Most gyms have instructors on the floor who can give you tips on these abdominal exercises. But just in case, we've included some pointers below.
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground pulled towards your buttocks. Place your hands on your thighs and gently slide your hands up towards your knees. Don’t pull with your neck. Concentrate on curling your chest towards your hips, not sitting straight up.
Lying on your back, place your left hand behind your head and your right hand at 45 degrees down from your shoulder flat on the ground. Crunch the left side of your torso, diagonally across your body, bringing your left shoulder off the ground and heading towards your right hip. Squeeze at the top and return to start position. Repeat on the other side.
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet either on the ground or just off. Have your hands by your sides, palms down. Keeping your head down and your hands flat (not under your backside), roll the lower half of your body upwards, bringing your knees in towards your chest. Don’t lift, just crunch or roll the lower half of your body inwards towards your chest. Slowly return to the starting position.
The bicycle crunch works all your abdominal muscles and it’s no ride in the park. Lie on your back with your knees bent at 90 degrees(into your chest) and your arms by your sides. Alternately lower each foot to the ground, keeping the angle of your knee fixed. Be careful to keep your abdominals braced throughout and maintain the natural curve in your spine (don’t over-arch or flatten it). To reduce the intensity of the exercise, do not extend your legs as low to the ground.
An advanced variation includes your upper body. Place your arms directly over your head so that they are resting on the ground. As one leg extends, bring the same arm over your head and towards your leg in an arc as if following that leg. As the knee bends and you withdraw the leg, the arm returns over your head again.
Take the exercise to a different level by adding a twist to really work your abdominals. Bring your fingers to your ears, bending your elbows out wide. As each knee comes into your chest, draw the opposite shoulder across to meet it. Rather than taking each foot to the ground, straighten the leg off the ground. Alternate sides.
When doing abdominal exercises, it's important that you don't feel any tightness or pain through the neck or lower back. If you do, check your technique to make sure it's correct or stop doing the exercise and move on to the next one.
