The five most effective abs exercises for girls. Exercise regularly and every day your stomach will become flatter and your body’s shape will become more attractive.
Some women want to see the relief of the abdominal muscles, while others do not seem quite feminine. And although these goals may seem opposite, they have one thing in common: developed abdominal muscles as opposed to a flabby stomach. So, whatever your goal is, you’ll have to work hard on your abs.
There are exercises aimed at training the oblique abdominal muscles, but we did not consider them in this article, in view of the fact that we do not recommend them for girls to perform. We explain this by the fact that only professional athletes can pump up the oblique muscles of the press and at the same time have a spectacular figure, who, as a rule, use pharmacology to gain muscle mass and reduce body fat. For an ordinary girl, exercises on the oblique muscles of the abdomen will only bring the effect of increasing the waist. Keep this in mind if you decide to train your obliques.
For maximum effect, do any two exercises from the list in 4 sets of 12-20 repetitions. Change the exercises in each workout to diversify your workout and keep your muscles from getting used to the same load.
1. Twisting on the floor
The most popular abdominal exercise. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that no additional equipment is required to perform it – so you can safely perform it both at home and in the gym. Many people do this exercise incorrectly, tearing their back off the floor and lifting the entire body up. From such a movement, the load on the abdominal muscles does not become stronger.
With proper technique, this exercise is performed as follows: lie on your back and bend your knees. Keep your hands behind your head (if you are not using weights). Perform a twist, lifting the shoulder blades off the floor, while not lifting the lower back off the floor. If you feel that the exercise is too easy for you, use additional weights, in the form of a pancake or dumbbell. Hold the weight with your arms crossed over your chest.
2. Trunk raises on an incline bench
Twisting on an incline bench is a well-known exercise for training the press. Unlike regular twists on the floor, this exercise is performed at an angle and is more effective. To perform it, lie on an inclined bench and fix your legs under special rollers. As you exhale, lift your body up. On an inhale, return to the starting position.
Experienced athletes perform body lifts with additional weights in the form of a pancake on the chest, which further loads the abdominal muscles. We recommend using weights only if you can easily complete at least 20 reps without using weights.
3. Twisting on the upper block
This is really a very effective exercise for high-quality pumping of the press, but for some reason very few do it. Today, every fitness club has a machine with an upper block, so we recommend that you pay attention to this wonderful exercise.
To perform it, take the handle of the upper block and kneel about a meter from the simulator. Now do twisting down, which in movement is somewhat reminiscent of a prayer. When lifting the torso up, do not relax the abdominal muscles and do the exercise at a slow pace.
4. Hanging Leg Raise
Another exercise for training the press. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the load is shifted to the lower abdomen. And although during its implementation the entire rectus abdominis muscle works, nevertheless, the emphasis is shifted to its lower part.
There are two variations of this exercise (we don’t include side twists for the obliques): straight raises and bent knee raises. When lifting straight legs, the rectus femoris muscles and the tensioners of the wide fascia work. When lifting the legs bent at the knees – the rectus abdominis muscle.
To perform the exercise, hang on the crossbar, holding it with a medium or wide grip. Raise your legs (straight or bent at the knees) to form a right angle between them and the body. Return to starting position.
5. Incline leg raise
This exercise, like the previous one, affects the press with an emphasis on its lower part. To do this, lie on your back on an incline bench with your hands on the top of the bench. Tightening the press, tear off your legs from the floor and lift them up, while tearing off the hips and pelvis from the bench. On an inhale, return to the starting position.