Abdominal pumping in the gym. Simulators and exercises. Abdominal and abdominal exercisers: at home and in the gym Leg curls in the exercise machine
Crunches in the simulator are an exercise for targeted development of the abdominal muscles. Its advantage over or on a Roman chair is that it reduces the load on lumbar region spine. In addition, using a machine makes the workout more intense and allows you to gradually increase the load by increasing the weight.
Muscle work
Like all other crunches, this exercise is aimed at working out the abdominal muscles in detail. The main load is taken on by the rectus abdominis muscle, while the oblique muscles partially work. The iliopsoas muscles are also activated (they flex the hip, pulling it towards the lumbar spine). All other muscles of the body play the role of stabilizers.
The correct technique will allow you to concentrate all the tension in the abdominal muscles, which will ultimately make the exercise as effective as possible and give an impressive result.
This exercise is relatively safe for the joints and spinal column. For this reason, almost all people can do the exercise without restrictions. The only exception is a recent spinal injury.
Execution technique
To begin, prepare the simulator by adjusting it to your height and setting the required weight. Depending on the features of the simulator, you will need to slightly adapt the technique of performing the exercise. Exercise machines come with bolsters or straps, but general principle performing the movements is the same.
If you have just started training, limit yourself to medium weights; if necessary, you can always increase the load.
Adjust the seat so that you can rest your feet comfortably and back surface shoulders into the exercise pads. There are also designs where you rest your chest against the bolster. It is important that you can easily control your body position. When the simulator is ready, you can begin the exercise:
- Sit on the exercise machine. Grab his arms with your hands, rest your shoulders on the pillows. If you have a machine with a roller in front of your chest, it is better to move your arms back rather than stretch them forward, reducing the load on the abs.
- In the starting position, twist a little. It is necessary that the tiles of the exercise machine are slightly raised.
- As you exhale, twist. Hold in the extreme position for a moment, achieve peak muscle contraction. Try to twist your body, that is, pull your head towards your pelvis, and not just lean forward.
- As you inhale, slowly return to the starting position without relaxing your muscles. Try to keep your abs tense throughout the exercise. If you get tired, don’t rush to quit. Take a few breaths and continue moving.
To improve the effectiveness of your classes, use the following recommendations:
- Before starting the exercise, bend your back slightly at the top point of the amplitude and sit there for a few seconds. This will further stretch the muscles.
- Your goal is not to bend down, but to curl up. The abs are worked more effectively during crunches and are practically not affected during bending.
- Don't turn your head. A sudden turn of the head while lifting weights can lead to injury. cervical region spine.
- Choose a weight that allows you to perform at least 10–15 repetitions well.
- Try to stay in lowest point for 1 count, reducing the press as much as possible.
- If you don't want to gain so much muscle mass how much to reset excess weight, add cardio to your schedule and be sure to stick to your diet. Only in this case you will receive.
Follow all the recommendations and combine crunches on the machine with other exercises aimed at working the abdominal muscles. In particular, hanging leg raises will help focus on the lower rectus muscle. Comprehensive muscle training will make your figure beautiful and harmonious. So you can see desired results as soon as possible.
We once wrote about how to properly pump up the abs, now we decided to show how NOT to load your abdominal muscles (yes, that’s what the abs are called). It's very important group muscles for anyone involved in fitness.
1. Torso bending on a bench
A long time ago, this exercise for the press was practically the only one. The only question was what inclination to give the bench and where to place the hands. However, modern sports medicine warns against using this exercise.
Let's start with the fact that this exercise is far from the most effective. The actually effective range of motion for the abs is quite short, and when bending your torso on a bench, you perform most of the movement in vain.
But the worst thing about this exercise is the potential harm to your back. During trunk bending exercises on a bench, a compression load occurs on the lower back, which exceeds the recommended threshold approved by the American National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety. Their report states that prolonged stress while bending the torso on a bench over time can lead to various disorders in the back, an increased risk of spinal hernia, and the accumulation of a negative background that can result in various injuries.
2. Leg Throws
You lie down, and during this exercise your partner throws your legs down, and you try to carefully put them down and lift them up again. “Keep this abdominal exercise out of your routine,” says Cedric Bryant, a senior scientist at the American Council on Exercise, for a similar reason—excessive stress on the lumbar spine. If you have had problems with your lower back and bottom In the back, this exercise can cause pain. And even if the exercise doesn't cause immediate pain, it can cause chronic back pain over time.
3. Ab Circle Pro exercises
It's sad, but shops on the couch with a bunch of magical things that will create six-pack abs in a couple of weeks are thriving. One of the most famous “magic exercise machines” in the world, Ab Circle Pro, judging by the advertising, promised to “remove 10 pounds (almost 5 kg) in 2 weeks” and even talked about local fat burning on the stomach. As a result, in the USA, the manufacturer of the simulator was fined $9.3 million for advertising that did not correspond to reality.
Well, in countries like Russia, such advertising statements have apparently long been considered the norm. And you can easily buy Ab Circle Pro at a price of 3.5 thousand rubles. The point of this machine, according to Dr. Bryant, is to lighten the load as you complete movements. Studies have shown that the normal floor curl is more effective than the Ab Circle Pro.
The main advantage of this section is the ability to perform tasks without special equipment such as simulators. Exercises must be performed on a hard surface. Since you will most likely feel uncomfortable at first, use a special foam or mat. You can't put anything under your head. Abbreviations: p – approach, p – times. 3p10p = 3 sets of 10 reps.
Upper press
- Twisting. Lie on your back: hands behind your head, elbows to the sides, legs bent at the knees. Raise top part torso so that the elbow reaches the knee of the opposite leg. Rise as you inhale, descend as you exhale. 3p10r, gradually increase to 3p50r.
- Leg raises. You lie perfectly straight, arms along your body or to the sides if it is difficult to maintain balance. Raise your legs up without bending. If stretching does not allow, it is better to lift to a lower height, but you cannot bend your knees. Try to do the exercise slowly: when done quickly, the abs tense unevenly.
- Birch. The exercise is performed in the same way as the previous one, but together with your legs you need to raise your pelvis and support it with your hands so that the body is in an upright position. Legs stretch up. Stay in this position for 5-10 seconds, then smoothly lower your hips first, then your legs. Both exercises are performed 3p10p.
- "Penknife". Raise your torso and legs at the same time, then smoothly lower them. So for beginners similar exercise It is difficult to perform, try to do 3 sets of the maximum number of times, but no more than 10.
- Raise your legs 15-20 cm above the floor and hold as much as your muscles allow.
- Raise your legs to a right angle, body lying down. Raise your hips 15-20 cm from the floor, leaning on your hands. Place your arms along your body. Slowly lower your legs. 2p20r.
- Bike. Probably a familiar exercise to everyone. You lie down and at the same time make movements with your legs as if you were driving. To make the task more difficult, try raising your body.
- Raise your legs 15-20 cm from the floor. Bring them slowly to an angle of 90 0, then lower them back to the previous height (15-20). 2p20r.
- Scissors. Raise your legs and move them one after the other. 3p20r.
Lateral abdominal muscles
You are used to the fact that training work in most cases gives a “formative” effect and is not used for mass gain. Machine crunches are an exception to the generally accepted rule, since in this case you can subject the abs to quite “decent” power loads, without regard to limiting factors (such as the health of the lower back).
Obviously, like any other skeletal muscle, when exposed to weight, the abdominal muscles will hypertrophy. And if this is the goal of your training, perform 6 to 12 repetitions of crunches in a series of 3-4 sets.
To demonstrate the “ribbon of cubes,” on the contrary, a volumetric style of performing the exercise is more suitable: Twisting in a sitting machine in a mode of 15-20 repetitions. Good effect in this case, a combination of several abdominal exercises in supersets or trisets gives.
However, there is nothing stopping you from alternating both of these training modes within the same session: start with the maximum number of repetitions for you (for example, 20) and follow the reverse pyramid method - gradually lower the number of repetitions and increase the weight.
Crunches in the simulator
– these are exercises for training the abs, which will remove the load from the spine and, at the same time, effectively progress the load. The bottom line is that crunches in the simulator are performed with a counterweight, that is, the athlete sets the weight of the simulator with which he is most comfortable performing the exercise, due to which it is possible to increase without any problems working weight. In many other exercises on the press, this is done zat-rud-ni-tel-but, since in any reverse crunches, when the athlete pulls his legs towards himself, the weight there is nowhere to fasten it, in twisted-up positions the weight puts pressure on the spine, but in exercise machines these contradictions are removed and you can calmly throw on pancake after pancake. You can even say that the abs are a single muscle, which is best trained in simulators.
Crunches in the simulator, like any other abdominal exercises, should be performed by twisting the body, and not by bending it forward. Very often, people, when training their abs, either mechanically lift their legs up, due to the efforts of the leg muscles, or pull their body towards their legs due to long muscles backs. The press is a muscle that performs the function of twisting the body, therefore, when you train the press, you need to either pull the head towards the pubis, or the pubis towards the head. That is why, if we are talking about skru-chi-va-ni-yah in tre-na-zhe-re, better hands place them behind your back, and not put them on the handles of the trestle, which you rest on your shoulders. Most likely, you have noticed that when your hands are in front, it is easier to do exercises, this is because the long back muscles are activated. If, while sitting on a chair, you cross your arms behind the back and try to bend the thread down, then you can perform this movement only by twisting your body, like this This exercise presupposes some movement!
Work of muscles and joints
The main working muscle group is the abs, everything else only performs the function of a stabilizer, since, of course, it will not work to completely eliminate the long back muscles, especially in the negative phase, but you must strive for the ideal . In general, there are no exercises in which only one muscle group is involved, but correct technique allows you to save on price muscle group almost the entire load. In this case, in order to correctly perform twisting in the simulator, you need to imagine that you are trying to stick your head between legs That is, of course, you don’t need to beat yourself up like that, even try to bend so deeply, but the amplitude of the movement should be exactly like that!
Joint in this exercise only one works, which, in fact, is typical for all abdominal exercises. In this case, there is no danger in the fact that this exercise is isolating and not basic, since the weight does not put pressure on the joints, but simply prevents you from twisting. It’s a completely different matter when the weight presses on you from above, as when you’re doing full crunches on a Roman chair, then, yes, then the load just falls on the floor. the spine is clear, so these twisting cannot be done with heavy weights. What does this all mean? This suggests that we will gain muscle mass and increase strength indicators the press is best in three-on-the-same!
Crunches in the simulator - technique
1) Sit in the exercise machine, having previously adjusted the seat so that it is comfortable for you to rest your feet and shoulders on the pads of the exercise machine, in general, so that you can easily control your body position.
2) Be sure to place your hands behind the back of the machine, with your palms locked, to prevent the work of the long back muscles.
3) In the starting position, twist a little so that the pancakes of the machine rise slightly and the abdominal muscles are innervated.
4) Perform a twist, exhaling air, and then fix the position of the body for a second at the point of peak muscle contraction abdominals.
5) Inhaling air, slowly and under control return the body to its original position, but do not completely relax the abs.
Crunches in the simulator - notes
1) The number of repetitions in the approach depends on your goal, if you are interested in hypertrophy of the abdominal muscles, then do 10-15 repetitions, if you want to “dry out”, then go on a diet.
2) Do not turn your head, since your trapezius is still innervated, which means that you can move the vertebra by turning your head in any direction.
3) Do not swing, always perform the exercise only through the work of the target muscle group, since twisting in the simulator is not a strength exercise.
4) Rest between sets for no more than a minute, and preferably 30 seconds, to facilitate the production of growth factors.
5) It is better to do abdominal exercises at the end of the workout in order to create a kind of pumping in the life area.
Anatomy
The abs is a solid flat muscle separated by tendons, but since the muscle is solid, it performs its entire function, which means that when you perform crunches, the entire abs receives the load. There are no exercises for the “lower” and “upper” abs, but, yes, you can, to a greater or lesser extent, focus the load on one or another segment of the flat abdominal muscle. In this case, the upper segment gets the most weight, therefore, if your lower abs lag behind, and your abs in-t-re-su-et is the key Well, from an aesthetic point of view, then it’s better to lift your legs while hanging. If you need strength indicators so that the press removes part of the load from the spine while performing heavy basic exercises, then twisting in the simulator is what suits you!
To summarize, we can say that crunches in the simulator are a very effective exercise for developing the abdominal muscles, since in this exercise you can effectively progress si-ro-vet the load, and the progression of loads is the basis of muscle gi-per-trophy. The main thing you need to remember is that the press performs the function of twisting, so you need to not just bend down, but twist your torso, while -bending the head to the groin. Technically, this twisting is performed in this case by moving your arms back and imagining that you are trying to stick your head between your legs. Follow these simple rules and you will pump up huge abs!
