Exercise of the Month: Stability ball knee tucks
Mike Furci home / Fitness Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
You must understand that getting a great set of abs means little or no downtime. Losing body fat, gaining muscle or just looking better must be a lifestyle. If you don't make changes in your lifestyle, no single exercise, or workout for that matter, is going to give you washboard abs.
If you're not living on another planet you've seen the ads and the magazine articles spewing their bullshit.
"Great abs in five minutes a day, three days a week!" "Get a trim waistline without dieting!" "Get leaner and more muscular in 10 days using our thingamajig!" The only thing worse than these catchphrases is the cesspool of information that usually follows. The most alarming thing about these types of ads is that they work. Millions of people are preyed on every year because of their ignorance and insecurities.
One thing I want to make perfectly clear is I am not highlighting this exercise because of the miraculous effects it has at giving anyone who tries it a set of washboard abs. I am highlighting the stability ball knee tuck because it's an excellent exercise that many people have not heard of. This exercise is also a great choice for building strong abs.
The main reason I train abs is for functional strength and injury prevention. My workouts consist of a variety of exercises that target the entire core. In short the core is the abdominal wall, oblique, hips and low back.
Use the following exercise along with one or two more performing 2-3 working sets for each. Use a repetition range between 8-12. If you are a beginner start with sets of 15 until your strength and form are up to par.
Abs, despite what most people think, are mainly phasic muscles, meaning they are primarily made of fast twitch muscle fibers and respond best to lower repetitions. If endurance is what you want, perform 15-20 reps. If a strong washboard set of abs is what you want, perform 8-12 reps.
The stability ball knee tuck is torture. Make sure not to let your back sway when your legs are fully extended. Your core should remain tight.
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