Not Just a Man's World

I could spend months working away at an exercise getting little or no improvement because I didn’t even have a basic level of strength.  I’ve found that most sites that recommend abs exercises don’t mention how much basic strength you need to be able to get some benefit from their exercises so I was often trying to run before I could walk and frequently finding my face plastered in metaphorical mud. 

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to set out the exercises that I tried and provide a suggested progression order based on my experience so far.  The areas I’ll cover are:

• Part 1:  Entry level abs exercises
• Part 2:  Building functional ab strength
• Part 3:  Advanced abs exercises

So let’s kick off with the entry level abs exercises!

Connecting with your abs

Lie on your back on the floor with your legs bent up in the air.  Tighten your abs and push your lower back into the floor (removing the natural arch).  Hold for as long as possible, up to a maximum of 30 seconds, and then relax.  Repeat 3-5 times each day for a week.

Connecting with your abs

Leg lowering – single leg

As with the first exercise, lie on your back on the floor with your legs bent up in the air.  Tighten your abs so that you push your lower back into the floor (removing the natural arch and getting a sensation that someone has super-glued your back to the floor).  Slowly straighten out one leg until your lower back starts to pull away from the floor. 

Hold the position for as long as possible, up to a maximum of 30 seconds, and then slowly bring your leg back to the original position.  Repeat with the other leg.

Leg lowering - single leg

Do this three times with each leg once a day, trying to get your leg a bit further each day until you can hold each leg straight out a couple of inches above the floor for 30 seconds for all three repetitions.

If you do this exercise every morning, you should find you have mastered the necessary strength within 2-3 weeks. 

If you are really pushing the boundaries of your strength you may well find that you are shaking with the effort of keeping your legs where they are and your back on the floor.  This is a good sign!

Leg lowering – full exercise

This is the same as the single leg version but lowering both legs simultaneously.

When you first move onto this, I would recommend starting with a single repetition of this followed by two repetitions of the single leg version and slowly build up until you can do three repetitions of the full exercise, holding your feet a couple of inches above the floor with straight legs for the full 30 seconds.. 

Leg lowering - full exercise

Don’t be surprised if you can’t get your legs very far out the first time before your entire upper body (as well as your lower back) start to pull away from the floor in a see-saw motion.  Hold the position at the point where you are starting to lift off the ground and the strength will rapidly build up.

I loved this leg lowering progression, starting with single leg and building up to the full exercise.  It’s the exercise that finally cracked the riddle of my super-weak abs.

Planks

I found I couldn’t introduce until I had almost mastered the full leg lowering exercise – when I tried to introduce it earlier my lower back would collapse and take the strain.  Other people find that they can introduce the plank sooner.

Lie on your front with your arms bent, elbows close into the body and palms on the floor.  Tuck your toes under, lock your abs out imagining that you are like a straight plank of wood and raise yourself up off the floor, resting on your lower arms and toes. You should be almost “parallel” to the floor.

Hold this position for as long as possible, up to a minute, concentrating on getting that same sensation of pushing the lower back outwards using your abs (imagine there is a plank resting on your back and you are trying to glue your lower back to the floor).  Do three repetitions.

Planks

Planks with raised leg

Once you can hold the plank for a minute try mixing it up with raising one straight leg up off the floor.  Perhaps do a one minute plank holding one leg up for the first 20 seconds and the other leg for the second 20 seconds before returning to a normal plank for the final 20 seconds.

Plank with raised leg

Next week, I’ll cover the exercises that you can progress to once you’ve got a good base strength from leg lowering and planks.

Related posts:

1. Core workouts (Part 2)
2. Core workouts (Part 3)
3. 15 Ways to Survive a Desk Job – Part 2 (workouts)
4. Glute Guy workouts