What are the common mistakes while building six pack abs
Mistake 1: Anatomy of abs
Some people think the abs is one single muscle. In fact, the famous six packs are just one of the superficial manifestations. It’s necessary to understand the general anatomy. First it’s a rectus muscle of the abdomen, which consists of eight packs, and in some of the noticeable ten packs. In addition, there are abdominal internal oblique muscle and abdominal external oblique muscle and a transverse muscle of abdomen. This is the whole core muscle group. And, understanding what muscles form our abs and our beautiful abdomen, we will be able to achieve results more effectively because we can vary the load, change exercises, change the weight angle. So, for example, if we fix the legs and perform crunches, then there is a slightly greater emphasis on the upper part of the rectus muscle of the abdomen. And, on the contrary, if we raise our legs and pelvis to the corpus, for example hanging on the pull up bar, then, again the rectus muscle of the abdomen works, first of all, and the emphasis slightly shifts to the lower packs. Although, in general, I must say that lifting your legs in a hanging is one of the most effective, complex and basic exercises for the abs. If we perform lateral crunches, or lift legs to the sides, then this will train our so called “side abs”, that is abdominal oblique muscles.
Mistake 2: Avoiding exercises with weights
It seems to many people that the abs can only be pumped with its body weight, that is, crunches, only leg lifts and no extra weight is needed, Work with your body, and the result will be. Some lucky ones succeed, but in general its an exception, because if you work with additional weight, then the effect will be faster, because there are a lot of exercises, especially if we don’t just workout on the pull up bar, but go to a full fledged gym, and the extra weight can be created for our abs too. For example, a very good exercise the cable crunches when we take upper cables and perform bending. There you can adjust the additional weight, so we can perform eight, twelve or even twenty repetitions before failure. There are also exercise machines where similar exercises are also performed. You can also raise your legs on the crossbar with additional weight, for example, take a dumbbell between the legs. It must be understood that if we already perform the movement on the abs twenty, thirty, forty or times, then of course, its great that we are engaged in physical education, but from the point of view of the development of muscles its not the most effective approach. For the abs the benchmark is about twenty repetitions, which should lead to failure, or to a state close to failure. Therefore, if you do much more repetitions, then you need to add the additional weight and increase intensity.
Mistake 3: Use the same exercises
A person began to crunch a year ago, and a year later continues to make them, and then wonders why the abs doesn’t grow. In fact, exercises need to be changed at least once every two months, or even more often once a month, because the muscles need to be constantly surprised, they get used to the same type of load very quickly and stop responding well to it, so the most optimal is to pick up several exercises. For example, this month we select of two or three exercises, next month we do the other two or three exercises, in the third month, again, others.
Mistake 4: A rest between repetitions
Here I mean repetitions, not sets. Between sets, of course, rest is needed, but what do I mean by rest between repetitions? This is when we choose a such amplitude of motion, in which there is a certain time segment in which the muscle doesn’t work at all, but relaxes. For example, we hang on a pull up bar and raise our feet in a hanging. What is the point at which the abs strains in a minimum volume or doesn’t strain at all, but completely relaxes? When our legs hand vertically down. So you don’t need to go into this position, when you lower your legs down, don’t bring them to the lowest point in order to completely relax our muscles, but bring them to a level slightly higher than the lowest point. Of course, I understand this desire to lower our legs as much as possible to relax our muscles, because its subconscious desire its easier for us, Our body and our brain also strive to somehow minimize the load and strain less. The is natural reaction for humans. We must understand that the most effective muscle development occurs when muscles constantly work and we don’t let them rest within the limits of repetition.
Mistake 5: Attract other muscles
It can be, for example, hip flexors, either our hands or even our back in some movements. We must clearly isolate our abs and work exclusively for it. For example, we do feet lifting in a hanging. If we just lift our legs, and our pelvis is fixed, then in fact an iliopsoas muscle and, a little more, quads are working. and it seems to us that we are pumping the abs, but not really. And its not surprising that we will have a sense of burning and pumping in the hips area. Therefore, its necessary to lift the pelvis so that the load goes to the abs. Or, for example, the classic crunches. So, we fixed our legs and lift our corpus up and down. So, in addition to the rectus muscle of the abdomen, the iliopsoas and a little more, quads will also work here. But in fact, you need to concentrate on our abs, think about this muscle, provide neuromuscular control and constrict the abs. Another example, when we help ourselves with hands. This is if we put our hands behind our heads and pull out the corpus with a jerk, also straining with our hands. This is another mistake that steals tension from the abs. That is, you don’t need to pull yourself by the head with your hands its cheating and this reduces efficiency.
Mistake 6: The lack of comprehensive approach
If we want to see the six packs abs, then we must not only pump the muscles, but also provide a diet, so we must control our total daily calorie intake. Generally, we can see six pack abs when a person has a low percentage of subcutaneous fat, first of all. And only in the second place it depends on the degree of pumping of the rectus muscle of the abdomen. So, if your main goal is six packs abs, then, in fact, you need to start with a diet, and abs workout will simple be an addition.
