Abs of Steel

The other night, while suffering through one of my occasional bouts of insomnia, I was channel surfing at an hour when there is only one type of television program playing–infomercials.

So, I only had two choices; to watch the infomercial or knock myself unconscious with the remote control. Prior to knocking myself out, I watched a few of these infamous ads and was amazed at the number of devices available to guarantee me abs of steel!

While there is obviously a need for abdominal work, there is not a need for all this extraneous stuff to perform it with. Try the following ab exercises; they don’t require electrodes to be hooked up to any body part. Remember, when purchasing magical devices to lose weight and tone up, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Perform each exercise in succession to hit all of your core’s muscle fibres. After you have completed all three, rest for one minute and repeat. Do two to four sets, two to three times a week for your own abs of steel.

1. Plank to side plank

a. Lie on your stomach with your elbows under your shoulders.
b. Lift your body into a plank position, maintaining a neutral spine.
c. Hold for 10 seconds, then rotate the body to one side.
d. Balance on the sides of your feet and one elbow, holding for 10 seconds.
e. Rotate your body back to a plank position, hold for 10 seconds, then rotate in the other direction and hold that side plank for 10 seconds.

2. Bicycles

a. Lie on your back, cradling your head with your hands.
b. Bend your knees so that they line up with the hips, and begin a slow pedal motion by extending the right leg towards the ground while you lift your head and shoulders up and turn towards the opposite bent knee.
c. Continue to pedal while keeping the abdominals pulled in (don't let them bulge out).
d. Perform for 30 seconds.

3. V-sits with rotations

a. Sit on your “sit bones” (those two bony protrusions on the bottom of your bum), with knees bent and feet flat on the ground.
b. With a neutral spine, slowly lean back about 30 degrees (without losing the neutral curve of your spine), extend your arms out in front of you to shoulder height.
c. Clasp your hands together and lift your feet a few inches off the floor.
d. Slowly turn, using your waist muscles, from side to side.
e. Perform these rotations for 30 seconds.