Learn what to avoid mistakes when performing ab exercises in order to exclude extraneous muscles from work as much as possible. Every man dreams of having "cubes" on his belly. Women, in turn, appreciate the workout of this group for the ability to flatten their tummy. Having decided to train the abs, you must remember that this is an ordinary muscle that reacts to physical activity in the same way as other muscles. Today you will learn how not to pump the press.
Ineffective and dangerous abs exercises
In the training of any muscle group, you can find exercises that are not effective or may even be dangerous. The press is no exception, and now we will introduce you to those movements that need to be excluded from your training program.
- Flexion of the body on the bench. Once this movement was considered almost the only effective one for pumping the press. For the athletes, the main question was only about the angle of the bench and where the arms should be. But after a series of studies, we can safely say that this exercise is not worth doing. This is due at least to the fact that exercise does not allow you to get good results. To create a load sufficient for hypertrophy of the abdominal muscles, the amplitude must be short enough. As a result, when you sit down on the bench, you are only wasting time. However, this is not the biggest problem. Scientists have proven that movement is potentially harmful to the back. When the torso flexes, it creates a compression load on the lower back that is significantly higher than the allowable value. With prolonged exposure to this type of load, fatigue accumulates, which can lead to the development of hernia and other injuries.
- Leg Throws. When performing this movement, a friend throws your feet on the ground, and you should try to put them down neatly and then lift them up again. The reason why the exercise should be excluded from the training program is similar to the previous one. When it is performed, a strong load arises, which negatively affects the lower part of the spinal column. If you use movement in training for a long time, then chronic pain may appear.
- Press training in the Ab Circle Pro simulators. You may have noticed that various TV shops offer a lot of "magic" devices that should pump up your abs in a short time. One of the most popular, or rather advertised simulators, is the Ab Circle Pro. According to the creators, it will help you get rid of five kilograms of fat in the abdomen in just 14 days. Moreover, we are talking about the local process of lipolysis. In the United States, the manufacturer has already been fined more than $ 9 million for misleading advertising.
In our country, such statements by manufacturers are "turned a blind eye" and we are already accustomed to them. The cost of this wonderful device is about 3.5 thousand rubles. However, simple crunches performed on the floor have yielded significantly better results.
Why is twisting dangerous?
The most popular motion for pumping the press is twisting. It is no coincidence that we decided to devote an entire section of the article to it, since it poses a danger to people who spend a lot of time in a sitting position. Many of them cannot perform the exercise technically correctly, and most of the load goes to the accessory muscles.
If you do the twisting incorrectly, then a large number of muscles are involved in the work. The more repetitions are done, the stronger the harm to the body will be. If a person's abdominal muscles are weak, then the main load goes to the flexors of the lower back and hip. This leads to the fact that the press is practically not worked out directly.
In addition, the pelvic floor muscles are weakened as a result. This is most often the main reason for poor posture, pain in the back, problems with the rectum and sphincter. In advanced cases, hemorrhoids begin to develop.
At the same time, physical activity cannot be abandoned, but it is necessary to use those that will bring the maximum effect and are safe. We have already said that in terms of training, the abdominal muscles are no different from other muscles. However, from a functional point of view, there is a difference. The main task of the press in everyday life is to maintain the correct posture and fix the internal organs.
This suggests that strong abdominal muscles, first of all, should be able to always be in tension. Whatever work you do during the day, you need to make sure that the abdominal muscles are tense. Knowing how not to pump the press, you can find the best training methods.
According to the results of scientific research, the optimal type of load in this situation is static. In turn, the best exercise for the press is the plank. But if you perform the movement incorrectly, and your abs are weak, then it can also be dangerous, since most of the load will shift to the spinal column.
You should not fanatically perform the bar, because the task of the exercise is not to hold the desired position for a long time, but to create a static load on the press.
How to build abs: training myths
All fitness lovers devote a lot of time to training the abdominal muscles. Now you know how not to pump the press, but we want to continue this topic and talk about the most popular myths. Now on the net you can find a lot of false information on any issue, including fitness classes. Let's take a look at the most popular misconceptions that get in the way of developing your abdominal muscles. They fit perfectly into the topic of today's article and will help you better understand how not to pump the press.
By working out the abs, you can get rid of belly fat
Unfortunately for many, local fat burning is simply not possible. The body stores nutrients where it is beneficial to it. He doesn't worry at all about your appearance. After the start of training, fat stores first decrease on the face, neck, shoulders and chest. But the body spends adipose tissue in the so-called problem areas extremely slowly. Recall that in men, fat is deposited most quickly on the waist, and in women - on the hips.
This mechanism has been improved over millions of years of evolution, and we simply cannot change anything. Just imagine this picture - perfectly pumped abs, but fat remained in other areas of the body. Cubes will appear only after all other muscles have been sufficiently worked out. To get rid of adipose tissue in problem areas, it is necessary to combine proper nutrition, cardio and strength training. Only in this situation can you expect to burn fat in the abdomen or thighs.
Everyone wants to have abs like fitness magazine covers
It should be remembered that a person with ideal muscle tissue genetics and ideal body proportions can become a fitness model. The shape of the abs cannot be influenced by a nutritional or training program. It is laid down from birth and does not change.
A common person can pump up the muscles of the body, but it will be extremely difficult to catch up in shape with fitness models. Speaking specifically about the press, in most cases it is even impossible. In most people, the abdomen of the muscles is shortened, the cubes are located asymmetrically. And their shape is not square.
However, we are not saying that you should stop exercising, but only urge you to realistically assess your capabilities. Agree that if a guy has well-built body muscles, then no one on the beach will consider the shape of his abs cubes. You can look up to the fitness stars to increase your motivation, but don't try to change your genetics, as this is not possible. Today we talk only about how not to pump the press so that you do not waste your time.
Perfect abdominal contours can be maintained at all times
Remember that the shape in which the fitness models and bodybuilding stars appear in front of you is created just before the photo session or tournament. To do this, they need to undergo a course of the so-called drying, which includes a strict diet, various sports pharmacology and hard training. What many call super-relief is an unnatural condition for the body. In such situations, athletes' physical parameters are sharply reduced, and he quickly gets tired.
This fact is due to the fact that the diet contains a minimum amount of carbohydrates, and some athletes stop using this nutrient altogether. As a result, due to a severe energy deficit, the body cannot function normally, but at the same time, fat reserves are minimal. Agree that in everyday life you will never need it. It is enough to keep yourself in good physical shape throughout the year, which is quite easy to achieve.
To pump the press, it is necessary to work in a multi-repetitive mode
You can often find information that the press will only be pumped if you perform about a hundred repetitions in various exercises. It is not clear what this point of view is connected with, because all the muscles of the body are the same and obey the same laws of growth. The press, like, say, the biceps, must recover after the last workout, and only in this case hypertrophy is possible.
How to properly swing the press without harming the spine, see below:
