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Bodybuilding Workout Routines – Most Common Ab Exercise Mistakes To Avoid
by
jcastor
For some reason, many people commit these mistakes again and again whenever they do ab workouts (abdominal crunches in particular), unmindful of the unpleasant things that can result from the wrongs that they are doing. For one thing, executing an ab exercise the wrong way (or any exercise for that matter) reduces if not totally eliminates the effectiveness of the exercise. Another thing is that doing an exercise improperly can boost one’s risks of suffering an injury. I’m sure you would agree with me that these things are no laughing matter.
Let’s take a look at these common ab exercise mistakes… Head Nodding I’m sure you’ve seen people do this. Heck, you’ve probably even done this yourself for quite a while. Yes, instead of actually working your abs, you are mostly just nodding your head up and down with little to no actual movement on your abs to work the muscles there. Well, unfortunately this practice is very common among beginners, and there are some so-called professionals who are guilty of this, too. The worst part is, they even go out boasting that they can do hundreds or thousands of crunches in one go. Come on, you are supposed to be building muscles on your abs and not on your neck. When doing crunches, there should be very minimal or no movement at all on your neck. Okay, aside from getting you nowhere in the abs department, nodding your head (instead of doing real crunches) does not really present any serious danger to your well-being except if you would accidentally slam your head hard on the floor as you go back down to the relaxed position. But when your hands and arms join in the fray, that’s an entirely different story. Which leads us to the next most common mistake. Arm Flapping Surely you have seen people doing crunches (and sit-ups) with their hands behind their head. Nope, there is nothing wrong with that… that is if it’s done correctly. The problem is, when some people emulate/do this, they simply flap their arms up and down, with little to no actual movement on their abs. Now, I know it’s obvious but flapping your arms works your shoulders, not your abs. I don’t care if you can do a million of these, flapping your arms just won’t do your abs any good. And it gets worse. For some people, this practice doesn’t only make for a really useless ab exercise, but it also subjects them to a much higher risk of suffering an injury. Why? How? Well, crazy as this may sound, some people (many people, actually) pull on their head as they struggle to raise their upper torso from the ground. This, as you may already know, is very bad. Pulling on your head real hard can cause strain on the neck which could lead to neck/spinal injuries. Sit-Ups Some people think that more is better. And so, instead of doing crunches, they do sit-ups. Now, crunches and sit-ups are close cousins, but they are not the same. Crunches are specifically designed for the abdominal muscles while sit-ups (although they also work the abdominal muscles to some degree) are more for working the hips. That goes without saying that sit-ups are less effective in gaining abdominal muscles. Cranking Up the Reps Many people think that doing any sort of ab exercise can remove fat over the ab area. Well, it can’t. There is no such thing as spot fat removal or spot fat reduction. In other words, you can’t choose to lose fat only in specific parts of your body. When your body loses fat, it does it uniformly all throughout your body. And so, to reduce your pudgy belly, you must reduce fat from all over your body. You can do crunches until you are blue in the face, but you are not going to get rid of that beer belly. Getting rid of that bulge on your tummy requires two things–good nutrition and lots of cardiovascular exercise. Through those you will gradually lose fat over your whole body and it will eventually come off of your stomach region, too. If you’re just trying to get rid of your beer belly, don’t bother doing abdominal workout if that’s the only thing that you are going to be doing. Instead, you’d be much better off if you’d go for a walk or a bike ride regularly. Well, those are the most common mistakes that people do when performing abdominal crunches. Now, I’ll tell you how to do them correctly, starting with the beginner crunch. The Right Way To Do Crunches You lie down on your back on the floor with your knees bent. You can have your hands down at your sides or you can put them over your waist, whichever you prefer. Then just move your shoulders up towards the ceiling. Keep in mind, it’s your shoulders you’re going to move towards the ceiling, not your forehead. This is the easiest way of doing crunches. If you want to bring the difficulty level a notch higher, you can put your hands behind your head, just lightly supporting it. Your neck should feel no strain whatsoever. And while in that position, move your shoulders toward the ceiling. Be very careful not to pull on your head as you go up. If you’re wondering how having your hands behind you head makes for more difficult crunches. Well, it’s because of the additional weight of your arms. When you have your hands down on your sides, there is lesser weight holding down your upper body. To help you make perfect abdominal crunches, what you can do is to look at a fixed spot on the ceiling and point your nose at it. That way you won’t be tempted to nod your head or flap your arms and pull on your head. You can also use weights if you want to raise the difficulty level further. What you can do is to take a weight plate and hold it lightly behind your head so your head is just lightly sitting on top of the plate with no strain whatsoever on your neck. Then do the exercise as you would without the weight plate–shoulders up toward the ceiling. So, that’s how you do crunches correctly. No head nodding, no arms flapping, and no head pulling. Do it right and reach your goals faster. Good luck and stay safe.
This article is written by Jonathan Castor. Castor enjoys writing and educating people about matters related to health and fitness. He has written many articles that focus primarily on the topic of muscle building. If you want to learn some
bodybuilding workout routines
, visit
gainmusclebuildmuscle.com
.
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Bodybuilding Workout Routines – Most Common Ab Exercise Mistakes To Avoid