The Push Through Abdominal Exercise

Video Transcript

"Hello, I'm Kyle Brayer, and your next in-home abdominal work out will be the push through. The push through is performed on a mat as well. Kerry here is going to lay all the way down on her back. She's going to post her feet flat on the floor with a bend in her knees. She's going to take her arms and cross her hands. And then the key here is keeping the forearms flat against the body, while keeping the neck in an in-line, neutral position. And similar to a crunch, she's going to bring her upper body up, and push those hand through her legs. This is the positive portion, and then the negative, she'll just release back down. The key here is making sure that those arms stay down, and the range of motion is very short. She's actually only coming off the mat with her shoulders about an inch to an inch and a half, and it really isolates the first upper row of the abs. So, one more time Kerry; up and back down. And a nice pause, if she comes up, she inhales, she holds, and comes back down, makes this technique slightly more advanced. One more time, in and back down. So, the inhale on the way up is a positive portion, and exhale through the mouth on the way down. And again, inhale, exhale. Now, a variation again would be to bring the legs up, she would hold her legs here at a 90 degree angle, and she would the same exercise; up and back down. Now, having the legs up add tension to the bottom row of the abs, so you're working both the upper and the lower abs. That is the push through. "