How to pump up upper abs for a girl or a man at home. How to pump up your upper abs: the best exercises and Abs program for women at home

This exercise helps strengthen your upper abdominals. To perform this you need a mat or gymnastics mat.

Technique:

1. Lie on your back
2. Bend your legs at an angle of 90 degrees, press your soles to the floor
3. Place your hands between your legs
4. Extend your arms as you lift forward.

Attention! Find the optimal amplitude when upper press strains as efficiently as possible. When performing the exercise, you should not lift your lower back off the floor and help yourself with your hands, because this will reduce the effect of the exercise.

Crunches with hands behind head

Helps strengthen upper muscles abdominal press. Performed on a gymnastics mat or rug.

Technique:

1. Lie on your back
2. Legs are bent at the knees at an angle of 90 degrees, the soles are pressed to the floor
3. Hands behind your head, elbows pointing in different directions, stomach pulled in
4. While contracting your upper abdominal muscles, lift your upper body slightly.
5. Maintain this position for two seconds and slowly return to the starting position.

Attention! This exercise differs from the previous one only in the position of the hands, which slightly increases the load. You shouldn't be able to see your elbows. When performing, we look up and pull our chin there. We do not pull our head to our knees, we only raise our shoulders.

Straight crunches on the floor with hands on chest

Strengthens the rectus abdominis muscle. Performed on a mat or gymnastics mat.

Technique:

Performed while lying on your back

You can put your legs on a sofa or chair; if this is not possible, then bend them at the knees, with the soles pressed to the floor.

Hands on chest, hands touching shoulders

Contracting your upper abdominal muscles, raise your shoulders and upper back towards your knees. Stay in this position for 2 seconds and smoothly return to the starting position.

Attention! Do not lift your lower back and bottom part backs off the floor. The exercise is performed smoothly, without jerking. When lifting, your shoulders should come off the floor.

Crunches with raised legs - an exercise for the upper abs

Helps strengthen the upper abdominal muscles. Performed on a mat or gymnastics mat.

Technique:

1. Lie on your back
2. Hands behind head, elbows apart
3. Raise your body up, reach for your knees, stay in this position for two seconds, and return to the starting position.

Attention! It is necessary to constantly keep the muscles tense. Perform the exercise slowly, without sudden movements. Do not pull your head towards your knees with your hands. We only raise our shoulders. We keep our legs straight, do not pull them towards the body.

Crunches with legs raised and arms extended

Strengthens the upper abdominals. To perform this you need a gymnastics mat (rug).

Technique:

1. Lie on your back
2. Raise your legs vertically up at an angle of 90% relative to the floor
3. Hands lie on the floor perpendicular to the body, as if you want to hug someone
4. Tightening your abdominal muscles, lift your upper body, reach with your hands to the heels of your feet, stay in this position for two seconds, and return to the starting position.

Attention! Try not to bend your knees. Do not relax your muscles during the exercise. Execution is slow and smooth.

Reverse Bench Curl

Exercise to train the upper abdomen. Performed on incline bench for the press.

Technique:

1. Sit on an ab bench with your feet behind the footrests.
2. Place your hands in front of you, placing your palms on your shoulders.
3. Bend towards your feet as much as possible, arching your back.
4. Lean back to such a distance that your body and legs are approximately perpendicular to each other.

Attention! The most common mistake is to lean the body all the way back, which can lead to injury.

Embossed and toned stomach looks good on any body type.

Will help you achieve this result special exercises And competent technique their implementation.

In this article we will look at how to pump up your six-pack, what kind of training is possible, and the main nuances.

Pumping up your abdominal muscles

The upper abs often include 2 pairs of abs under the chest. But the abs are a single muscle, and those same cubes are formed due to the location of the tendons. Those. isolated exercises for this zone simply do not exist - all movements will pump both the upper and lower abdomen (the only difference is the degree of load on these areas).

From a biological point of view and hormonal levels in the body, it is much easier for men to build muscle than for women. But for women, the layer of fat in the abdominal area is much thinner, so the treasured cubes will be visible faster.

• reduce the thickness subcutaneous fat. The overall body fat indicator for visible abs is most often individual - for one it is less than 8%, while for another the abs are clearly visible at 14%. Based on the individual characteristics of the body, a strategy for losing weight is built. When fighting a “protruding” belly, the main role belongs to dietary nutrition, and to increase muscle definition, specialized fat-burning exercises are necessary;
• correct your own posture. Passive sitting body posture throughout the day guarantees negative changes in your posture. As a result, the abdominal muscles noticeably relax, and gradually the body weight is transferred from the abdominal area to the lower back. As a result, you can end up with strained muscles and chronic pain in the lumbar back. To correct such disorders, static training and relaxing yoga classes are best suited;
• pump up your abdominal muscles. Big number training exercises affect the external abdominal muscles, with almost no effect on the functioning of the internal ones. Moreover, only with the participation of the latter can one pump up the upper and lower muscles, like in athletes. Basic exercises are often called the elbow stand (classic plank) and a special exercise for breathing stress - vacuum;
• train your core. It is completely wrong to understand the abs as one continuous muscle on the front side of the abdomen. In addition to it, there are also internal ones: abdominal, transverse, lumbar muscles, diaphragm, etc. It is impossible to construct a proportional and fit figure, leaving the core muscles unattended;
• how to pump muscles correctly. Strengthening the abdominal muscles is impossible without exercise muscle hypertrophy. Learn to perform 2-3 power lifts twice a week (4 sets of 10-12 repetitions). The key element of such training should be proper technique, and not the desire to increase the number of repetitions;

Important! Various exercises with a large number of repetitions (for example, 50 or more crunches) will never bring the expected result - they are aimed at increasing endurance, and not at pumping muscles.

• control your muscles. To speed up your training progress, it is quite important to learn to control your own abdominal muscles during training - you must use them when performing target movements. In other words, if you can constantly tense your abs during training, this will significantly increase the overall effectiveness of your workout.

Be sure to check out:

Effective exercises to pump up the six-pack on the upper abdomen

The muscles of the abdominal region and body are classified as slow - its basic task is to provide correct posture and optimal intra-abdominal pressure (i.e. it is not oriented towards lifting weights, like the biceps, which consists of quick view fibers).

For this reason, the most important exercises for this area are considered to be static ligaments, which require maintaining long-term tension in the muscles.

3 weeks of regular planking and you can noticeably strengthen your core muscles and get more defined abs.

The most respected and “working” exercises for tightening and strengthening the abdominal muscles in dynamics are considered to be hanging straight leg raises and the well-known “bicycle”. Technically competent execution of these exercises involves 2 times more muscles than practicing classic crunches in a prone position.

Important! Pay attention to technology - even the most best workout for the press will be completely useless (in some cases, dangerous!) if implemented incorrectly.

Loads at home and in the gym for pumping

A set of exercises for the upper abs:

1. Classic crunches. Lie on your back, place your hands on the back of your head or crosswise in the area chest. Legs can be bent knee joint or place on a medium-height chair/sofa. As you exhale, lift your body to the maximum point, and while inhaling, lower it to the starting position. Frequency of execution: 3 sets of 20-25 repetitions. The legs must be bent so that the lower back is pressed as tightly as possible to the floor. If they are left straight, the buttocks may get in the way - the lower back may be in a deflection (increasing the risk of injuries and sprains).
2. Fold. Lie down on a special mat or choose a flat surface. Stretch your arms up (parallel to the floor surface) or along your body (the second option is somewhat simpler), your feet should be pressed to the floor. Start moving your knees and body towards the meeting. The legs need to be slightly bent because they are level this exercise it won't work. the main task– maintain balance during the training process by intensely tensing the core muscles. Perform 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions. Don't forget about breathing correctly: Exhale as you lift your body, and inhale when going back.
3. Alternating fold. Lie on a flat surface, your knees should be bent (your legs can be placed on any high surface - a sofa, an armchair). Place your hands behind your head, with your elbows pointing to the sides. Raise your body, reaching your left elbow to the opposite knee. Then lower yourself to the starting position. Breathe as deeply as possible - this way it is much more productive to pump your upper abs. Next, repeat the movement for the other leg. Multiplicity: 15-20 times for each leg.

Detailed plan for the terrain training program

Exercises for beginners

1. Before starting your main workout, always use warm-up exercises to prevent injury. If any exercise contains weights, do the first approach without additional weight, but add a little weight to the second and third.
2. Focus on cardio training at least 3 times a week. Best time for such a load - early morning or evening (approximately 2 hours before bedtime).
3. The training program should include 3-4 special exercises - classic crunches, folds, hanging leg raises, etc.
4. Each exercise should be performed in 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.
5. Rest between sets should be about 30 seconds, during which time you should not sit down - try to move.
6. The frequency of training is at least 4 times a week, it is recommended to alternate with days dedicated to cardio exercise. When training for relief (as opposed to a period of muscle building), the body does not need much time to recuperate.

Classes for advanced athletes

V. Oleinik, fitness instructor, leading trainer of the BodyArtfitness network

If you are seriously thinking about getting sculpted abs, you need to understand that there are no “magic” techniques. Main rules - regular classes And proper nutrition. Paradoxically, for the most part, the abs are trained in the kitchen, and not during exercise (body relief can only be achieved special regime food). As a rule, for perfect belly You need a body fat content of no more than 10%. Muscle size is far from the most important indicator, since under the fat layer they will be completely invisible.

E. Oprea, trainer, celebrity fitness instructor in New York

You should perform special abdominal exercises as often as possible. This way you can not only increase your total calorie consumption per day, but also get the desired effect much faster.

In this case, it is necessary to develop the most comfortable regime for your body. Because psychological rest and a good mood before the next lesson play a big role in sports results.

S. Karev, candidate master of sports in athletics, coach of the World Class network

In any exercise, even the most familiar and familiar to you, try to feel the muscle work. Without such a small nuance, training will be ineffective. A trivial example from my practice: the next day after crunches, your neck hurts and lumbar region instead of the “correct” strength in the abdominal area. This means that the technique of this exercise was broken - you simply raised your head, and the abdominal muscles practically did not participate in the movements.

Useful video

Main conclusions

With desire and a little persistence, you can get toned upper abs with home workouts:

• perform specialized exercises to pump up your abs, paying great attention to technique and breathing;
• exercise regularly (at least 4 times a week);
• reduce the subcutaneous fat layer in the abdominal area with a special diet.

Before starting training, you should consult a professional trainer - this can make you more high results and reduce the risk of injury!

Many athletes divide all exercises for pumping up the press into several categories: exercises for lower press, upper abdominal exercises and lateral abdominal exercises (obliques).

In our article today we will look at best exercises to work out the upper abs ( upper area abdomen), as well as the method of their implementation.

The best exercises for the upper abs

• Crunches lying on the floor - great exercise, allowing for a good load on the rectus abdominis muscle. Suitable for athletes of any level of training and can be performed both in the gym and at home.
• Crunches on a Roman bench - this exercise is an alternative to crunches on the floor and also works well on the rectus muscle.
• Twisting on a block - this exercise perfectly works the upper abs in isolation due to the constant load of the weight of the block. Can be used at the very end of an abdominal workout.
• Double twists - universal exercise, aimed at training the upper and lower abdominal areas. Can be used as a base on abdominal workout days.

Training complex for pumping up the upper abs

Based on the exercises presented above, you can create a training program for the upper abs.

Follow this training complex Once a week, on the day of abdominal training. The total duration of the complex is 6 weeks.

Science's opinion

Despite the fact that the vast majority of athletes separate training and exercises for the lower and upper abs, in reality they all have the same effect on the rectus abdominis muscle along its entire length. The visual difference in the relief of the upper and lower areas of the abs is explained only by the uneven distribution of fat in this part of the body.

Thus, separate workouts/exercises for the lower and upper abs do not make any sense and load the entire abs along their entire length in the same way. The only exception is the oblique abdominal muscles, which can be pumped separately.

The abs are a solid muscle. You cannot train only its top, middle or bottom. But you can place emphasis by doing exercises for the upper abs or focusing only on training the lower abdomen. If the lower zone is difficult to train due to a small amount muscle fibers and an abundance of connective tissue, then working with the upper abs is much easier. It remains only to find out which exercises are suitable for men and women, and which are useless and dangerous to health.

Remember a simple rule: the lower abs are trained more when lifting the legs with twisting of the tailbone, and the upper abs are trained more in movements with lifting the body. Exercises for the lower and upper abdomen are difficult for those who do not have a neuromuscular connection - the ability to feel a certain muscle group. This connection is formed gradually during full-body training.

However, with obesity, as with poor physical training, it is undesirable to pump the upper abs and increase the load on the abdominal area. It's better to start with health-improving gymnastics and basic exercises. The worst thing is when men copy the workouts of competing athletes. Looking at a photo of an idol, non-professionals think that the athlete’s training program will help them achieve the same results. But at the time of competition, a professional’s body contains 5–7% fat, and amateurs do not go on such strict diets.

A big mistake is also made by novice athletes who repeat daily exercises for the upper abs for girls from different videos. This way they get not a flat, but a voluminous belly. The reason is too much load. The rectus abdominis muscles contain many white muscle fibers. Everyday training makes them grow quickly, but the results of their work are hidden under a layer of “fat” - the cubes are not visible, and the stomach sticks out even more.

“Low-fat” is achieved by calorie restriction, but not daily loads. Moreover, training promotes the accumulation of glycogen in muscles. And for every gram of glycogen, the body stores three grams of water. This is how the muscles become rounded and full. If you exercise every day, then the intramuscular glycogen depot is constantly preserved. This is the worst strategy for training your abdominal muscles!

How to build beautiful upper abs at home and in the gym?

It is better for non-professionals to perform one at a time different exercises: Do one set of each exercise with a high number of repetitions. A high-repetition regime promotes weight loss and prevents the waist and belly from growing. You can combine exercises into supersets: perform several approaches consisting of two or more exercises. It also minimally increases and maximizes the “relief” of the press slow pace and a pause at the top point – static tension.

Breathing plays a huge role: the abdominal muscles contract as much as possible when the lungs are completely emptied of air. You need to exhale completely and loudly as you lift your body up. After such training, the stomach will be hard, like a membrane, and even a centimeter layer of fat will not spoil its appearance.

The cubes stand out thanks to tendon jumpers on the rectus abdominis muscle. Their number and location are determined genetically. Often they are not visible due to the layer of fat, but sometimes it is not possible to draw the cubes due to the small range of motion. This is especially true for those who pump their abs with weights on their chest. At the same time, willy-nilly, the “span” of the body is reduced.

For your upper abs to look good, they need a certain amount of muscle mass. But these muscles, like others, need rest. For some reason, it doesn’t occur to anyone to do 100 repetitions of biceps exercises every day, but many people don’t allow their abs to recover. Most professionals recommend training your abs 1-2 times a week. In this mode, glycogen has time to “drain” and the waist becomes smaller than when training every 2-3 days.

Another fact in defense of rare abdominal workouts is the rapid fatigue of the body after such exercises. The fact is that during all kinds of twisting, there is a load on the solar plexus - the largest nerve bundle in the body. If you put a lot of pressure on it, overtraining quickly occurs.

Effective exercises for the upper abs

The classic variation is one of the best for men and women. The exercise is performed while lying on the floor. It can be done by people with little overweight who find it difficult to train their abs in other ways due to back pain. From the outside, these crunches look as if the amplitude is incomplete: the lower back is always pressed to the floor, the shoulder blades come off the floor and return back again. But this is precisely the movement that stretches the rectus abdominis muscle and prevents the iliopsoas muscle from working.

You can bend your legs at the knees and place your feet on the floor closer to the pelvis, throw them on the sofa (bending the knee at an angle of 90 degrees), and keep them bent while hanging. In all positions, the front surface of the thigh is turned off, which strives to participate in abdominal training.

The closer your hands are to the pelvis, the easier it is to perform the exercise. It is best to cross them on your chest or bend your elbows, holding your fists to your chin. The most difficult thing is to hold your hands behind your head, because this creates a desire to pull your elbows and neck towards your legs, which often leads to injury.

Seated crunches

While sitting in a crunch machine, grab your hands top handles and place your feet under the bolsters. The angle at the elbow should not exceed 90 degrees. Using your abdominal muscles, curl forward. Don't collapse completely (your torso should not touch your hips) and always keep your abdominal muscles tight.

A trainer with handles allows you to master crunches while lying on your back with increased amplitude. During twisting, the abdominal muscles contract as much as possible, and in lowest point– fully stretch without putting any strain on the back.

Kneeling crunches on a crossover block or cable handle machine (prayer)

Kneel down facing block simulator and grab the handle with your hands. Rounding your back, lean forward and try to touch your elbows to your legs. The handle should be behind your head at approximately neck level. Perform the movement without jerking with a light weight by working the abdominal muscles, not the arms.

The exercise is good, but it also does not allow the upper part to relax. The level of load in this case is slightly less than when twisting on the horizontal bar. The movement is performed with emphasis on the forearms and the back tightly pressed to the machine. The press is always under control, the legs do not dangle. You need to raise your legs, slightly bent at the knees, as high as possible, tucking your tailbone slightly forward. The legs are held at the top for 1–2 seconds and not lowered completely.

It’s not difficult to pump up your abs; the hardest thing is to get rid of the fat layer under which the muscles are hidden. And to achieve this and get sculpted abs, you need to do basic exercises for the whole body and perform cardio training.

Ineffective and dangerous exercises

For many, pain in sports is synonymous with efficiency. However, pain is not a sign that the exercise is beneficial. Correctly create training programs taking into account individual characteristics, do not forget to do the plank and vacuum, do not harm your health and watch your diet!

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Traditionally, the upper abs are usually called the four cubes located above the navel, and the lower abs, respectively, are everything that is located below. However, abdominal Press– a whole muscle (the cubes form tendon bridges), and its division into 2 parts is very conditional. Therefore, the exercises for the upper abs that we will consider in this article also affect the rest of it, just to a lesser extent.

We work out the abs at home

We’ll make you happy – you don’t need to go outside, everything can be done at home. We will need:

• fitness mat (required);
• inclined bench for the press (optional, but it’s better to have one);
• 1-2 dumbbells with weights.

Exercises on the mat: twisting and lifting the torso

We close the windows so that there is no draft. You will need to lie down for 5 minutes or more. During this time you may get blown away. Lay out the mat and lie down on it with your back:

1. Place your hands behind your head or cross them over your chest.
2. We bend our legs at the knees, or throw them on a chair, sofa, bed.
3. As you exhale, we raise the body, while inhaling we lower it. Raise your body to the highest possible point. For beginners, it is enough to slightly bend your back at the top, raising your head.
4. We do 2-3 sets of 15-30 times. On the first day, you can do 1 set of 30 repetitions.

You need to bend your legs in order to press your lower back to the floor. If your legs are straight, your buttocks will get in the way and your lower back will arch.

Exercises that involve lifting and bending the upper body are aimed at training the upper abs. To pump up your lower abs, you need, on the contrary, to raise your legs. However, we remember that the abs are a solid muscle, so its lower section always works together with the upper one. In the above exercise, you can increase the load on the lower area by raising your legs in the air.

While pumping the upper abdomen, you must not forget about the lower abdomen. To do this, we recommend doing the second abdominal exercise at home – the tuck. She looks like this:

1. We lie down on the mat. The arms are extended upward (it turns out parallel to the floor), or along the body (this option will be noticeably easier). Feet are on the floor.
2. We begin to simultaneously move the knees and arms with the body towards each other. Place your hands behind your knees. Legs need to be slightly bent. You won't be able to do the exercise with straight legs. Don’t forget to breathe correctly: exhale as you go up, inhale as you move back.
3. The fulcrum for your body at the top point is the pelvis. Your task is to maintain balance so as not to fall on one side.

Here's another interesting option exercises that can also pump up the oblique abdominal muscles at home:

1. We lie on our backs. Knees bent, feet on the floor or propped up on a sofa, bed or chair.
2. Hands behind your head with elbows to the sides (this is the only way).
3. We twist the body and reach the right knee with the left elbow. We lower ourselves to the starting position.
4. We stretch our right elbow to our left knee. In this case, the knees do not move (feet on the floor), and movements are carried out by twisting the body.

Thus, the upper abs and oblique muscles, located just on the sides of the upper part, work. Let's breathe correctly!

If you want to simultaneously pump up your lower abs, you can use the option of lifting the body and legs bent at the knees. At the same time we move the elbow and the knee of the same name towards each other. It turns out that each repetition of the exercise involves one side of the upper and lower abdomen.

It is much easier to pump up your abdominal muscles at home (both the lower and upper abs) if you buy an incline bench for the abs. With its help you can work with extra weight. In this case, the load will be higher and the muscles will grow faster.

If you start lifting weights, you should not lift two parts of your abdomen in one day. Do one thing at a time, it will be difficult to pump up both parts at once. It's easier to lose a couple of kilograms of fat so that the cubes become more visible.

Home exercises for obese people

It is known that overweight people find it difficult to pump up their abs due to frequent back pain (or it is simply difficult to do the exercises). Therefore, you should increase the load gradually. Two or three approaches of 15–30 times in this case will be enough. Do it 10 times in the first week. Each time, try to raise your body higher.

Start with a normal lying up and crunch with your elbow going towards your knee. Then alternate between raising your knees and body. This concludes your belly workout.

If you do everything correctly, then after 2-3 weeks you will be able to do the fold several times, and the lower abs, together with the upper ones, will noticeably strengthen.

Now let's look at exercises for the upper abs that can be performed in the gym.

If you lack motivation at home, purchase a membership to a fitness club. There you will have an external will in the person of a coach who will not only draw up for you training program, but will also monitor its implementation.

We pump up the press in the gym

Let's talk about the Roman chair and the incline ab bench (there are many options). For some, these are generally types of the same simulator.

There are benches that do not have legs that can be attached to wall bars. There are benches with adjustable backrest. And there are classic Roman chairs, where there are fastenings for the legs and support for the pelvis. It is very convenient to pump the upper press on all of them.

Roman chair raises

You have to be careful on a classic Roman chair. Since your body is in a free state (there is no support for your back), and the entire load of holding it goes to your lower back. With weak abdominal muscles or problems with the spine, pain may occur in the lumbar region. If you feel discomfort when performing exercises on a Roman chair, it means your body is not yet ready for such a load.

• When sitting on a Roman chair, you should not place your back too far down. It is enough to deviate slightly above parallel with the floor, then return to the opposite position.
• Raise the body completely, or work near the parallel level - it's up to you. We recommend ensuring maximum contraction amplitude of the abdominal muscles.

For beginners, sit-ups on a Roman chair will be too much. difficult exercise, and not everyone will be able to do it correctly the first time.

Incline press

Another option is when you work on an incline bench. Here you can adjust the backrest angle. You are hanging upside down, so the greater the angle of inclination, the more you will be hindered by the Earth's gravitational force.

You need to start at 30 degrees. It is advisable to lower your back onto the bench, but you don’t have to touch it with your head. This way you will maintain tension in the working muscles. We hold our hands behind our heads or on our chests.

On a bench you can work with additional weight. When you are strong enough, you can perform upper abdominal exercises with barbell plates or dumbbells. We recommend working on an inclined bench rather than on a Roman chair, as in this case your back will be comfortably supported.

You can pump up your abs on a bench in two ways:

• Round your back - then your upper abs work more.
• And do not round your back - the load will be evenly distributed throughout the abs. In this case, the load on the lower back also increases. If you are sick, this is an option for you.

The first option, in our opinion, is more convenient.

The load can be increased further due to a more acute angle relative to the floor. However, in this case there is a risk of blood pressure surges, since you will be lying upside down. It's better to pump your abs with weights than to overdo the angles. You're not a ninja.

An incline bench trains the upper part of the abs to the maximum, but the lower part, on the contrary, is minimally involved.