With so many different abdominal exercises you may find it difficult to know which movements will suit you best. Learning which ones will provide the best results will make it easy to build your abdominal muscles. In order to get the best results in the shortest space of time you must ensure that your chosen exercise targets all of the muscles in your stomach. This guide will look at using flutter kick oblique crunches to tone and firm your stomach. This exercise can provide great results when included with a cardio and nutrition program.
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Exercise Instructions: Start by lying on your back onto a mat with your hands behind your head. Keep both legs straight about one inch off of the floor. Immediately raise one knee (your choice) up to the elbow of the opposite side and try to touch your elbow to that knee. Repeat this step with your other knee and elbow for as many repetitions as you can. The idea is to execute the movement in a smooth and controlled fashion so as to simulate riding a bicycle while lying on your back. Be sure to concentrate on having your abdominals do all the work!
Muscles Targeted: There are four groups of muscles which form the abdominals. These include the transversus abdominis, rectus abdominis, and two oblique muscles. This stomach toning exercise will target all of the abdominal muscles but focus mainly on the oblique muscles. These muscles are often neglected and forgotten about. They are actually extremely important when trying to firm up your belly. Your oblique muscles are located at the sides of your abdomen.
Why This Exercise is Important: Doing flutter kick oblique crunches is a very important part of any abdominal exercise program because they will target your oblique muscles very well. Many other abdominal exercises neglect these muscles. By concentrating on these muscles you can increase the rate at which they are strengthened. This means that by doing this exercise correctly you can quickly lose your love handles when combined with a clean diet and cardio exercise plan. Oblique muscles are also very important for your core strength. The real key to getting a lean stomach is by combining a healthy diet with cardiovascular exercise. This helps you lose fat from around your belly and expose your hidden abdominal muscles. Try to avoid foods high in saturated fats and refined sugars and focus mainly on nutrient dense whole foods.
Things To Avoid: This exercise may seem quite easy, but you can strain yourself if you don’t warm up properly before starting your routine. Make sure you warm your body up and do plenty of stretches to minimize the chances of discomfort and pulling a muscle. Some form of aerobic warm-up will be very helpful. While you are doing the exercise also make sure that you are breathing correctly. Avoid getting lazy and doing the exercise the wrong way. Doing the exercise incorrectly 100 times is worse than doing it right 10 times. Make sure you keep your form and tense your abdominal muscles when doing the crunches to get the results you are after.
Reps and Sets: Start by doing as many repetitions as you can, but be careful not to push yourself too far. Then take a short rest and repeat for 2 or 3 sets. This is a simple way of building up your core strength and toning your stomach.
Other Exercises To Use: The flutter kick oblique crunches are great for targeting your love handles, but when combined with a healthy diet and cardio program it will help to expose your abs so that you can actually see your six pack. There are a number of other exercises that you should also use in your ab workout routine. These include exercise ball abdominal pull ins, lying reverse abdominal crunches and abdominal flutter kicks. View our extensive database of exercise guides for a comprehensive list of exercises that target the abs.
