Abs workout for women
General
We define fitness and muscle strength particularly through the appearance of the core of the body.
Men should have six pack abs and women should have a flat, firm stomach. Therefore, the abdominal muscle training, especially among beginners and people with the goal of losing weight, is particularly common. However, some women are also afraid of becoming too muscular through muscle building training in the abdominal area and thus appearing unaesthetic. However, since women have a much lower testosterone level than men and this causes the predisposition to build muscle, this will not happen with balanced strength training.
Read about this too Weight training for women
Basically, it should be ensured that not only the abdominal muscles, but also other areas, such as the back and legs, are trained. This is the only way to keep the muscle ratio balanced and to move and support the body ideally. Beginners should be careful not to overtax themselves and risk injury. It is best to start with a few simple exercises and gradually increase your performance level.
Read more about this: Training the abdominal muscles - you should pay attention to this
Abs and body fat percentage
First of all, some good news: basically everyone has one Six pack.
This is namely from Rectus abdominis muscle (straight abdominal muscle) and this muscle is in principle present in every person. However, it is not equally developed in everyone and, above all, not visible in everyone, but from Adipose tissue covered. That's why you see the classic one Washboard abs only with people with low Body fat percentage and comparatively high muscle percentage.
In order to have a flat, defined stomach, you should not only train the abdominal muscles, but also one general fat reduction Pay attention to the body, because unfortunately this cannot be concentrated directly and exclusively on the stomach. If a person has more muscle mass, the muscles burn more calories (even when at rest) than fat tissue and thus provide for one on their own more favorable energy balance.
At the Abs workout women with a lower body fat percentage will generally notice a positive effect more quickly than women with a high fat percentage. With them, fat tissue must first be broken down and muscle tissue built up in order to make a clear training success visible. You should therefore not be discouraged if the clear result is a bit long in coming or if the scale initially shows a little more (because of the increased muscle mass).
Training types
Where and how the abdominal muscle training should be done differs in each individual case.
Many prefer to train in Gymbecause they can concentrate completely on the sport there, have professional guidance and all the necessary equipment and weights are already available.
Others prefer to do their training in the groupbecause they have a greater incentive and the social component also helps them. Abdominal muscle training can also be very simple At home take place and be trained with your own body weight or simple household items.
Ideally, training should be done three times a week. Should be in between training days a day off to Muscle regeneration lie.
Sports scientists differentiate between abdominal muscle training dynamic and static Exercises.
Dynamic exercises:
Of the straight abdominal muscle will be at Prevent or Roll up the upper body tense. The appropriate exercise therefore involves lifting the trunk or pelvis (e.g. Crunch). In order to use the oblique abdominal muscles, the upper body must be rotated during the exercise. Therefore, rotational movements of the upper body (e.g. diagonal crunches) ideal.
Static exercises:
In static exercises, on the other hand, the abdominal muscles become just tensewithout moving the upper body (e.g. repeating 20-second muscle contractions).
The workout should always consist of one Warm-up, one Muscle building training with several exercises for different muscle groups and one Cool down with stretching the muscles and possibly a subsequent endurance training. In order to build muscles, the training intensity has to be increased step by step. You can do this either by changing the speed, increasing the number of repetitions, or by using dumbbells.
Effective for washboard abs
The first thing to say is that there are no exercises just for men or just women. When the woman isn't pregnant or mother the same guidelines apply.
Hard training, iron discipline and daily motivation. Look for 3-5 exercises on our site Washboard abs exercises and do this with 3 sets of 15 repetitions every other day. With the right diet, you will be able to experience quick successes in a very short time.
When a pregnancy is present or a birth (please refer: Abdominal muscle training after giving birth) is not long ago, there are a few things to consider when it comes to abdominal muscle training.
Six pack
When training for a six pack, there is one thing you should first be aware of: the six pack is already exists, it just has to be "exposed" become. That means mainly the body fat percentage decides how much of the abdominal muscles you can see.
The abdominal muscles that are already there only need to be made visible and further strengthened. Also, one should be aware that the abs compared to more of a small muscle group are and with it don't use a lot of energy and the circulation is not very strong.
To effectively train for a six-pack, great exercises like Squat, Pull-ups or Bench press. During these exercises the abdominal muscles are activated along with many other muscles and significantly more energy is burned.
You should also keep exercising combine with endurance trainingto burn fat even more effectively and develop a six-pack. Furthermore, you should note that the training is progressive and you always set new stimuli so that the muscles in the stomach have to adapt again and again and cannot rest. Recovery days are just as important as the right one nutrition. So if you want to get a six-pack, you should take a holistic approach to the task.
Figure abdominal muscles
Abdominal muscles
- Straight Abdominal Muscle -
Rectus abdominis muscle - Outer weird
Abdominal muscles -
Obliquus muscle
externus abdominis - Inner sloping
Abdominal muscles -
Obliquus muscle
internus abdominis - Transverse abdominal muscle -
Muscle transversus
abdominis - Pyramidal muscle -
Pyramidalis muscle - Intermediate string -
Intersectio tendinea - Rectus sheath -
Vagina recti abdominis muscles - Iliac crest - Iliac crest
- White line - Linea alba
(Braiding of the tendon plate)
Anterior abdominal muscles -
(1. + 5.)
Lateral abdominal muscles -
(2. + 3. + 4.)
Posterior abdominal muscles -
Square lumbar muscle -
M. quadratus lumborum
(not in the picture)
You can find an overview of all Dr-Gumpert images at: medical illustrations
Classic exercises
- Cycling in the air: Lie on your back, tense your stomach and bend your knees. Then the legs are rotated in the air like on a bicycle (both in "forward gear" and in "reverse gear").
As an alternative, also lying on your back, you can cross your hands behind your head, lift your right leg with the sole of your foot up and then pull your left leg up as well. Then the first leg is put down again, followed by the other. Ideally, the legs should be straight, but they can also be bent slightly. - The "classic" crunch: In the supine position, the legs are bent and the stomach tensed. The hands either hold the head or lie on the thighs and inhale deeply. The upper body is lifted and exhaled.
In order to train the oblique abdominal muscles, you can alternately move your elbows to the opposite knee when lifting your upper body. - Of the Power crunch with dumbbells (0.5-1 kg): The starting position is similar to the crunch, but the arms are stretched out over the head and a dumbbell is held with both hands. Here, too, the upper body is raised as far as possible to the sitting position.
- Box pendulum: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent. The hands are clenched into fists and the arms are bent in front of the torso. Only the upper body oscillates from left to right, there is no movement below the navel.
- Hip extensions: In the supine position, the arms are on the sides of the body, the heels rest on a knee-high object (e.g. a chair). The knees are bent 90 degrees and the buttocks are raised until the thighs and torso are in line. Then the buttocks are lowered again, the legs and feet stay close together all the time.
Abs workout without equipment
The abdominal muscle training without equipment can be done without any problems at home, on the go or at work carry out. You just need something space and possibly one soft groundlike an insulating mat or fitness mat.
They are an exercise Planks. The body is in a horizontal position above the floor, with only the forearms and toes touching the floor. The rest of the body is tense and parallel to the floor. This support position should then be held for 20 to 60 seconds, depending on the level.
As a variation, you can alternately lift your right and left leg off the floor. This exercise trains the straight abdominal muscles.
Of the Side support is a modification of the plank and strengthens the oblique and lateral abdominal muscles. To do this, lie down on the side of the floor and support yourself with your lower forearm and lower foot, so that apart from these two parts, no part of the body touches the floor. The head is held as an extension of the spine and the body forms a line without sagging. You can now hold this position for a certain period of time (20 to 60 seconds) or introduce more variation options by lifting the pelvis or lifting the upper leg.
Crunches and Sit ups are further exercises that you can easily do without equipment.
Both Crunches lie on your back and bend your legs at about 90 degrees at the hips and knees. Then the shoulders, head and neck are lifted off the floor and pulled towards the knees. Now go back towards the ground, but only so far that the shoulder girdle and head do not touch the ground.
At Sit ups start lying on your back with your feet up. The arms can be held up. Now you start to lift your upper body off the floor and bring it into an upright sitting position. Then the upper body is completely placed on the floor again. These two exercises should be done in three sets and ten to 20 repetitions.
Thera-band
That too Thera-band can be used for training the abdominal muscles. In practice Crunches it can be built in wonderfully. Lying on the back, the legs are bent and the Thera-Band is placed over both ankles. The ends are held on the left and right with the hands at the level of the hip bones so that the band is under tension. Now the feet are lifted slightly off the floor and the crunches can begin. The arms remain on the floor, only the upper body lifts off the floor and also works against the tension of the belt.
Another exercise is that Russian twist with the Thera-Band. You are sitting on the floor with your legs slightly bent. The arms are bent in front of the upper body and the Thera-Band is placed around the soles of the feet and held in front of the chest with both hands. Now you start to turn your upper body sideways to the left and right with your back straight, so that the Thera-Band is under tension. This exercise can be repeated 15 to 20 times.
Training plan
A balanced training plan for the abdominal muscles not only consists of a wide variety of exercises for the stomach, but also consists of many different parts. Next to the Strength training of the abdominal muscles belong that Cardio training and the right nutrition with in the plan.
The Cardio training can be done for about 30 minutes two to four times a week in addition to strength training.
In the nutrition one should take care of the food balanced and wholesome is.Fruits and vegetables are part of a healthy diet every day, and you should make sure you always drink enough. Women in particular usually do not eat enough protein and healthy fatty acids because they are afraid of gaining fat or muscle mass. However, this fear is unfounded.
A training plan for the abdominal muscles can be for example over eight weeks go and look like this:
The plan is divided into two four-week blocks. In the first four weeks You start with the exercises crunches, planks, hanging knee raise and dumbbell side bends. The crunches are trained in two to three sets of 15 to 25 repetitions each. In the planks, two to three sets are completed, but this time the training is not with repetitions, but with 30 to 60 seconds of “holding work”. The hanging knee raise and dumbbell side bends exercises are both performed in two to three sets of ten to 20 repetitions each.
In the second four weeks then switch to twisting bench crunch, plank with feet on the bench, sit ups with weights, and wood chops. Now the training sets are also increased from two to three to three to four sets. Twenty to 30 repetitions are now performed for the twisting bench crunches, the planks are now held for one minute per set, the sit ups with weights are also repeated 20 to 30 times and the wood chops ten to 20 times.
This plan for training the abdominal muscles can be carried out two to three times a week in addition to "normal" training. Care should always be taken to take sufficient recovery time.
Common mistakes
- One must Every day exercise: Of course, it's good to be active every day. Targeted muscle training, however, should only include Breaks be carried out, because the muscles need a regeneration phase in order to be able to continue building.
- You have to do a lot of repetitions: Instead of doing 1,000 crunches, other muscles should also be trained. 1-2 abdominal exercises with 2-3 sets and 10-20 repetitions are sufficient.
- You just have to train your stomach in a targeted manner: Abdominal training alone is not enough to effectively reduce the percentage of body fat. In proportion, the straight abdominal muscle is actually a very small muscle that burns fewer calories during training than other, larger muscle groups. Therefore one should rather complex basic exercises include such as squats or pull-ups. Much more muscles are active, more energy is required and the circulation is better stimulated. In addition, the abdominal muscles are tense even during exercises in which they are not specifically addressed.
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