Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel
So you guys have been so motivated from my recent results video and I keep getting messages
About how to engage your core and your abs and also how to breathe properly
So in today's video, I'm gonna tell you guys the do and don'ts for some abs exercises
It is really important to know how to breathe correctly
Correctly if you want to get that tight abs and not bloated abs
before we get into after it, I'll touch on some common mistakes first, but do me a favor and smash that like button
also drop me a comment down below on how many of these you're guilty of and let's start with number one
Not doing enough ab exercises
You should be training your abs at least 5 times a week and up to 7 times if that's possible
I get a lot of comments of people saying you can't train your abs every day
You're not gonna see the results, but the truth is our abs can handle the frequency and you need to train them up
So I put up 3 ab workouts recently with the latest one being the plank challenge
So I suggest you to try to increase a plank challenge at least 5 to 6 times a week, that workout
Is gonna really help you to train your core muscles and that's gonna help you to tighten up your waist
So I've already started getting tons of comments from people who has done it for less than week
So do consider adding this to your schedule. The second mistake is that you're doing only ab exercises. Look, that's great
But if you want to get results
You need to do full body workouts or hit workouts or resistance training
And that's the reason why my full program has full body workout and also hit workouts
And if you prefer resistance training you can do that too
And just add your abs workouts on top of that. Number three is that you're cheating on our ab reps
Don't be a cheater guys. Don't do a half-arse job
Don't be afraid to take a short break if you can't do it in good form
It is better for you to do 10 good reps instead of a hundred shitty reps. And the last common mistake here
is that some people don't know how to breathe right. Basically when you breathe in,
Breath into your stomach, your stomach, not into your chest and when you breathe into your stomach, you can engage your core a lot better
You're gonna get so much more out of your workout. And now let's try it with some exercises. There are eight exercises
I'm gonna show you guys today. And the first one is plank. Here's what not to do
One of the most common mistake is that you're arching your neck. Don't arch your neck or tense your neck
Your neck is going to be sore
also
Don't go all relaxed and droop down your butt or poke it up and that's when your abs and inner core which is a transverse
Abdominis, it's not engaged. Don't take little breaths or hold your breath
You're just not gonna be able to activate your core as much with little shallow breaths
Or if you're holding your breath you might get all dizzy, and here's how to do a good plank
Make sure you keep your neck long elbows directly below your shoulders
squeeze your glutes together and press your legs together so that you can focus all your energy on your abs and this will let your
abs to do most of the work
Now breathe in through your diaphragm into your belly and your belly is going to inflate
That's going to push your diaphragm down and create pressure in your core and that's gonna create core stability
now breathe out and as you breathe out cinch in your abs by pulling it in and
Squeeze your abs and that's how you're gonna turn on your core helping you to get your core engaged
Make sure you take a deep breath and don't hold your breath
Don't drop your hips down and you can do that by squeezing your glutes together and your inner core engaged
So that's gonna create tension throughout your core to your butt. So your spine stays neutral
So this is why plank with good breathing technique can be so good for your core strength because it's training you to engage your inner
Core which tightens up your waist area and also the surface part of your abs
If you can't do a low plank you can do it on your knees first or high plank
Make sure your spine stays neutral and when you're more advanced you can do on your elbows
It is so much harder on your elbows because your chest it's not gonna do much of the work and you're relying more on your abs
also, it don't arch your back like so you're going to injure your back and this is why some people
Experience lower back pain from plank workouts. And now we have one leg downward dog
and this is one of the
exercises for my plank challenge, just like plank make sure you don't poke your back up or droop your butts down, do it slow and
control
So to do this take a deep breath in as you lift your leg up behind you
And breathe out as you bring your leg in and squeeze that ABS
This is going to work your inner core and your outer core at the same time
Now we have body saw which is one of the exercises from my plank challenge and here's what to avoid
Don't do it superfast. We are not competing here. And also don't poke it back up
We are not trying to fight here guys
So to do body saw it is just like plank breathe in and out as you move your feet back and forth
This is a little harder as you really need to focus all your energy on your core because your legs are moving
So you need to make sure you keep your core tight
So focus on breathing right and squeeze their abs and that's gonna really help now reverse crunch
This is one of my favorite exercises that I like to do
Don't use your arms or elbows to push your hips up. And also don't use your hands to push your back up. Don't cheat guys
Don't do it super fast and be sure to lift your hips high enough. Don't do pathetic little lifts
Also,
don't arch your back when you're doing this and this is why some people get lower back pain from at workout and don't forget to
Not swing your legs - and here's what you can do to improve your reverse crunch
Press it back into the ground. Remember to take deep breaths
And as you breathe out lift your hips off the ground using your core muscles
bring your legs to the original position as you breathe in and
Try not to swing your legs use your core to keep them stable
Also, make sure you lift your hips off the ground high enough if you're just doing little lives
It is way too easy, and you won't be working much of your abs
So here's one of my favorite exercises - and that's in and out
so make sure your chin is not tucked down like so or looking down and
Don't do it super fast because you won't be engaging your core dissuade do it in a full range of motion and not the other
Ones like this. This is just way too easy
Another mistake is that you're not breathing properly and taking little shallow breaths or even holding your breath
You're not engaging your core as much when you do that
And there's also a really high chance that you're gonna pass out
If you don't breathe, we need our oxygen guys
So to do it right have your chin up like so and look forward
take a deep breath in as you extend your legs and breathe out and
squeeze your abs as you bring your legs in this way
you can really engage your core the breathing in and out method is gonna really help you to learn to engage your core and
Remember to squeeze the ABS. And next we have crunch, don't pull your neck with your hands
Don't do that to our poor neck. Don't round your elbows like so and don't look all the way down
and also,
don't look all the way up into the ceiling because that's gonna hurt your neck and again don't arch your back and don't hold your
breath. All these I'm not gonna allow you to have a full range of motion
And also you can't engage your abs as well. Now, here's what you can do, press your back into the ground
take a deep breath in and now exhale slowly and crunch up with your eyes looking forward and not looking down or up in the
Ceiling and now as you crunch up
Pull your tummy in and squeeze their abs think of you pressing your apps in and don't think of lifting your neck
Think of lifting your chest with your core muscles knock your neck muscles and that's the reason why your neck hurts
Now as you come back down breathe in remember to take deep breaths, so you can rest your hands behind your neck
which is gonna make it more difficult because it's adding more weight or you can put it on your lap to assist the movement and
make sure your eyes are looking forward so for
Bicycle crunch it is so similar to crunch just make sure you don't arch your back and elbows not round it as well
Arching your back for ab workouts is just bad bad bad
and also don't do it super fast like so because you're not really gonna engage your core and you're not really working your abs and
Here's what you can do to engage your core better
make sure you take a deep breath in each rep breathe out as you bring your leg in and
Breathe in as you extend your leg and do it slow and control and the last exercise we have here is leg raise again
Don't arch your back. This is just how people enjoy their back and have lower back pain
you're also not really gonna engage your abs when you're doing that and don't do it superfast because again,
You're not really engaging your core when you're just like swinging your legs up and down and now here's what you can do to improve
your leg raise.
Press down your back into the floor and breathe out as you lower down your legs breathe in as you lift your legs up again
And do it slow and control and feel that burn and this is just so much more difficult if you're still confused
Imagine yourself getting punched in the stomach while unprepared, that's when your stomach & abs aren't engaged.
That's when you're tensing and engaging them and this should help you be more familiar
Alright so those are my tips on how to get the most out of your abs work outs and hopefully by the end of this
video, You know
how to engage your core better, and let me know if you have tried it and whether you feel it more in abs
Whether your abs workouts a little bit harder and don't be too pressure if you can't do all of this correctly
Practice makes perfect. And so what if you make a mistake it is, okay. Alright, so
Yeah, don't forget to smash that like button and subscribe and turn on notifications
So you don't miss my new video. A new program is coming up very soon! So stay tuned for that!
See you guys in the next workout or video