Contents
Flat belly: workouts, methods and machines you should know
Fitness
With exercise and a careful diet, the necessary cocktail is obtained so that the tablet of our gut begins to become visible
Build a hard and strong abdomen, emulating the always appetizing chocolate bar, it is not an easy task, because no matter how much we “kill” ourselves in the gym to do exercise that enhances the center of our body, we are not going to get the abs to reappear from under our muscle mass if we do not make changes in other areas of our life, such as food.
Even so, and without ruining all the work that exercising your core requires, the right exercises can help you strengthen core muscles that when your body fat percentage is low enough, the coveted abs that so many people desire will appear. And best of all, these exercises, not always focused on the abdomen, can be done both at home and in the gym given the great variety that exists.
For example, for those who love the diversity of machines in the gym, we know a few that you should try to work, in addition to the abdomen, other parts of your body. All in one.
Javier Morato, technical director of Yoofit (@yoofitmadrid), praises three:
— Torso rotation: “In this machine we carry out an important movement to stabilize the spine, which is achieved by strengthening the oblique abdominal muscles and the small stabilizing muscles of the back”, says Javier Morato.
— Back extension: The expert says that spinal extension seeks to correct the posture of the back, so when we do a specific work on the abdomen, it is also interesting to perform exercises to strengthen the lower back, thus avoiding muscle decompensation.
— Abdominal contraction: The abdominal crunch isolates the work of the abdomen.
In turn, the personal trainer Miguel Ángel Peinado (@ miguel.trainer), creator of Better Naked Club, says that the ‘abdominal crunch’, by technogym, is very good for working the abdominal muscles and “it is in almost all gyms and the muscle”. On the other hand, there would be the adjustable training bench, “perfect for working the abdominal muscles and ensures effective training” and the adjustable core trainer, the coach’s favorite.
On the other hand, the personal trainer Álex Giménez (@ alex.reto.90.dias), a trainer of professionals in physical activity and sports and with a double degree in nutrition, warns that for those who do not know how to use them, it is better to focus on doing exercises on the floor: «Without a doubt, the most effective and least dangerous exercises due to the simplicity of their technical execution are those carried out on the floor. There are also exercises that can be performed on pulleys or hanging on the bar with your own weight, but they are much more complex exercises in their technical execution and for which a greater learning curve and better physical form are needed ”.
Tablet in the gut
Although it is not the best option, in the case of having to follow generalized advice, the best exercises for abdominals, due to the simplicity of their performance and the effectiveness they can provide, would be, according to Alex Giménez:
— Contractions or crunch lying down on the floor with legs raised 90 degrees. The coach explains that lying on the floor, we raise our legs bent 90 degrees and cross one foot on top of the other. Our hands can be placed stretched forward, crossed on our chest, or at the back of our head, the position of the arms will modify the intensity of the exercise from less to more in the order in which I have named them. Keeping the back and spine completely straight and without bending the head forward, we will raise our shoulder blades off the ground as if we wanted to sit up. «Our own body will put the limit to which we can climb, since by having our legs positioned in this way we are ensuring that we are not going to exceed the limit in which we would put our back at risk. The slower you do the exercise, the more effective it will be, so it would be very convenient to go up in 3 or 4 seconds and go down at the same speed, without resting down before going up again, “he says.
— Elevation of the knees to the chest lying on the floor with your arms extended and your palms resting firmly on the floor, with your legs raised and bent 90 degrees. The intermediate point would be achieved by bringing the legs at the same angle of 90 degrees trying to touch the chest with our knees. The expert indicates that, as in the previous exercise, “the slowness in execution will bring us proportionally closer to maximum effectiveness.”
On the other hand, if we wanted increase intensity it would only be necessary to use inclination. “If we want to increase the intensity of the exercises, we just have to add incline and perform the same execution. In the case of the first exercise (lying crunch) the incline would make our head lower than our feet. And in the second exercise, our inclination would make our head higher than our feet. Both inclinations can be achieved easily and quickly with any training bench ”, proposes the trainer.
And be very careful not to hurt yourself … Sometimes, believing that by putting a lot of effort and exorbitant our strength capacity we are going to obtain better results, we end up injuring ourselves … «Many people come to me with the desire to improve the abdomen, mark the waist and have finally the abs they want so much, but the worst of all is that a large percentage of them also have back problems and pain, which in 90% of cases are caused by two causes: lack of strength in the abdominal muscles and the core and the incorrect execution of traditional abdominal exercises ».
Of course, it must be taken into account that to obtain the best results, the ideal is to do a personalized training since each one is totally different, having a different physical shape, a different physiology and different needs.
I don’t have abs
Javier Morato, Yoofit trainer, emphasizes that the abdomen “is made in the kitchen”, that is, no matter how good abdominal work we do, if we have a high fat% it will be difficult to mark a tablet. «Do not kill yourself to do specific work for the abdomen every day. The way to mark a tablet has to be taking care of your diet because that will give you great physical and mental health.
«The gym is a very important help but the big difference lies in the diet. No matter how many sit-ups you do, you will never get dream abs if you don’t take care of what you eat, unless you have absolutely incredible sports genetics, which only have one per million human beings ”, points out Alex Giménez.