Stomach Workouts

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Make Quebec. Today's subject is stomach exercises. I'm going to demonstrate three variations off of the same theme while lying down. You notice I'm making sure that my back is protected by having this mat on the floor. So, remember whenever you're doing any kind of abdominal work you want to make sure that the ab muscles are actually seen. You want to combine your exercise routine with a sound and healthy eating plan. So, that way your body fat percentage is low enough so that way the definition can actually be seen. I should also mention this. Any kind of muscle work that you do, it's a good idea to work opposing muscle groups, so that way your body is in balance. So, actually after I demonstrate these three abdominal exercises I will demonstrate a lower back exercise as well, because that's the opposing muscle. You want to make sure that like pulleys your muscles are in balance and they're not pulled in one direction or the other too much. Alright, so let's get to work. I'm going to go ahead and lie down. I'm going to brace my head without pulling so hard that I'll be straining my neck, because I don't want to strain my neck. I want to strain my abdominals. So, I want to get my upper body high enough off the floor so that my stomach is engaged. Now, I'm going to go ahead and point the toes and lift my feet up off the floor just high enough so that my stomach muscles are held tight. From here I'm going to do this motion. I call it, scissors up and down. Like this. One, two, three, one, one; two, three, two; one, two, three, two. If you are a beginner exerciser. One, two, three, one, one; two, three, two, for twelve. If you are intermediate, advanced twenty-five. If you are a beginner one set of twelve. If you are advanced, two sets of twenty-five. You notice the key here is getting my upper body up high enough so that the stomach is engaged. OK. Moving along, the next exercise is exactly the same. The only difference is instead of the feet going up and down like this they are going over this way, so it's scissors the other direction. Alright, so again it's exactly the same. I want to brace my head and my upper body up high enough so that my stomach is held in tight. I'm going to point my toes, lift up the feet, now it's one, two, three, one, opening, opening, opening and closing, opening and closing. OK. One set of twelve if you're a beginner. Two sets of twenty-five if you're advanced. Opening and closing, opening and closing. Good. The last exercise that I'm going to do for abdominals, before I switch to the lower back is; it's some twists. It's like this. Again, the set up is the same. Upper body off the floor, head is braced; I'm going to twist this way, so that this elbow meets this knee. The feet are off the floor, now I'm just going to twist from one to the other. Twist, twist, twist, one, twist, twist, twist, two; if you're a beginner one set of twelve. Advanced two sets of twenty-five. If you're intermediate find a happy medium that works for you. Alright, so those are the three exercises that I do for my abdominal routine. Now, I want to also work the opposing muscle group, the lower back. Just to make sure that I have balance. The simplest thing you can do is just make like Superman, just like this. You're lying down, opposing hand, opposing foot. I'm going to lift up straight right arm, straight left leg and then down, straight right leg, straight left arm. I'm just moving up and down for twelve, if you're a beginner. If you're intermediate advanced twenty-five. Don't forget to stretch afterwards. Alright, so these are the exercises for an abdominal routine. Thank you."