A saggy soft tummy not only causes dissatisfaction with your figure, it can also cause chronic diseases, back and posture problems. But there is no need to rush to perform fifty repetitions of "lifting the torso from a prone position", you should carefully select a set of exercises for the press, taking into account many factors.
The first steps
The first and foremost choice is the decision to have a healthy fit body. The next step is to evaluate yourself and your capabilities: age, weight category, training experience, place and time of training, sports equipment.
When choosing classes in the gym, it is worth finding out what simulators and equipment are available, whether there is a full-time trainer. Based on this information, plan your exercise routine. Home workouts can be just as effective if you follow your workout plan and follow your technique.
Special sports equipment will improve the effect of home workouts. A gymnastic roller, fitball and weights (weights and dumbbells) are well suited for working out the muscles of the press: they will help to diversify and complicate training.
Obviously, beginners and seniors alike should start out with small but regular exercises. Newcomers to the ranks of athletes often underestimate the importance of warm-ups and do not worry too much about execution technique - these mistakes make training useless. Elderly people usually overestimate their strength, choose complex sets of abdominal exercises, and exercise unreasonably intensively, which often leads to injuries.
How overweight affects the choice of a training complex
Overweight people need to understand that a pumped press cannot be determined behind a layer of fat deposits, and the first training complexes should be aimed at normalizing body weight. And not just exercise - losing weight is impossible without adopting healthy eating habits.
An important point is that regular abdominal exercises only involve the abdominal muscles and therefore do not consume enough calories to lose weight. There are several ways to increase your energy expenditure during exercise:
- Postpone sets of exercises for the press for a while and devote training to aerobic exercise (also called cardio exercise). These are trainings that involve several muscle groups at once with an increased heart rate, they consume an increased amount of calories and are commonly used for weight loss. Only after normalizing the weight, start exercises for the abdominal muscles, opting for training complexes for beginners. This method will take a long time, but people with a diagnosis of obesity are better off using this approach.
- Another option involves parallel weight loss and workout of the abdominal muscles, such a complex is suitable for people with slight excess weight; weight loss also occurs due to cardio loads. To do this, you can find morning exercises and warm-ups using cardio exercise complexes in the video blogs of fitness trainers, or conduct separately two types of workouts - aerobic and abdominal.
- Using a training complex to reduce the abdomen, it includes, among other things, exercises with increased energy expenditure that involve the abdominal muscles. It should be borne in mind that this exercise pattern is less effective for the press than classic training complexes. This option is suitable for people with normal weight and low belly fat.
A set of exercises for the press to reduce the abdomen
Do not forget to warm up and stretch before training, plan 3-4 workouts per week.
- Squats. Starting position: legs are slightly wider than shoulders apart, palms are clenched in front of you (in a complicated version, you can stretch your arms forward and hold small dumbbells in your palms). As you exhale, you need to sit down to the position of your hips parallel to the floor, spreading your knees slightly to the side, and freeze for a few seconds. As you inhale, rise. It is important to keep your abdominal muscles tense while squatting. You need to start with 2-3 sets of 10-15 times, gradually bringing up to 30 repetitions.
- Deadlift. It is required to bend over from a standing position, make a barbell grip (you can use weights or dumbbells), straighten up, evenly and vertically lifting the sports equipment, then return the barbell to its place. However, for the first time, this exercise is best done under the guidance of a trainer, or carefully familiarize yourself with the technique. In the starting position, the legs should be slightly apart and slightly bent; you should not lift or lower your head. It is better to start with a small weight, gradually increasing the load. Perform three sets of 8-10 times, as the weight increases, reduce the number of repetitions to 2-3. It should be borne in mind that men use this exercise to increase muscle mass, in contrast to women who react to this load by losing weight (if they do not do an excessive number of repetitions).
- Plank. Starting position: support lying on the elbows. It is required to strain the abdominal muscles, straighten the legs and back and freeze in this position for 1-2 minutes. Repeat 4-5 times. This exercise works on a complex of muscles and is aimed at increasing endurance.
- Vacuum. This exercise will help tighten your abs and reduce your waist by a couple of centimeters. The recommended time to do it is in the morning on an empty stomach immediately after waking up. It is required to take a deep breath, and then, on exhalation, draw in the front wall of the abdomen, there should be a feeling that the rectus abdominis muscle is pressed against the spine, and there is no air left in the lungs. Freeze for 15-45 seconds and exhale slowly. Repeat 5-10 times.
A set of exercises for the press and buttocks
This complex is suitable for girls and beginners, it includes exercises that involve the gluteal muscles and abs. Plan 3-4 workouts per week.
- Squats on one leg. Starting position: standing on one leg. It is better to put your hands behind your head, you need to squat without haste and sudden movements. Perform in three sets of 15-25 repetitions.
- Glute bridge. Starting position: lying on your back, hands on the floor directed to the sides, legs bent at the knees. It is required to tear the buttocks off the floor and stretch one leg up, freeze for a few seconds, return to the starting position and repeat with the other leg. Perform the exercise in 2 sets of 20-25 repetitions.
- Pedaling. Starting position: lying on your back, hands should be removed behind the head, legs are raised above the floor. It is required to make circular movements with the feet, as if pedaling a bicycle. Perform the exercise quickly in three sets of 30 seconds.
- Reverse crunches with a rise in the buttocks. Starting position: lying on the floor, legs raised above the floor at an angle of 30 degrees. It is required to raise your legs and pull yourself up, lifting the pelvis from the floor, freeze for a few seconds and return to the starting position, your feet should not touch the floor, you should not swing your legs too much. Hands can be extended along the body or held on to a bench or chair. Perform in two sets of 15-20 repetitions.
- Walking on the buttocks.
A set of exercises with a kettlebell for abdominal muscles
Good results are given by training complexes with weighting materials. Girls should not be afraid of exercises with additional weight - the female body is reluctant to gain muscle mass and does this only with "multi-repetitive" training. Kettlebells can be used in almost any exercise on the press, but in this complex loads are selected that will lose their effectiveness without weights. It is better to alternate such training with other complexes, planning one or two days a week for weights.
- Side bends with a kettlebell. Starting position: standing, legs apart shoulder-width apart, left hand behind the head, right - holding a kettlebell. It is required to bend to the right and straighten. After 20-25 repetitions, change hands and repeat the same number of times. Perform the exercise in two approaches.
- Diagonal lifts with a kettlebell. Starting position: standing, knees bent in a half-squat, both hands are holding a kettlebell. It is required to take your hands with a kettlebell down to the left, and then, straightening your legs, raise your hands with a kettlebell to the right up. Without returning to the starting position, continue execution to the left and down. Repeat 15 times, then change the direction of movement of the weighting compound - right down and left up. Perform in two approaches.
- Kettlebell crunches. Starting position: lying on the floor, arms extended up in front of you and holding the kettlebell, legs bent at the knees. It is required to perform twisting - to pull the shoulder girdle to the pelvis, making sure that the lower back does not come off the floor. The arms remain extended in front of you during execution. Repeat 15-20 times in two sets.
- Raises the legs. Starting position: lying on the floor, arms extended up in front of you and holding the kettlebell, legs extended and raised above the floor. It is required to raise the legs alternately to the left of the kettlebell and to the right of the kettlebell, returning to the starting position and making sure that the feet do not touch the floor. Perform two sets of 15-20 times.
