Ab Mat for abdominal exercising $29.98
Buy an Ab Mat | Abdominal Exercise Mat
Ab Mat Exercise - Now remember what we are about
to do - work the abdominal muscles. Do not move your head to your
knees. Start by leaving out the movements using your head. Begin
by concentrating on the origin of the abs at the lower part of the
rib cage. Now we are ready. Crunch the abdominal muscles - let them
pull you over the Ab Mat, into the old crunch position (Fig. 4)
and continue the movement by curling the body up to a vertical position
(Fig. 5). 
When you lie back down, just uncurl, or reverse the situp movement.
Did you notice, after you did the crunch, the weak range you encountered
as the lower abd and internal obliques took over pulling you up?
This is the missing link. What does this weak range of motion mean?
It means you have a weakness in the kinetic chain. This weakness
is responsible for not being able to obtain the look you desire,
especially in the lower-ab area. (Women often have a little pot
in the lower-abdominal area, just over the weak muscles, which they
can't get rid of). Also, these muscles stabilize your torso when
you walk or run. This means your body has a weak range that could
impede your speed and agility movements as well. A weakness is in
the muscles of this area will also stop further development in the
surrounding muscles. The body knows when it has a weak link and
resists stress around that link to prevent injury. Example: If the
lower abs have a weakness, it may prevent your squats from going
up. What you have done in this perfect situp is to take your upper-abdominal
muscles and external obliques through a full range of motion. Secondly,
you used your lower abdominals and internal obliques, moving into
the hip flexors. This was a complete movement for the front of the
torso.
Cheating (or how we usually train) The movement of the trunk area
is so complex that it encourages numerous forms of "cheating".
So it is important that we go through the situp movement again.
This time, we will explain some of the natural "cheats"
the body goes through. You must learn to be aware of these poor
movements, to feel them, and to prevent them.
The center of the human body in the situp position is a line across
the navel. When you do a situp, the focus of the work is through
this area. If you anchor the feet, the center of gravity of the
body moves down into the hip flexors, thus changing the focus of
the work. When doing a situp the first mistake people make is defining
what they do this movement for. Is this movement to see how many
reps we can do, or to work the abdominal muscles? Most people want
to work the abs by doing a situp, but instead instruct the human
computer to simply move the head to the knees, thus "doing"
the movement. When you tell the body to move from point A to point
B, it will do it the easiest way possible.
The easiest way to do this head-to-knee movement, especially with
the feet held down, is to crunch, lock in the abds and perform this
movement with the hip flexors. Being the perfect computer, the body
instantly determines what muscles are ones going to be used in the
movement; which ones are strong, which ones are weak. Thus, how
does the body make us do that situp? Well, the first thing it does
is create momentum by starting the head moving with a snap. This
stars the upward and forward movement. Now the momentum is picked
up by the abs, they lock in, and, because the lower abs are too
weak, the movement jumps to the hip flexors to finish the movement
(Fig. 6). When you lock in the abs, you are forcing them to do an
isometric contraction, not working through a range of motion.
The hip flexors are considered by many to be as much as seven times
stronger than the abs. The body will, of course, let the stronger
muscles do the work. The hip flexors will continue to work as long
as the weaker abs can hold the isometric contraction. Usually, you
feel a burn and then the movement must be stopped. This is the main
reason the lower-stomach area in both women and men cannot be flattened.
Abdominal Exercises with an Ab
Mat continued
"Killer Abs" shows you how to set
up your abdominal and low-back routines.
*Disclaimer: Before beginning any exercise program,
consult with your physician to ensure that you are in proper health.
These are not meant to provide medical advice; you should obtain
medical advice from your private healthcare practitioner. No liability
is assumed by QFAC for any of the information contained herein.
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