Most ab exercises include crunches, planks or sit-ups. The problem with only doing these exercises is that you may not be able to get the full range of your ab muscles during your session at the gym. When you are doing a set of crunches or sit-ups you are fighting gravity. This is not a bad thing but a lot of times you just can’t crunch to the full range of motion because your abs may not be strong enough against gravity. We possess one of the only machines in Plano that take away gravity so that you can customize the setup to meet your strength.
This allows you to get through the full range of motion and have your best chance and utilizing the full range of motion for your muscles. This machine has 3-4 components that can change the way you perform this exercise.
1. The weight
2. The green cam
3. The seat can change up or down so it challenges different aspects of the abs
4. Your position on the seat: both legs, one leg, rotated to one side etc.
We would challenge you to come up to Willow Bend Fitness Club and explore this exercise or have a personal trainer come and walk you through it to customize this machine for you. If you utilize the wrong types of machines then you may end up getting hurt and that would suck.
Trunk flexion is focused on bringing your rib cage/Xyphoid Process down to the hip area (Pubic Symphysis). The goal is to contract the abs and rock out 10-20 reps at a time of this exercise. If you do a few sets of these, like 2-5 of them, then you will start noticing a difference in your muscles in a month or 2. What sets apart a 6 pack from not is usually diet. There are some cases where, genetically, you may just not be able to get the muscle tone you are after.
Check out the Xyphoid Process and the Pubic Symphysis to see where your abs meet so you can picture this while you’re performing this exercise.
At the end of the day we don’t “poo poo” on any of the ab exercises but are looking at each of them at how they workout the muscle groups and in what range. When we talk about range of motion there is a long range to a short range and you want to hit each of those ends along with everything in between.
Strong abs and strong core are needed to support the low back and take stress off the legs, knees and feet. Keep moving forward and pursue your best!
Let us know if you have any questions about this at Willow Bend Fitness Club. We are located at 2500 Dallas Pkwy, Ste#111, Plano, TX 75093.
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