And welcome to fit tips, tricks and techniques.

Today we are having a look at the abdominals, or 6 pack

Or tight toned abs; a number of different names but one thing is for certain:

That’s their definition for most people is at the top of their training list

Today we are looking at a number of different exercises

To help you develop complete, proportional well developed six pack abs. Let’s get to it.

Now one of the hardest places to get developed on the abdominal area happens to be the lower portion here.

If you think about it this is typically where body fat stores especially in males

And females are more around their hips and glutes

Which is why no matter how many crunches you may be doing

And you start to get these few upper abdominal six pack abs here

Getting the lower portion to come through requires a little bit more work then, like I said, with simply dieting and cardio.

So the first exercise I am doing is lying leg lifts.

This involves the hip coming forwards and the lower abdominals contracting

Because basically these abs and these abs are the same.

Cross with these horizontal bans of muscle which kind of give us that six pack look.

So the first thing we are going to focus on is working the lower section here

Trying actually to condition and develop these muscles allowing us to focus on the obliques and upper.

Let’s break this exercise down and look at some of the tips and techniques involved with this movement.

Firstly my legs are kept fixed, I’m not bending at the knee. Although if you find straight leg lifts

Are little bit to difficult to start on, keep your legs permanently bent

And then just focus on bringing your knees up towards the shoulders, as you contract the abs

Secondly, breathing.

You may have heard me… Breathing all the air out of the lungs.

I’m contracting my abs… Before I get to the peak of that movement.

So combine them I really start to engage the lower area of the abdominal structure.

So it’s this breathing combined with this focused very small range of motion

That’s actually engaging the muscle rather than swinging back and forth.

If you are just starting off… 10,12,15 reps

Is a great number to start for. If you want to start off with this exercise but your training intensity is already up here

Aim for anywhere from 20-30 repetitions again really focusing on that deep contraction.

Right: next up I’m going to show you a variation to this to be able to step it up to that next level

Allowing baby steps as you progress in your ab development.

Alright: to allow us to be a little more focused on this exercise

Again not overloading the lower abdominals but keeping them a little more focused in that movement

I’ve got a small Swiss ball which is about 55cm

And I’m just going to lie down, the same movement again

But lock my heels around the ball to keep that leg position absolutely fixed.

So that one variation there adding in some apparatus to really lock in that leg position

Allows me to increase the intensity on the lower abdominals.

15 up to 30 repetitions using the Swiss ball and then we can move onto the next exercise

Which is medicine ball re-rotations.

Let’s get a smaller ball.

Already that’s starting to take my breath away

With this one, with the side rotation the obliques,

Both the external and internal obliques are kind of like these lower and upper V’s.

Kind of like this… And they work by rotating the core.

Basically accelerating and de-accelerating, which is why its useful adding in this resistance

To allow us to focus on the speed of the switch.

Another thing: Breathing, short breaths

Exhaling each time I rotate around, taking a short breath in as I return back to the start

And thirdly positioning

I start by leaning back, engage my abs so that they have some resistance on them

And keeping my arms fixed and that ball at a set distance… Rotate.

Now I found if you do want to take the ball up and basically take the weight up

Use dumbbells to help lock your feet in and therefore add a little bit more resistance back into the movement.

Right, moving on… Exercise number 3.

Right so let me explain: in the exercise before this we rotated around the trunk. On this one

You’re basically flexing it laterally.

Now granted that does tend to work the erector spinae, the thicker part of the lower back.

But as you can see with the breathing

You are really contracting and engaging the obliques on that top side.

So let me explain and breakdown the exercise

Laying on my side, shoulders stacked on top of each other

My hips are in line and my heels are in line

Kind of like a fish out of water my hips are stacked and my heels are together.

Like a fish is flapping out of water, you are doing a controlled version of that.

Heels and shoulders lift off the ground at the same time.

As you engage your obliques here, so you are not leaning back and forth.

15, almost up to 30 reps if you can manage that and then switch sides

Or you can do 15 on each side and switching in between

There is one easy way to be able to advance this exercise up

And add some resistance, but for that I need a smaller dumbbell.

So I have a small weight, this is only about 10 lbs

And with this I am going to do the same exercise but keeping this top arm up

Allowing me to push that weight up

To really add some extra resistance into working my intercostals, these finger like muscles just under the chest.

My other hand is still going to reach round and have those fongers on those lower obliques that I’m working.

This is known as touch training.

A slight variation or twist can really help emphasize the muscles being worked.

If you feel this you can start to tweak the exercise as you perform it.

I may have included these exercises in what you could consider the beginner abdominal circuit

But by adding in enough resistance you are changing one of those factors

Enough to really make this quite an advanced exercise.

Finishing off with this particular ab circuit, we are going to focus now on the upper abdominals

Saving these for the end when we have given our most attention and energy

To the more troublesome areas of the lower and the side, including the intercostals.

So I’m going to put the dumbbell back and I’ll see you back over with a bench for my double abdominal crunch.

Right so last exercise, a double crunch to engage both the lower and upper

Contracting at the same time.

So we all know how a standard crunch goes or sit up, arms usually hands by your temple

And breathe out, contract the abs and the shoulders lift off about two inches off the floor.

We are going to do the same thing and replicate that movement, with the hips,

Kind of like on that first exercise with the lying leg lifts

So the hips and the shoulders come together as we breathe out and contract.

It’s quite a powerful movement especially for developing some thickness to the abdominal structure.

OK, just a few pointers about this double crunch:

Foot positioning: I had my feet, or my heels rather, on this bench here

Allowing me to keep a right angle at my knees and my hips.

Therefore I’m adding a little bit of weight, basically my legs over that lower abdominal portion

So that as I breathe out and contract the abs and bring my shoulders and my knees up

To try and meet at the same point

I’m getting that maximal contraction in the abdominal region.

If you can 15-20 repetitions upwards

If you are hitting 20 you may want to add some resistance in, either keeping that dumbbell that I just put back,

Arms locked out pushing it straight up, or a medicine ball

So as you can see when it comes to getting six pack abs it’s a lot more than simply cardio and lack of food.

It’s everything in between including exercise variation, repetitions,

Tempo and advancement adding in some resistance if you need it.

Join me next time on more fit tips, tricks and techniques when I will be sharing with you

More ways to get in great shape and focusing on different body parts.

Take care.