Wrench Your Guts Out! Abdominal workout routine

Abdominal muscles are a small bodypart and you have no reason to perform as many exercises as you can do in one training session. They can be fully worked with a relatively short intense workout. And as rescent studies show, the best workout has to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible.

Here is relatively simple workout routine consisting of three well known exercises. Try it three times a week exactly as explained and your mirror will show you the results.

LYING LEG RAISE

It's an excellent first exercise in your abdominal routine because it helps to define the lower portion of the 6-pack. Lie on the floor or on a bench and hold onto something stable placed just beyond your head. Hold your legs off the ground slightly bent at your knees. Slowly raise your legs using abs to move up your hips until your legs achieve a vertical position. Then, controlling your hips and holding your abs tight, lower your legs until they are just off the ground. Go into your second rep without allowing the abs to relax or the hips to come back to the ground. Do as many reps as you can. Rest 10 or 15 seconds before your next set. Continue in this manner to complete exhaustion until you can't do more than one rep.

Rest about 2 or 3 minutes to recover your muscles as much as possible and go on to another exercise.

CRUNCHES

This is a great exercise for getting a deep contraction in the center of your abdominals because it really brings out the details in your 6-pack.

While lying on the floor, place your feet against a wall so that your lower legs form about a 90-degree angle with your upper legs, and your upper legs form a 90-degree angle with your torso. Place your hands across your chest or at the side of your head and maintain this position throughout the exercise.

Bring yourself up using the power of your abs. As your upper body begins to rise off the floor, concentrate on the effort in your abdominals rather than on how high up you can go. As you reach your highest point, contract your abs, squeezing them for a full second or two. Continue to hold your abs tight as you begin to lower your body - don't make the mistake of relaxing and allowing gravity and momentum to bring you back to the floor. Between reps, continue to hold your abs tight - don't relax and then re-tense them to start the next rep.

You have to do as many reps as you can. Rest not more than 15 seconds before your next set. Continue in this manner until you can't do more than one rep.

After resting (again for 2 to 3 minutes) go on to the next exercise.

SIT-UPS

This is a good finishing exercise that will help to make a final stroke to your going-to-be washboard abs.
While sitting on the edge of the bench hold onto the bench behind your back. Hold your feet off the ground .Hold your legs with 90-degree bends at your knees. Raise your hips as high as you can while still forcefully contracting your abs for a second or two. Then, controlling your hips and holding your abs tight, lower your hips to the starting position. Go into your second rep without allowing the abs to relax.

Remember, it's very important to do as many reps as you can to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible. Rest about 15 seconds before your next set. Continue until you can't do more than one rep.

That's it. That's your abdominals workout. Surely it's not easy as is written but it works and you have to try it.

Notes:

• Rep pace for abs training should be moderate to slow, allowing you to feel your abs stretching and flexing through the whole range of motion.

• Resistance can be added to ab movements by using machines or by placing weights behind the head during sit-ups and crunches.

• During pre-contest preparation you can first do aerobics such as running or cycling for 15 minutes and after that start your abs program.