Well here it is! Free Women’s Fitness has started filming our own instructional videos to help all of our fans and friends learn new exercises and better workouts. In this video Pilates expert Tamara will show you how to do a proper crunch. She also tells you how to engage your core muscles and pelvic floor so that you actually target the correct muscles.

This is a must see video for beginners and experts because it really highlights how tricky even just a basic crunch can be. But, if you master this you will be well on your way to a flat stomach and toned abs. Please subscribe to our Youtube Channel or email updates to make sure you don’t miss out on the next video.

If you have been doing abs work for a while now you will, undoubtedly, be looking for some new exercises to keep your abdominal workouts spicy. Today I am going to show you how to do a Swiss Ball Jackknife – a very powerful exercises for working your lower and upper abs as well as your back and arms.

Preparing for the Swiss Ball Jackknife

Before you do any abdominal exercise you need to make sure you have covered a few areas. These include:

• Ensuring you use the proper technique
  Make sure you always study the exercise well and learn how to do it with the perfect technique. If you perform any exercise incorrectly you run the risk of developing a long term injury that will haunt you for years.
• Ensuring you warm up
  Make sure you do a warm up before you do any resistance exercise. Again, this helps to prevent injuries.
• Ensuring you target the right muscles
  You would be surprised to know how many women do exercises that they think targets one muscle but, in fact, it targets something completely different. Before you do this exercise you need to know where your abdominal muscles are located and how they work.

Once you have these three things under control you will be ready to start the exercise. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to perform every exercise with the perfect technique. It will prevent injuries and help you get that sexy body a lot quicker.

How to do the Swiss Ball Jackknife for Toned Abs

Now we can move on to the exciting part! This exercise is an amazing way to target your upper and lower abs in one exercise. It also hits your arms and shoulders, your back and even your butt and legs. Many women find this is a great exercise to toned the whole body as it requires strength from a lot of different areas to complete properly.

Engage your pelvic floor muscles
It is very important when performing abdominal exercises that you engage your core muscles correctly. If you don’t you run the risk of completely missing out on the work that your lower abs should be doing. They simply won’t engage. To turn on your core you need to engage your pelvic floor muscles (the ones that you tense when you are busting for the toilet). You also need to tense your major abs muscles by pulling your belly button in as far as you can. Hold this throughout the exercise.

STEP ONE – Position Yourself on the Swiss Ball

The first part of the jackknife is done by positioning your body on the Swiss ball in the correct posture. Without the correct posture your whole exercise will feel unbalanced and weak. To do this you need to:

• Place your feet on the ball so they are balanced and stable. Close together is best but you can have a little space if you need it.
• Place your hands shoulder width a part and lock your elbows so you can support your body weight.
• Make sure that your shoulders are back by lengthening the distance between your ear and your shoulders
• Make sure your back is perfectly straight; not curved upwards or downwards. This is vital.
• Tense your abs and pelvic floor muscles.

Make sure you feel comfortable and secure. It will take some practice to get the balance correct but if you keep your posture as illustrated above you will find the stability comes quite naturally.

STEP TWO – The Actual Jackknife “Crunch” Movement

From the initial starting position you will now do the main jackknife or “crunch” part of the movement which is where the majority of the work is done. In order to do this correctly you need to:

• Very slowly bring your knees toward your chest by crunching your abs and rolling the fitness ball forward
• At the top of the motion you tense your abs again as you breathe out
• Very slowly return your legs to the original position making sure your abs stay tensed and firm

Repeat the above sets until your abs are too tired to continue. This is called “failure”. You should fail after about 15 to 20 repetitions if your technique is correct. Make sure you do not continue if your execution starts to get sloppy as you will not be targeting the correct muscles and you might do yourself an injury.

Conclusion

The Swiss Ball jackknife is an amazing exercise for toning your abs and getting a flat stomach. It is quite advanced so build up slowly by performing a regular pilates abs crunch. When you feel like you are ready get your fitness ball and go for it! You will see results in just a few sessions.

photo credit: MichaelBmxking

When it comes to abs exercises the reverse crunch is one of my favorites. It is not only extremely good at targeting your abdominal muscles, but it actively helps you mend a bad back. This makes the reverse crunch one of the best exercises you can do if you want to achieve toned abs.

How to do the reverse crunch for toned abs

The great thing about the reverse crunch is that it is extremely easy to do. You can do it at home or at the gym and you don’t need any fancy equipment. Here is a step by step guide:

1. Grab a solid object
   Start by laying down with a solid object (like a couch or upright pillar) behind your head. You are going to use this object as a support.
2. Position your legs
   Start by positioning your legs. The correct position for a reverse crunch is with your knees at a 90 degree angle and with your thighs at a 90 degree angle to your stomach.
3. Tense your abs
   Throughout the whole exercise your abs should be tightened and tensed. This will help you support your back and will make your abdominal muscles do all the work instead of bringing your hip flexors and legs into play.
4. Push your pelvis and rock back
   The main “crunch” part of the reverse crunch. Lift your pelvis off the ground by tensing your abs and rock back on the floor so that your knees come up to your chest. Imagine you are trying to get your butt up to your chest. Really focus on tensing your abs. Your lower back should come off the ground in this exercise.
5. Slowly lower and repeat
   Slowly lower your back onto the floor and then lower your legs to the starting position. You do not want to straighten your legs out parallel to the floor as this will cause your hip flexors to take over the work of the abs. Just bring them back to that 90 degree position.

It is extremely important to get the technique perfect when working the abs. If you just rock around with out any muscle contractions you will not make any progress. This is not what we want! If your technique is correct you will see results extremely fast.

Do you want flat abs? Are you looking to tighten up your midsection and create a firmer tummy? You will be happy to know that it isn’t that hard. In this article I am going to give you a beginner abs workout that will help you do just that.

Technique is paramount

When you are doing any resistance training you need to make sure your technique is perfect. The exercises are designed in specific ways that help you avoid injuries and maximize the amount of utility you get from the motion. If you cheat on the exercise you are only harming your progress.

Make sure you read up on all these exercises in our abs archive and learn how to do them perfectly. If you need to hire a training for a day to go through them all with you then do that. It will be well worth it in the long run.

A beginner abs workout for women

This workout is for any woman that is looking to tone, tighten or strengthen her midsection. It is suitable for women with little to no exercise experience.

1. Warm up
Start with a brief five minute warm up like a quick jog or some running on the spot. The idea is to get the muscles warm and the blood pumping.

2. Reverse Crunch 3 sets of 15 reps
The reverse crunch is a excellent exercise for targeting your lower abs.

How to do it:
To perform this exercise lay on your back with your hands cradling your lower back. Keep your head and upper shoulders on the ground. Extend your legs out so you are horizontal to the floor and then using your abdominal muscles bring your legs in and up to your chest. Crunch the abs. When you have brought them as far as you can rock back slightly on to your upper back and crunch the abs further. This is on repetition.

Do three sets of 15 reps making your technique is perfect and your repetitions are done in a slow and careful manner.

3. Abdominal Crunch 3 sets of 15 reps
The abdominal crunch is the basic crunch that allow you to target your upper and lower abs while protecting your lower back from strain.

How to do it:
Lay on your back and place your finger tips on your temples. Do not put your hands behind your head as this can lead to pulling. Place your feet flat on the floor and using your abdominal muscles roll your body up towards your thigh muscles while exhaling. To do this start with the head and neck and then the upper shoulders and finally crunch the abs. The motion should be like rolling a newspaper instead of going up and down like a see-saw. Once you have reached the top of the motion slowly lower yourself back down and repeat without resting your head on the floor.

Do three sets of 15 reps in a slow and controlled manner. Make sure your tense your abs at all times throughout the exercise.

4. Warm down
For your warm down it is a good idea to do some stretches. This helps with muscle recovery and keeps your midsection healthy and strong. The best stretch to do is the Upward Dog Yoga Pose.

How to do it:
To do the Upward Dog sit on your knees with your upper forehead touching the ground and your arms outstretched as far as they can go in front of you. Breathe out and as you breathe in slowly run your chin along the floor towards your hands and then curl yourself up so you have a nice bend in your back. Stretch your chin up, roll your shoulders back and tense your buttocks. You should feel a nice stretch in your back and abs. Continue to breathe. To come out of this stretch simply breathe in and as you breathe out go back in to the starting position. Rest for a few breaths.

Conclusion

This abs workout will be perfect for anyone who wants to strengthen their midsection and develop a flatter tummy. It will only take ten minutes but the results will be well worth your time. Remember, technique is paramount so make sure you do every exercise perfectly.