Hello! I was wondering if any one had any good ab workouts, either in the pool or dryland. I really like doing dolphin kick on my back, but I wanted to expand my bases. Any exercises that benefit the lower abs would be hugely appreciated, but any ab is good too. Thanx!!
~Kyra
Former Member
Here's one you can do if you are at the gym alone.
Lay on your back and place a swiss ball/excerise ball between your ankles. Bend your knees so that your legs wrap around the excersize ball. Place your hands at your side and then use your legs to lift the ball towards your chest. Hold for a sec and then slowly lower the excersize ball back to the ground.
Start off with sets of 4 or 5 and then work your way up to 10 or 15 at a time. This excersize targets your lower abs.
Dryland:
You should do with a friend; he should stand and you should lay down and put your head just between his feet and grab his legs by his ankles. Then, lift your feet as if you want to smack him in the chest. He should catch your feet and push them back, at beggining easily and later with more intensity (your legs should never hit the ground so stop them and inch or two before they do). I believe this is the best lower ab workout there is for dryland.
Pool:
A drill for dolphin kick and lower abs as well as all the other supporting muscles; grab a weight, from 5 to 10 pounds and hold it onto your chest area. Then, in this vertical position, do the dolphin kick and try to elevate your self out of the water. Be careful with weight you choose as it should provide optimum resistance yet you should be able to breathe all the time. Also, you should maintain this vertical position and do not lean forward or backward.
Do a couple of sets each time you're around the pool and within a month or so, your legs and body will become an incredible, propulsive engine that will power your fly to the victory.
Cheers
When the world is flooded with water, the swimmers will reign.
Great quote! Is that original? If so, do you mind if we borrow it to put on a tee shirt?
Originally posted by gull80
Great quote! Is that original? If so, do you mind if we borrow it to put on a tee shirt?
Send me one when you make them!
~Kyra
Kyra,
I guess the technical name for the excercise I mentioned is a reverse crunch. Here are a couple links that show how the exercise is done and some guidance on the proper sizing for the exercise ball.
Reverse crunch info:
exercise.about.com/.../aa121200b.htm
Exercise ball info:
www.bodytrends.com/creair.htm
Originally posted by gull80
Great quote! Is that original? If so, do you mind if we borrow it to put on a tee shirt?
To be perfectly honest, I haven't heard that anywhere and I just placed a thought that first came to my mind...
I guess it's just the old envy for skills and gills that Kevin Costner represented in "Waterworld", the movie (hence the inspiration). I mean, that undulation lead shoot out of the water was just... WOW.
But I think it will look cool on a T-shirt and I have absolutelly nothing against that (I even wouldn't mind if I got one sent :D )
Hello! I was wondering if any one had any good ab workouts, either in the pool or dryland. I really like doing dolphin kick on my back, but I wanted to expand my bases. Any exercises that benefit the lower abs would be hugely appreciated, but any ab is good too. Thanx!!
~Kyra
Hi Kyra
(Sorry for the two year delay).
If you have access to parallel bars, I like to be on them, arms straight, elbows locked, and with almost straight legs (only a gymnast can do it with straight legs, no knee bend) do leg lifts (both legs together, of course). If you can bring your legs to do a 90 degrees angle with your upper body (4 sets x 10 reps) you'll feel it in your lower abs. Don't swing your body. After a few weeks you'll be able to lift your legs so that your knees practically hit you in the face (or almost). A few weeks of that you'll be wanting to wear bikinis or tank-tops or bare-midriff-style.
