THE First Ab Exercise You Should Ever DO

When we think of ab exercises we typically think of fancy high intensity movements (like the one above) that give our abs that 'burn'.

But in reality, most of the exercises we see on Instagram are completely inappropriate for most people.  

Most people haven't got to grips with the absolute basics let alone the advanced movements that social media Gurus take great delight in showing us.

So what is THE first abdominal exercise we should learn...and can you even do it?

Watch the below video and try it yourself: 

Why This Exercise?

Before we can train a muscle, we must first be able to 'talk' to the muscle.

The movement of rotating your pelvis backwards, (tucking your tail bone underneath) is motioned by your lower abdominals, internal obliques and glutes.

If you just can't get these muscles to activate, (rotate your pelvis backwards under no load), how are you planning on strengthening them?

Added, as well as rotating your pelvis backwards, these muscles also work to stop your pelvis tilting forwards (bum popping out and low back arching). How often do you see someone with an increased arch in their lower back when doing Planks, Press Ups, Woodchops (rotation exercise), TRX Pulls, Hip Thrusts etc?

This arched low back is especially noticeable when people do Lying Leg Lifts or 'Scissior Kicks' in order to strengthen their low abs. In essence, if your low back is arching off of the floor, either your low abs aren't strong enough to maintain your pelvis, (due to the weight of your legs or the pull of your hip flexors), or you actually can't rotate your pelvis backwards whilst lying on the floor which is surprisingly common. If this is you, Leg Raises are completely the wrong exercise for you.

You will be inadvertently working your hip flexors which, in posture, actually work in opposition to your low abdominals. Not your desired goal when doing Lying Leg Raises.

Even glute exercises require you to be able to backwardly tilt your pelvis. Lying Hip Lifts (also known as Supine Bridges), and Hip Thrusts require a subtle backward tilt of the pelvis to pre-fire the glutes and prevent the low back from arching, (which would result in your low back doing much of the work rather than your glutes). This is also true of many pulling exercises such as TRX Pulls or Cable Rows.

Whilst rotating your pelvis backwards may not actually tone your abs, it does show you clearly what sort of exercise is correct for you, (and as importantly, which are unsuitable).

This is why this is THE first exercise you should do when starting a fitness routine.

Try it yourself and let me know how you get on.

If you would like any help with your training, feel free to pop me an email and we can discuss how Personal Training may help you train smarter.

Good Luck!