Rob Riches' abdominal workout routine (3)

One of the most effective lower abdominal exercises I found there to be But also one of the trickiest: Hanging knee raises. On this one we really incorporate gravity into basically what is the same movement As our lying leg raise and what later developed into our decline leg raise. So on this one, form arms completely straight down we are not swinging the body Up and down. Keeping the knees bent and exhaling on each rep. I found the effectiveness of these hanging knee crunches to really Bring out maximum definition around the lower portion So that when you focus on the movement itself, right at the end when the hips come forwards You are fully breathing out and the lower abs are already contracted. And there’s that hip tug right at the end that is going to be that great finisher off’er. It’s then important you then control the legs back down and don’t allow them to swing. So this would be the wrong way to do the exercise. I’ve got no control over that! Sure my abs are working in a sense that they are being used But I’m not really using my abs to do the exercise. So focus on the muscle group that is being worked. Now a nice variation to this exercise is you can add a small amount of resistance. I like using a medicine ball between my knees, therefore I am engaging my inner muscles of the thigh. To keep my abdominals working a little bit harder. But adding another variation besides that is adding a dynamic twist into the exercise. So I’ll do a few reps, standard knee lifts, and then I’ll do a rotation with my hips And have a look at the different muscles that come in and are involved. Once again by changing the basic exercise with just one or two variations Can really have a great impact on how you form and develop these different muscle groups. Besides the main six pack muscles here... If you want nicely framed, well proportioned and fully developed muscles, you need to train everything: The lower, the upper, the obliques, internal, external and even the intercostals To help frame that six, and even if your lucky with genetics and torso length, possibly an eight pack. I’m not quite there just yet but I am working on it. The next exercise I’m moving on involves resistance again and a slight dynamic or rotation In quite a standard exercise. So let me go and get some weight. Now with these side bends, I don’t rely on too much certainly with weight To really focus on developing the side area of the six pack. That’s not why I am using the weight, it’s that added twist and rotation pulling me around. Think back to the exercise I just did: instead of just holding a dumbbell And having a weight go side to side, which is really again the upper part of this But more importantly the lower portion of the back Its that twist round, so my outer shoulder rotating round and stretching out these lower external obliques Then getting them to pull me back around. So even if you don’t have a weight, a small kettle bell or a small dumbbell Just something in this hand to help with that twist Can help add to that dynamic part of the exercise and engage more of the lower hidden muscle groups That most people want to try and develop and bring out the conditioning I am going to stick with style of movement, slide and twist and move onto something a little bit harder So if you can complete 15-20 repetitions of these try this next exercise And see if you can really get these lower internal and external obliques kicking in. So far I’ve talked about a whole host of different variables that we can look at To incorporate into abdominal training. We’ve looked at repetition, technique, form, tempo... But there is one I haven’t really touched upon yet. And that’s why I’ve left this one For the final and third workset series in this ab circuit. And that’s stability. We are going to add Or rather take away some stabilization so that more of these internal muscles in the core have to work. So check out these swiss ball side bends. Again it’s basically just a step up, or a couple of steps up from doing our lying side bends. It’s the same muscle groups being worked, just with little bit more of a kick, that more intensity. So what I’ doing, my hand is up by my temple again. I’m brining the elbow and the hip together. I’m contracting, breathing out and squeezing my side muscles But a slight rotation again to get these internal, external obliques really working. Now that I’ve got my hips stacked onto a ball I am that much more unstable So breathing and contracting all of these involuntary stabilizing muscles Is really going to help take my abdominal training up to that next level. Right, there’s one more abdominal rotation exercise and this one is quite possibly The hardest one in the entire ab circuit. So this exercise to work the obliques and intercostals is basically one step up From those swiss ball side bends. With the swiss ball we had some stability Rather less instability than this one. I am now using my arm and my entire bodyweight To have to rotate and work around my core. Let me show you. So, a T bar, a side T bar keeping this arm locked out already I am having to support my bodyweight And keep all this acting like a bridge, to keep me suspended. My hips are slightly raised up So they are not sagging down, so again more muscles required to hold up that weight. And then thirdly, as if that wasn’t enough I bring this arm out like a T section, keep the elbow slightly bent, rotate in Look at how many of the abs are now having to work, everything that we have worked up to so far Breathe out over and come back up. And if you are crazy enough to want to take this up to the next level A small dumbbell just a few pounds in there, all for the ultimate full body abdominal conditioning exercise You could even take away the stability of the bench and have your legs in some suspension straps. OK, you might think we are done but there is still one exercise left. And this just happens to be my favorite complete abdominal exercise working from top to bottom And engaging everything in between, let's check it out. These high cable rope pull down abdominal crunches are for me the ultimate abdominal exercise You are replicating the basic crunch movement closing the arc between the shoulders and the hips And adding resistance right where the muscle is being worked From overhead, so keeping full tension and stress on the muscle The full abdominal region here and a full range of motion I save this one until the end, because I know when I am done on this one, I have given it everything I’ve got Breathing out my last breath of air and contracted that last ounce of energy in the abs. When I have had a good work set on these I know I have had a good abs workout. There is one variation you can add into this to really kick out these side obliques and the Intercostals The fingers, upper fingers just below the chest. And that is lighten the weight, single arm and add a rotation therefore changing the dynamic of the exercise And there you have it: my top tips, tricks and techniques For switching up your abdominal exercise routine helping you achieve really tight, lean and defined six pack abs. Join me next time when I will be sharing with you more tips, tricks and techniques On my favorite other muscle groups to train to show you how to increase fat burn And increase lean healthy muscle mass. Take care.