Ab workouts that improve posture - Abs Part 3

Having started a post on lower ab workouts, it has tempted me to list as many abdominal exercises as I have found effective over the last few years.
So, posts on the ab theme will continue as long as they make sense.

Bench thigh raises

This is a fairly tricky exercise to do well, but it targets an ab area you don't work out very often, and in my opinion has a dramatic effect on your posture.

Preparation:
Find a bench or a table to sit on so that your feet do not touch the ground.
Sit yourself down, ensuring you are sitting upright, with your spine in a neutral position.
Cross your arms over your chest

The exercise:
Contract your abs with the navel to spine technique, and slowly try and lift one knee upwards.
The critical point here is to ensure you do not tilt your hips sideways, or start leaning forwards of backwards. Hold the position for 5 seconds and slowly release. Then perform the same movement with the other leg.

Repetitions:
Start with 1 set of 6 lifts either leg, and build up to 10. If you are able to, increase the hold to 10 seconds.

Tips:
Don't expect to get much movement from the upward knee lift. The key to this exercise is to maintain your position, and avoid leaning, slumping, and tilting your hips. Its harder than it sounds. Try and sit in front of a mirror, so you can see if your hips are level. Slowly get off the bench, and you should feel a strech in the ab area around the sides of your pelvis.


The Sideways plank

Tha plank is a popular static ab exercise which involves you resting on your elbows and toes, while maintaining a "plank" like position. The sideways plank is a variation which helps strengthen your obliques, as well as glutes.

Preparation:
Lie down on your side, on a floormat with your hips vertical, resting on one elbow.

The exercise:
Raise your hips, so that your legs are in line with your torso, and your whole body forms a straight line, resting on one elbow.
Extend your free arm over your head in line with your body.

Repetitions:
Hold the above position for 30 seconds. As you improve, try and keep your free arm down the side of your body rather than over your head, and increase the hold to 1 minute

Tips:
Make sure your hips remain vertical and in line with your torso. Also, during preparation make sure that your elbow is positioned so that your arm is vertical when you start the exercise.
For some of these floor and ball exercises, I recorded music in 30 second and 1 minute intervals to avoid watching the clock.

Thats it for this post, but there are plenty of ab workouts to come.
If you'd like to subscribe to getting notified of future posts, click the feedburner button at the top of the page.

And, although this is not really a plug, to put all this into perspective there's one guy I recommend reading when is comes to losing the ab flab

Technocrati tags:fitness,weight loss,exercise,diet,workouts,health