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Step 1
Stand with your legs at shoulders' width and your feet pointed straight forward. Raise your hand straight up into the air toward the ceiling. Make a tight fist with your hands (just to make the workout slightly more intense). Begin to pull your arms down (while clenching) and raising one of your knees straight up into the air. Perform a slight stomach crunch while lifting your knee into the air. Your knee should rise just slightly above a 90-degree angle. This along with the slight stomach crunch should cause your thigh to make slight impact with your stomach. When this occurs, lower that leg and return your arms to the set position. Repeat this motion using your opposite leg. Continue alternating legs back and forth until you've completed 60 total reps (30 on each side).
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Step 2
Stand with your legs at shoulders' width once again and your arms straight out to the side. Your hands should also be straight out so that your fingers are pointed off to the side. Use your hips only to bend your upper body back and forth to either side. Pretend a force is pulling your body back and forth but you can't move anything but your torso. Keep your arms straight out to the side while performing this exercise. As a point of reference, your fingertips should go about half an inch to an inch below your knee. How far you bend, though, will be determined by your body. If you move your legs or arms the exercise will not be performed correctly. You should feel the burn in your obliques while performing this routine. Complete 100 total reps (50 on each side).
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Step 3
Begin with your legs in the same position and your hands placed as they would be if you were doing a sit-up on the ground. Raise your knee in the same manner as you would when performing the first exercise. While raising your knee, bend your upper body to the side as you did during the second exercise. Do not alternate sides, however, during this exercise. Perform 50 reps on one side and then do the same using your opposite side. This is a good combination side and lower ab workout while standing.
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Step 4
Stand with your legs slightly closer together this time. Let your arms hang down at either side. Hold dumbbells and place your hands about three to four inches away from your hips. Bend your upper body in the same manner as you did during the second and third exercise. When bending over to either side, your hand should go to about your knee (no lower). Begin by holding five or ten pound weights depending on the strength of your ab muscles. You can eventually increase the weight once you get stronger.
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Step 5
Stand in the same manner as you did for the previous exercise. Keep both legs straight when standing like this. Take a normal step with one foot and then, while keeping that leg straight, lift that foot about two or three inches off the ground. Then, keeping the leg straight, twirl it clockwise in the air so that your foot draws a circle without setting that foot onto the ground. When doing this, note that your leg should not extend more than 30 degrees outward. Do this for 20 total reps and then twirl the leg in the opposite direction. Once you've finished this, repeat the reps using the other leg. This is a good exercise for your lower abs. It's important to note that you may have difficulty doing this at first due to balance or leg strength. If you have to set your foot on the ground for a second, simply start up again where you left off.
Comments
meakmeak said
on 4/8/2009 Can you post pictures of the exercises listed above?