Friday, January 23, 2009

Killer Female Abs Workout

The female body is capable of developing the much-desired “six pack” abs. But many women stay away from the thought of becoming the female version of Incredible Hulk. And so they never perform the exercises that are meant to develop the muscle abs. As time goes by, the once sexy female figure slowly becomes pear-shaped. They begin to realize that the development of the abdominal muscles is not just about having a sleek body but also a strong and healthy one. Strong abdominal muscles meant more energy to perform everyday tasks. But it’s never too late to work out the muscle abs. There won’t be waves of muscles on the abdomen, but there would certainly be flat female abs.

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The key to having great flat female abs is to do the abdominal exercises right. A wrongly performed exercise would not work out the targeted group of muscles. Worse, wrongly performed exercises may lead to injury and lots of pain. To illustrate the right way of doing the abdominal exercises, here are tips for five of the most popular ones: hanging leg raise, hanging bent-knee raise, hanging side raise, bent-knee crunch, and alternating crunch.

In the Hanging Leg Raise, the cardinal rule is to never swing the body. When the body swings, its momentum is directed towards raising the legs, which defeats the whole purpose of the exercise. The legs should be raised by the efforts of the abdominal muscles. Thus, the legs are raised while the hips are being flexed until the knees reach the nearest point towards the shoulders. To avoid swinging, this exercise should be carried out slowly.

In the Hanging Bent-Knee Raise, the same restrictions about momentum and swinging are applied. These should never be used, especially in this particular exercise. The greatest benefit of the hanging bent-knee raise is the strengthening of the lower abdominal muscles. To carry this out while hanging on a pull bar, the legs must be pulled up using the power of the abs. To add force, rotate the pelvis forward, but keep the legs together. Then slowly release to the original position.

In the Hanging Side Raise, the aim is to exercise the sides of the abdomen together with the lower abdominal muscles. Starting from the position similar to the hanging leg raise, the knees are together lifted to one side. The knees should be lifted as high as possible. It can be done by curling the spine. Then hold and squeeze the abs before slowly releasing to the starting position. As usual, swinging is not allowed.

In the Bent-Knee Crunch, the starting position is lying flat on the floor, with the back resting comfortably. Bend the knees to about 60 degrees and outstretch the hands to the sides. Using the power of the abs, slowly move the pelvis back, raise the hips off the floor, and bring the knees close to the chest. Hold this position and squeeze the abs before slowly straightening up to the original position. To add challenge to this exercise, the ankle may have weights.

And in the Alternating Crunch, the body starts in the same position as the bent-knee crunch. This time, the hands are not outstretched. Instead, these are placed over the ears. Then, the upper body is raised and rolled towards the right, with the left elbow touching the right knee. After holding this position for a few seconds, the body goes back to its lying position. Then, the upper body is rolled again, but this time to the left side. The right elbow touches the left knee.

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Most exercises can work wonders on female abs, even when the abs cannot be seen. The exercises need only to be done right and the burning of calories begins.