Abdominal: benefits and how to do the exercise –

The sit-up is a bodyweight exercise that you can do anywhere without using any equipment. It is recommended for toning muscles and building a strong and defined belly.

ABDOMINAL BENEFITS

While sit-ups won’t help you burn a lot of calories or fat, they will help increase muscle density and flexibility, improve body posture, and increase mobility.

The benefits of regular sit-ups include building your six pack (the muscles medicinally known as the rectus abdominis). However, it is not very effective on other muscle groups in the region. Therefore, many variations such as reverse crunches, bicycle crunches, oblique crunches, upright crunches, etc., have been developed to help target the obliques (far left and right of the abdomen), pelvis, lower back, hips, and spine.

Below are more benefits of including the abs in your workout.

1

Strong Core

Your body relies heavily on your core for activities like walking, sitting, lifting, etc. Therefore, sit-ups target multiple muscles in one area, strengthening and synchronizing them better. This helps your body to perform all these activities easily in a balanced and stable way.

two

Improved Posture

A weak core often leads to back pain and muscle injuries, due to which your posture can go bad. Push-ups are a great way to improve your posture by working your core and strengthening it. It also helps reduce back pain and provides relaxation.

However, you should consult a doctor or a professional trainer before doing sit-ups if you have poor posture due to injury or an accident.

3

more muscle mass

Doing strength training exercises, push ups help build muscle mass which improves your strength and is also considered to be visually appealing. So sit-ups are excellent if you want to build abs. You can also add weights to build more muscle mass.

4

Weight loss

While it might not be as much as cardio or other exercises, the significant amount of energy used means calories burned. This ends up resulting in slow weight loss.

Another way that push-ups help with weight loss is to strengthen the muscles needed to lose weight.

5

Better Cardiovascular Health

Because they are high-intensity exercises, sit-ups lead to the accelerated functioning of the heart, which is responsible for several important functions of the body. Doing sit-ups regularly can train your heart to step up these functions to synchronize with your body at various times. This leads to a healthier and more effective cardiovascular system.

6

No equipment needed

Since sit-ups are bodyweight exercises, there is no need for equipment to perform them at the basic and intermediate levels. However, advanced training individuals can add weights for more strength to intensify workouts.

HOW TO DO AN ABDOMINAL STRETCH AND ITS VARIATIONS

Here are some sit-up variations you can do to work all your core muscles:

ABDOMINAL BASIC

– (Jonathan Borba/Pexels)

Lie on your back, bend your knees and place your hands behind your head. Now pull your abdomen, head and shoulder up and curl up, moving forward towards your knee, come back and repeat.

ABDOMINAL BELOW

– (Fabio Heizenreder/)

Lie on your back, with your hands placed under your spine for support. Flatten your feet on the floor while your knees are bent. Raise your upper back and legs to 90 degrees, pull them toward your belly, return in a controlled manner, and repeat. The reverse crunch variation benefits the lower abdominal muscles.

ABDOMINAL BICYCLE

– (jacoblund/Thinkstock/Getty Images)

Lie on your back, bend your knees and place your hands behind your head. Stretch your left leg forward and pull your right knee toward your chest as you extend your left elbow to meet your knee.

Come back and do the same with your left knee and right elbow. Then repeat until a cyclic movement is created. The benefits of bicycle crunches are centered on the rectus abdominis and oblique muscles.

ABDOMINAL ROWER

– (Luciano Munhoz/Luciano Munhoz)

Lie on your back, stretch your legs and put your hands up. Raise your upper body while bending your knees towards your chest. Hug the knee and lie down again stretching the whole body Then repeat. This exercise benefits the rectus abdominis and leg muscles.