Abdominal exercises

Cases studies Aims of the exercises Rules for performance of exercises Abdominal exercises Lower abdominals Oblique and transversus Upper abdominals Frontal abdominal sit-up Raising of trunk with support Raising of trunk without support Abdominal pull while kneeling Paravertebral exercises Cervical-dorsal exercises Exercises for glutei and quadriceps Dorsal-lumbar stretches Cervical-dorsal stretches Ischio-tibial stretches

Upper abdominals: Abdominal pull while kneeling

This is an exercise for athletes and requires a set of pulleys and weights usually found in a gymnasium. A short rope must be passed through or tied to the handle of the pulley equipment.

The starting position is with your knees resting on the floor, your spine and neck slightly bent forward, and buttocks resting on your heels. Both hands must grab on to the rope in front of your face, touching your forehead. Both hands should be at the same height, not one above the other. You must be sufficiently separated from the device so that the rope held by your hands does not fall vertically, but at an angle of 30 degrees at least.

From this position, without letting go of the rope, bend your spine forward until your elbows touch your knees, making sure that throughout the movement your hands continue to touch your forehead and your buttocks are leaning on your heels. If you separate your buttocks from your heels, you may lower yourself more, but you could overload your lumbar muscles when returning to the starting position. Do not do this. When you reach the bottom, hold the position for one second. Then, make sure your buttocks are still touching your heels and return to the starting position.

To prevent the psoas from working, the movement must be made in the appropriate direction. To achieve this, imagine that a bar crosses through your stomach from left to right, just under your ribs and that you wish to wrap yourself around it.

It is very important that at no time should you arch your back backward. It is tempting to do so, to "hang" from the rope and help the movement with your weight. You must not do this at any time. Otherwise, the abdominals would work less and you might overload your lumbar muscles.

You shall commence the exercise with the weight which allows you to do four series of eight repetitions each. As your training progresses, the number of repetitions shall increase until you are able to do four series of 12 repetitions. Once you achieve this, you may increase the weight and do 8 repetitions of each series.