If you are considering cranking up a beginners workout program, you will be well served by devoting much effort to strengthening your abdominal muscles. Abdominals are important to your overall fitness level. Our “core consists of abdominal, glute, and lower back muscles. Our overall fitness level depends greatly on the condition of our core.
We use our core muscles for practically everthing we do. We certainly use core muscles extensively in all aspects of our workout routine. This includes strength training, cardio training, and fun recreational activities. Our abdominals and other core muscles are almost always being used.
But our daily activities are affected by the condition of our core muscles as well. Simple tasks, like bending over, walking, and many job-related activities are dependent on core strength and fitness. Spending time and effort developing our abdominal and other core muscles will help us to prevent problems and injuries in the future.
So, how do we start to strengthen or abdominals in our beginners workout? What are the best exercises? It may surprise you to learn what exercises NOT to do. Crunches and situps. Stay away from them, and here’s why. Crunches and situps require us to bend our spine. This is referred to as spinal flexion. We should avoid spinal flexion when performing abdominal exercises, as we increase the risk of sustaining a lower back injury. In addition, situps and crunches aren’t very effective. There are other abdominal exercises that will help you strengthen your abdominals more effectively.
The plank is the best and safest abdominal exercise for beginners. Begin in a pushup position placing your elbows on the floor. Keeping your back straight, brace your abdominals and glutes. The idea is to hold position as long as you can. Planks are more difficult than they appear. Begin with planks by placing your knees on the floor, if necessary. As you get stronger, work up to knees up as soon as you can.
Side planks are similar, except you are facing the side with one elbow on the floor. Brace and hold, and then switch sides. As with the regular plank, start with your knee on the floor if necessary.
Bracing is an important aspect of performing planks safely and effectively. Pretend you are preparing to be punched in the stomach. Also, make sure you squeeze your glutes and breathe normally. All of this takes a little practice, and focusing on bracing and breathing will help.
Planks are a terrific exercise to start developing your abdominals and other core muscles in your beginners workout.