Be Kind to your Insides: Unconventional yet Safer Exercises for your Abs

[donnydarkoIRL]

Yeah man I'm the same, I find that body punches effect me very little now unless I'm caught on the bottom rib and even then I don't really get bothered.

I have a fight in ten days, I think after that I'll move up in weight for a while and really concentrate on hardening and conditioning my core and abs.

[Scrap]

Ill put an isometric stretch for the Abdominal wall and lower Back up when Ive got an Hour. When you do it swearing is not allowed Easy its not

[Chris Nagel]

I'd like to see it Scrap. A little description would be fine. As for some time maybe you can find some in that odd time in the morning that your biological clock wakes you up at.

[donnydarkoIRL]

What I find good and is similar to leg raises is done off the floor.

Lieing on the floor place your hands behind your head and raise sit-up style so the abs slightly tense, but more importantly so your back is supported properly by the floor.
With the legs held perfectly straight lift the feet six inches off the floor and hold. I's difficult at first so hold for 5. Then bring slowly back to the floor.

It can be made more difficult with ankle weights, simply increasing the time, a medicine ball or varying leg movements.

I find it great for the lower abs and the beltline where punches occasionally stray.

[Boxerharvey]

What I find good and is similar to leg raises is done off the floor.

Lieing on the floor place your hands behind your head and raise sit-up style so the abs slightly tense, but more importantly so your back is supported properly by the floor.
With the legs held perfectly straight lift the feet six inches off the floor and hold. I's difficult at first so hold for 5. Then bring slowly back to the floor.

It can be made more difficult with ankle weights, simply increasing the time, a medicine ball or varying leg movements.

I find it great for the lower abs and the beltline where punches occasionally stray.

I do these with leg weights on and you are right they are brilliant for the lower abs, you just have to make sure you dont bend your legs while doing them and also be carefull not to hurt your back.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Dead Right mate, you really do have to be careful with the back here....and you're also right about the legs, bending them defeats the purpose.


I don't actually use leg weights anymore, I use quantity and a bunch of leg motions to mix it up.
The leg weights work great, they really help the abs, but I need my flexability to be peak ya know?

[Chris Nagel]

I don't have any trouble doing leg-raises, but I've found a couple of other ways to do them to make it very challenging.

One way is to do it on a bench with your butt hanging off of the bench. This way your legs are already elevated from the start requiring you to keep your abs tight, and the bench also allows you to achieve a greater range of motion as you'll be able your legs further than you would doing them on the floor. You don't need to raise your legs far, 18 inches past parallel will get you the most out of the exercise. Make sure that you have something heavy on the other side of the bench to counter your weight when you're doing leg raises like this. If you're feeling froggy you can try the Bruce Lee variation by only supporting yourself with your shoulders and arms (back completely off the bench). That's the pinacle that I want to reach, the only problem is that I'm a welterweight right now, the heavier you are the harder it is.

You can also add variation this by doing a bicycle motion when holding onto a bench which will force you to keep your abs tighter. Holding a fitness/swiss-ball in between your ankles can change things up a bit as well.

It's also challenging to do leg raises from a chin-up bar. Try doing it this way without swinging at all. You have to tighten up every muscle in your body just to manage one rep.

[Boxerharvey]

Good one Chris I use the cycling motion as well, another good one is too draw figures in the air with your feet/legs. I usually go from 1 to 20 with leg weights on, make sure any figures with circles in them are done nice and wide and slow cus they rip your stomach to bits!!

[Chris Nagel]

Try it on a bench for a real challenge.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Next thing I find good for toning abs and indeed increasing your resistance to body punishment is swimming!

I alternate between laps:
1 lap I drag myself using arms only,
other laps I kick only.
I find this really helps the stomach put on functional size, and also increases the lungs capacity so you don't wind easily at all.

[ellemint]

those are great Chris! thanks!

[Chris Nagel]

You're welcome ellemint.