I know you are all thinking it…so here it is, the Abs post. FIRST, you must understand that in order to see your abs you must first eliminate the body fat that surrounds them. Doing more crunches won’t just all of a sudden make them appear more quickly. I will hit on diet in a future blog. With that being said, to DEFINE your abs you do need to work them, and work them often. Abs are considered a ‘tough’ muscle, like calves, they need to be put into overdrive to develop. You can work your abs 3-4 times per week, but just remember, if your abs are sore don’t work them, they are recovering, and that is the most important phase of strength training. Blah, blah, blah, you just want to know my secret so here it is: myotatic crunches and cat vomits. Good luck!
Haha just kidding, I’ll explain in detail. Myotatic crunches involve more flexion of the entire range of your external abdominal muscles. The Cat Vomits work the ever so neglected Transversus Abdominus and Lumbar Multifidus muscles which are located behind your external abs and control posture, back support, and deep breathing for increased power in movements such as squats and deadlifts. Ladies, this exercise is also MONEY for giving you more of an hourglass shape, as it pulls your abdominals in and will decrease inches around your waist. Here are the moves:
Myotatic Crunch- Instead of wasting your time with traditional crunches (and it IS a waste of your time) lay down with the small of your back on a Bosu ball and bend your knees at a 90 degree angle. Stretch your hands in a diving position over your head and keep them there throughout the entire movement. Stretch your fingertips all the way to the floor behind you while simultaneously expanding your rib cage to allow the most flexion, then slowly sit up using only your ab muscles (remaining in the dive position) and stop before your hands pass over your waist. Do this for 3 sets of 10 repetitions. The second exercise is nicknamed “Cat Vomits” but are called Vacuums. (I prefer Cat Vomits because it paints a perfect picture of how to do the exercise.) Get on your hands and knees, with your palms flat on the ground pointed straight ahead, and place your knees just below your hips. Force all the air out of your lungs, then suck in your abs with the idea of trying to touch your belly button to your back. Hold this for 10 secs (it’s tough with no air in your lungs) then let it out and take a deep breath. Can you see why it’s called Cat Vomits now? Repeat this for 3 sets of 10 reps and superset it with the afore mentioned Myotatic crunch and you should be on your way to a great set of abs in no time! Let me know if you try this out and give me your thoughts, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you do these two exercises correctly, and trust me, these are the only two you need, you will be sore like never before! Take it from myself who has been doing these two moves for a couple of weeks, and my fiancé Misti, whom I introduced this to earlier this week. Her text the next morning to me was, “Holy sh*t my abs are sore, you should blog about this!” So here it is, hope you liked it, see you at the gym!
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