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Ab exercises

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Abdominal or ab exercises are exercises specifically designed to strengthen and tone the muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the body’s midsection.  Because a trim core and waist is so highly desirable in modern culture, these exercises have become exceedingly popular.  This fact is only heightened by the fact that many, if not most, ab exercises requires little if any expensive equipment. 

It is often overlooked that different ab exercises are designed to pinpoint certain areas of the abdominal system, which contains four distinct sections: upper abdominals, lower abdominals, love handles, and lower back.  Each section of the abdominal system is distinct and each has certain ab exercises that work best in strengthening and toning it specifically.  Whether the goal is to build core strength for sports or bodybuilding, or just to achieve that ultra-desirable trim torso-look, the most effective method is to do a variety of ab exercises targeting all abdominal areas, not just focusing on a single section.

One of the great attractions of ab exercises is that they require little equipment and so are much easier to work out than other areas of the body, such as the legs, back, or chest.  While there are many fine equipment options out there, some basic ab exercises can, if practiced regularly, provide a good workout.  The most common ab exercises are the sit up, crunches, reverse crunches, and pilates.  Pilates is a low intensity workout that involved light aerobic exercise and stretching, and has become a favorite ab exercise of women.  Crunches and reverse crunches are some of the simplest and most efficient workouts there are: you simply lie on your back and either crunch up with your upper body (crunches) or draw your lower body toward your upper (reverse crunches).  These two basic exercises will work out your entire abdominal system, with particular focus on the large upper and lower sections, offering optimal benefits for the greatest degree of convenience.  Sit ups, on the other hand, offer limited benefits to the abdominals and can actually damage the back.

Because these exercises can be done at home, they require little in terms of equipment.  An exercise mat is always useful for keeping comfortable and clean while doing ab exercises, many of which involve lying on the ground.  Other ab exercises can be done with special weight lifting benches.  Dumbbell plates in lower weights are great ways to add resistance to many ab exercises for a more intense workout.  Perhaps the most flexible and fun option in ab exercise equipment is the medicine ball, which provides an incredible variety of uses and positions for your ab exercises, allowing you to target any muscle area.

An often-overlooked benefit of ab exercises is that keeping a strong, durable core can actually prevent or alleviate back pain.  This, combined with the fitness benefits and body shaping ability of ab exercises, makes them some of the most important in the realm of fitness.  It’s always a good idea to discus a potential workout and your goals for it with a doctor before you begin.  Remember, with the huge variety of ab exercises out there, some work well and are highly beneficial, while others are poorly designed and destructive.  Knowing which to use for your goals is key.

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Jump rope
A jump rope is, perhaps, the first piece of exercise equipment that any of us have ever own. After all, as children, a jump rope is simply a fun toy. As adults, though, we can begin to see a jump rope as more than just a toy.

Aerobic equipment
Great aerobic equipment does not have to be terribly expensive. In fact, as you browse through all of the great aerobic equipment that we have, you will see that it can actually be priced quite reasonably! Sorry, but you can no longer use “money” as your excuse for not having great aerobic equipment in your own home!

Medicine balls
Remember using medicine balls during your old gym classes? Well, medicine balls are still around today, and as popular as ever. Why? Because using medicine balls is still one of the best ways to strengthen and tone your muscles.