Slimming with Waist Exercises: The Bicycle Crunch

There are few ab exercises that exercise the full range of the mid-section, and the bicycle crunch is one. Since the movement involves both turning the torso and extending/retracting the legs the complete range of the abs is stressed in this exercise.

The Starting Position

Lie on the ground, ideally on a exercise mat or area rug. Position your hands on the sides of your head and lift your feet so that your upper legs are perpendicular to the ground and your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. Your lower back should be pressed into the ground.

Flex your abs and lift your head and shoulders away from the ground without tugging your head with your arms, which can create excessive tension in your neck. The higher away from the ground you raise your head and shoulders, the more productive the exercise will be. Be certain to keep abdominal tension through the entire exercise.

The Movement

Turn at the waistline so that your head and shoulders face left, holding your abs tight and your head and shoulders elevated off the floor. At the same time, stretch your right leg so that it is just above the floor and bring your left knee up to connect with your right elbow.

Reverse the motion and rotate at the waistline to the right, straightening your left leg and moving your right knee up to connect with your left elbow. When you’ve touched each elbow to each opposing leg you have executed one rep.

To start your next rep, turn again to the left and reverse your legs. When properly performed your legs should look as though they are pedaling a bicycle.

Scaling the Bicycle Crunch

There are numerous ways to scale this waist exercise to match your fitness level. The first is by altering the elevation of the upper body. The higher off the floor you raise your head and shoulders during the movement, the more tension there will be on the mid-section. To make the exercise easier, lift your head and shoulders off the floor a tiny bit. To make it more challenging, raise your upper body so only your lumbar region and a portion of your upper back are in contact with the ground.

Another way to scale the bicycle crunch is simply by altering the leg motion. To make the exercise less demanding, don’t straighten the leg completely and/or rest the foot on the lengthened leg on the floor. To make it more challenging, straighten the extended leg as far as possible.

Finally, the more slowly this exercise is performed, the more difficult it is. In non-timed exercise routines, try doing the bicycle crunch extremely slowly to boost the difficulty considerably. If you need an easier bicycle crunch, quicken the movement.

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Lose Belly Fat With Stomach Exercises

Often when people say they need to lose belly or stomach fat, it’s not always their belly they mean. The stomach is between your navel and breastbone area, so if your problem fat is below this, then it is really your lower abdominal that is the problem area for you.

Unfortunately this has always been a very difficult area to lose fat from, so you will need to also look at following a low fat diet, as well as incorporating some stomach exercises into your workout routine. These together will be the best way of getting rid of belly fat.

Unfortunately the human body is not made in a way for us to target just one area to get rid of fat, so you will need to concentrate on a total body workout that also includes some stomach exercises in order to lose your belly fat. As you will also need to eat less calories than you burn you will also need to stick to a low fat diet for your belly fat to go.

Some good lower abdominal exercises which will help to shape your abs are pelvic thrusts,chair lifts, and double leg lifts. Making sure that you are following a low fat diet will take care of melting the fat.

For double leg lifts you should lie on the floor with your legs out in front. Your hands need to be placed behind your head, then you need to lift up your head and neck, just as though you were going to do a sit-up, but at the same time you should lift both legs slowly upwards, until they are about one foot off of the floor. Hold this for a few seconds and then slowly lower your legs back to the floor. Repeat this a few times and you should really notice your abdominal muscles are having to work hard!

It is important to do several exercises that will work your stomach muscles and you can find more on our site. Following
some simple stomach exercises and varying your workout routine will soon seen you with a nice flat belly, especially when you also follow a low fat diet.

Learn more about Stomach Exercises. Stop by Hank Rogers’s site where you can find out all about getting rid of belly fat and what it can do for you.

Best Ab Exercises For A Flat Belly

If you are trying to get a flat stomach, doing tons of ab exercises for a flat belly won’t get you a 6 pack as quickly as you might think. In fact, most ab exercises do very little to flatten your tummy because they work just like any other exercises that builds muscle, they stress the muscle so that it rebuilds stronger. Ab exercises give you stronger abs, not a flat sexy stomach. But if you want a six pack what are the best exercises?

Before you start working out to flatten your tummy, you must get your diet in order. Once you have a good fat loss diet, get back to the basics of building muscle and burning fat with a good exercise plan. This will do more to flatten your stomach than a bunch of crunches or a crazy late night TV machine will ever do. Building muscle will get your metabolism ramped up so your body will burn more fat all day long.

When you have been working at a good exercise plan, you will want to add some exercises that build your abs and help you burn more fat. That way when your belly flattens, you have a 6 pack to show off.

Here are some of the best ab exercise I’ve found:

1. Squats

Hold the squat bar on your shoulders or hold dumbbells at your shoulder height. Then just do a normal set of squats. This exercise is a great ab exercise because your abs have to work constantly throughout the entire movement to keep the weight stabilized at your shoulders. It works your entire midsection without a single crunch.

2. Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are great for lower abs, but they have to be performed at the right rhythm for them to work properly. Get on your hands and toes as if you’re going to do a push up, then, lift one leg to your chest and return it and repeat with the other leg. Keep doing this until you have finished a set.

3. Full Body Crunches

This is just like a standard crunch except you use your whole body instead of just your upper body. Get into the crunch position, and when you crunch up, pull your knees to your chest, then when you lower your shoulders back down, extend your feet out in front of you. Repeat this without allowing your feet to touch the ground.

If you want to move on to some advanced routines, try cable crunches or weight crunches for a set or two.

Ab exercises will strengthen and build your ab muscles, but they do very little to flatten your midsection. If you want a flat belly, you have to focus on total body fat and good nutrition. This is the only way to get a flat stomach and let the 6 pack abs you build show through.

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