying or adding weights, your body and your muscles will get used to the effort and you will end up not progressing any more. Moreover, varying the exercises and series will allow you to engage all of your muscles. And by the way, if you can also take the opportunity to add a little cardio to help your body get rid of fat, it won’t hurt you.
7. Gain momentum
I know. With momentum, it’s immediately easier to chain bicycle crunches and V-ups. But in the long run, this will penalize you because as the momentum facilitates the ascent, the abs work less or not at all. Too much effort for little pleasure in short. If it’s too hard, move on to another exercise and that’s it, we’re not here to want to die either.
8. Do anything with your breath
It can be tempting to put yourself in apnea during a series of abs to suffer as little as possible and especially not to look like someone who has the lungs of an 85-year-old smoker. And yet! A good breather does the body a lot of good because it allows the muscles to oxygenate and it actually makes work easier by tiring less. Thanks oxygen!
9. Thinking you’re going to get rock solid abs just by playing sports
You may exercise like a god/goddess of Basic Fit, but if you don’t eat right, you’re unlikely to see lasting results on your body eaten away by years of beers on the terrace five times a week. . Yes, because ideally, you should also reduce your fat mass by reducing your calorie intake a little and compensating with sport (and by cooking good balanced meals as a result). So drop this tenth cocktail and enjoy yourself with a tasty Perrier-lemon.
10. Do abs with the belly relaxed or out
UNHAPPY, ESPECIALLY NOT !!! In abs, you always have to bring your stomach in as much as possible towards the navel (within the limit of your breathing capacity, eh, don’t go snapping your fingers for a few crunches), while contracting the perineum. This way, you won’t have a muscular belly, but an outgoing one, only a flat belly like a breadboard (and an ultra-muscular perineum).