Abdominal Toe Touchers – Abs Exercise Guide with Photos

Muscles Targeted: Abdominal toe touchers target the middle and upper area of your abs. This exercise helps to develop overall strength in the abdominals and core muscles. When you stretch your arms out to reach for the toes, you will coil up which in turn tightens your upper abdominals. It also strengthens your lower abs too since you are lifting your legs up in the air and holding them there throughout the exercise. This exercise is an intense one for your abs and will help tone and tighten up your midsection to achieve a lean stomach.

Exercise Instructions: Lie on your back onto the floor or on a mat. Elevate your legs straight up into the air and point both of your arms straight up in the air. This will make your body form a giant “U”. Make sure you keep your lower back pressed flat on the ground. Exhale and crunch forward, touching your toes with your finger tips. Remember to have your abs do all the work.

Why This Exercise is Important: A dream of six pack pack abs can be attained by increasing the intensity of the abdominal workouts you perform along with doing cardio exercise and eating a clean diet. This is exactly what abdominal toe touchers bring to the table. Ensuring that your lower back is pressed to the floor helps bring stability as well as balance. Since your legs are in the air and thus without support, it is ensured that the core and your abs are forced to do majority of the work. Just make sure that your arms are straight out when you crunch up so you can touch your toes at the top.

Things To Avoid: A common mistake committed when doing this exercise is to perform fast repetitions. Always make sure to go slow and controlled with your focus on proper technique. Avoid all sorts of hurried and jerky movements and ensure that you complete the full range of motion slowly with proper inhalation and exhalation. Do not forget to retain your posture when you have touched the toes for a few seconds. The mistake of going through the motion too fast results in a stressed lower back and additional strain on the neck. Doing slow and controlled repetitions provide the abdominal muscles necessary resistance and strength as well as safety.

Reps and Sets: The most important thing is how you perform the repetitions. Concentrate first on correcting your posture when doing this exercise. Once you feel the entire effect of the exercise on your abdominal muscles, perform 3-5 sets of 20-30 repetitions. Train your abs 2-3 times per week with at least 24 hours of rest between workouts.

Other Exercises To Use: Abdominal toe touchers alone will not enable you to achieve toned, good looking abs. It involves a combination of many workouts that help in strengthening your midsection along with lots of cardio exercise and a healthy diet to burn fat. For your upper and middle abdominals, perform the abdominal crunch machine. The machine not only forces the pressure on your abs, but also gives ample resistance and power to your torso. Overhead abdominal crunches and abdominal butt raises are other great exercises to include in your routine. Performing the reverse ab crunches and medicine ball leg raises are highly recommended for your lower abdominals. The reverse movements provide much-needed change in motion and thus helps in strengthening this area of your abs. Combine these with oblique twists or crunches and you have an intense workout plan that will work wonders on your abdominals. View our extensive database of exercise guides for a comprehensive list of exercises that target the abs.