Exercises with a medium degree of difficulty | Abdominal muscle exercises

Exercises with a medium degree of difficulty

The following exercises are not so easy anymore and are rather aimed at advanced users:

  • The sit-ups are probably one of the most popular abdominal exercises besides the crunches. The starting position is the same as for the crunches. The hands are crossed on the chest so that the entire upper body can be lifted.

Before lowering, the tension is held at the uppermost position for a moment before the body is lowered again. One variation is the sit-ups on the incline bench. The bench should be adjusted so that the head is lower than the bottom.

Because of the fact that you now have to cover an additional distance against gravity this exercise is more intensive and demanding than the normal exercise. The feet should be clamped to have a counter pressure point. Otherwise the exercise is executed like the normal situps.

Another variation are the Negative Situps, where the feet are trapped (at home under the couch, otherwise under a barbell bar). The hands are stretched forward away from the body and the back remains straight. Then the body is lowered as far back as possible without touching the floor.

In the lowest position, you pause again for a few seconds before slowly moving the body back to the starting position. During the complete execution the back should always be kept straight. – An effective exercise is to raise your legs while lying down, lying flat on your back with your arms next to your upper body.

Now the legs are angled so that hip and knee form a 90° angle. Then the legs are slowly lowered until they almost touch the floor. The knees remain angled at all times.

In the lowest position, the tension is maintained before the legs are then raised again. However, leg lifting can also be done while sitting. For this exercise you need a stable seat, such as a bench or a chair (without backrest).

Now sit down on the chair and hold the sides of the chair with your hands. The upper body is tilted backwards by 45°. Now the legs are lifted, the knees are slightly bent and the thighs should be approximately horizontal to the floor.

Now the thigh is pulled towards the chest. Hold the tension for a short moment before you go back to the starting position. – Sit-ups with rotation are another exercise and basically work like normal sit-ups.

When lifting the body, the upper body is always turned to one side alternately. – Hyperextension, the so-called “overstretching” is a training exercise that mainly trains the back and only in a few parts the abdominal muscles. However, this is also useful to prevent muscular differences.

For the exercise you lie down on a slightly inclined bench and fix your feet. With the arms crossed behind the head, the elbows point outwards. The upper body hangs down over the bench.

Then the upper body is straightened up until it forms a straight line. After a short break in which the tension is held, the lowering of the upper body begins. During the whole exercise the back remains straight. If you do not have a weight bench at your disposal, you can also perform the exercise with a gym ball. To vary the intensity, a weight plate or a weight can be held at chest level.