untitled

Job description:Your rectus allows you to flex your spine and pull your torso

or chest toward your hips, and it works with your lower-back muscles to keep

your torso stable while you move the rest of your body. For example, when

you’re shoveling dirt in your garden, your arms are moving, but you have to

brace your body to get enough leverage and to protect your lower back.

The training payoff:The obvious reason to train your abdominals is to firm up

your midsection. If your abs are really toned and you don’t have much excess

fat around your middle, you can see six distinct sections of the muscle. This is

known as washboard absor the six pack.But having such a firm midriff is not

worth fixating on — for most people, washboard abs are not a realistic proposi-

tion. Even people with relatively low body fat tend to store at least some fat

around the middle. Appearances aside, strong abs improve your posture by

making it easier to stand up straight. Plus, they’re important for guarding

against lower-back pain.

Special tips:Those full sit-ups you did back in high school gym class won’t

do the job — plus they’re hard on your back, especially if you lock your feet

under a couch. Although many gyms have abdominal machines, we feel that

floor exercises, including the ones we name later in this section, are more

effective. We also like doing abdominal exercises while leaning against an

oversized plastic ball known as a physioball.To prevent yourself from sliding

off the ball, you have to keep adjusting your body position; this forces you

to work your abs more completely, hitting some deeper muscle fibers that

don’t get much of a workout while doing conventional crunches. As for those

ab-strengthening gadgets advertised on TV infomercials, you’re better off

spending your money on a Miracle Mop.

Our favorite exercises:Abdominal crunch, reverse crunch, and physioball

crunch

Internal

Oblique

External

Oblique

Rectus

Abdominis

Figure 12-8:

These are

your main

abdominal

muscles.

184 Part IV: Lift and Curl: Building a Stronger Bod with Weights