September 10, 2004, Newsletter Issue #119: The Stomach Muscles

Tip of the Week

The main abdominal muscle is the rectus abdominus, which runs from the lower ribs to the pubic bone, but does not cross the hips. It curls your torso forward, as when you do crunches, and also helps stabilize the abdominal cavity and strengthen the lower back. The rectus is the site of the "6-pack" for those few lucky enough to have it. The internal and external obliques go from the ribs to the pelvis and rotate the torso as well as helping with flexion. Rotational movement is important for many sports, including tennis, baseball, golf, throwing events, and many more. Exercises for your obliques, like oblique crunches and elbow to opposite knee bicycle movements, can strengthen your obliques. What they won`t do is give you a smaller waist. Another ab muscle is the transverse abdominus, an internal muscle that runs horizontally and is important to torso strength. It helps with forced expiration, and you work it when you exhale while doing heavy lifts. If you`re very interested in ab work, do some exercises for the lower abs, such as reverse crunches or hanging leg lifts, followed by oblique exercises, and finishing with conventional crunches. If you want shorter workouts, just do some crunches, which will catch all the muscles to some extent.

About LifeTips

Now one of the top on-line publishers in the world, LifeTips offers tips to millions of monthly visitors. Our mission mission is to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Expert writers earn dough for what they know. And exclusive sponsors in each niche topic help us make-it-all happen.

Exclusive Sponsor

Plan your ab workouts like those for other skeletal muscles, except you can do more reps. Learn resistance training principles quickly and easily from How to Get Fit and Healthy through Weight Training, available as ebook or paperback: http://www.booklocker.com/books/1222.html