Every day, girls are faced with the cult of a beautiful, well-groomed and healthy body - on the TV screen and glossy pages of magazines, exceptionally ideal figures without an ounce of excess fat are constantly shown. Of course, today many brands in the beauty industry, clothing, etc. when building their advertising campaigns, they are increasingly focusing on body positive standards, but this does not mean that there are no fewer people who want to become the owners of an ideal flat stomach.
Horizontal folds on the abdomen in people of medium and heavy build look natural, however, it turns out that even the thinnest women have stripes in the waist area. These folds form above and/or below the navel and are not fat deposits. Horizontal stripes are a kind of wrinkles that appear once and never go away on their own.
The essence of the abdominal vacuum method
Abdominal vacuum is a ventral breathing exercise that is part of the so-called hypopressive gymnastics. In fact, it is based on breathing and does not require any additional tools, which will greatly please lovers of passive weight loss.
What then is vacuum used for? Borrowed from bodybuilding and yoga, this exercise allows you to tone your abdominal muscles, and in particular the transverse abdominis muscle, which is located very deep. This exercise, when performed systematically, also improves posture and has many other benefits.
By constantly practicing vacuum, you can get a flat and toned stomach much faster and more effectively than using classic crunches - the most popular exercises for training the most famous abdominal muscles.
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Exercises for the rectus abdominis muscle
1. Crunches, or twisting, are a classic and universal exercise for working the rectus abdominis muscle. It is very effective, but has one drawback - the muscles quickly adapt and get used to this type of load, and, therefore, the benefits are noticeably reduced. Therefore, if you only do crunches, then your dreams of a flat stomach will remain dreams. For tangible progress, you need to increase the number of repetitions and approaches, and also include new exercises.
Ideal technique. Starting position: lying on the floor, bend your knees at a right angle. Make sure your lower back is pressed to the floor. Using your abdominal muscles, lift your shoulders off the floor a few centimeters - the amplitude should not be too large. Slowly lift your shoulders off the floor as you exhale, maintaining tension, and hold for one second. As you inhale, slowly lower your upper back to the floor.
Do at least two sets of 12 repetitions.
Important! Do not jump up with a jerk - this sharply reduces the effectiveness of the exercise. At the end of each approach, stay in a static position for 8 seconds or perform 8 movements with a small amplitude.
2. Reverse crunches. Studies that measured the electrical activity of the muscular system during this exercise have proven the high effectiveness of reverse crunches for working the lower abdomen. That is why I classify it as the most effective.
Advantages:
- more isolated work compared to traditional crunches, where not only the abdominal muscles, but also the hips and back are involved in the work;
- engaging the oblique abdominal muscles;
- no load on the lumbar region;
- correction of lordosis;
- correction of the curve in the lower back that appears in women during pregnancy.
Ideal technique. Starting position: lying on the floor, legs bent at 90 degrees - thighs perpendicular to the floor and shins parallel to it. The arms lie along the body, palms down.
As you exhale, lift your hips off the floor, pulling your knees towards your chest - the tailbone lifts off the floor by literally 3-4 cm. Hold in this position for 1-2 seconds while inhaling. Return to the starting position. Do at least two sets of 12 repetitions.
- Perform each repetition slowly, concentrating on the working muscles.
- Lift your hips using your abdominal muscles, not by pushing.
- Keep your legs up using your abdominal muscles.
- Slowly lower your hips to the floor rather than throwing them.
- The angle between the thigh and shin should be 90 degrees throughout the entire exercise.
- Keep your head on the floor and look at the ceiling.
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Advantages of the method
This type of practice can produce truly amazing results if done correctly. Also, unlike other exercises, vacuum is suitable for almost everyone. There are some contraindications, but in principle it is a safe and very flexible exercise.
The exercise, also known as the abdominal vacuum or belly vacuum, is certainly not new to fitness enthusiasts, but it is only in recent years that it has spread like wildfire, sparking the curiosity of the less experienced.
This hypopressive gymnastic exercise based on breathing allows you to tone your abdominal muscles and, oddly enough, significantly improve your posture.
How to determine whether skin turgor is normal?
After 25 years, the skin begins to lose elasticity - the production of the required amount of hyaluronic acid and collagen decreases. Of course, comprehensive answers to questions about the condition of the skin can only be obtained through a consultation with an experienced cosmetologist. However, no one has canceled the preliminary self-diagnosis methods:
- Step 1 – pinch the skin on the outside of your palm with two fingers and hold for a few seconds;
- step 2 – release the skin: if the skin quickly returns to its original state, the turgor is not disturbed; if fingerprints disappear slowly, the skin needs “help.”
An attractive alternative
When we think of abdominal exercises, the first thing that comes to mind is crunches. After all, we've all undergone grueling crunches at least once in the hopes of getting our waistlines back in shape before the weather warms up.
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But an exercise such as a stomach vacuum, according to experts, is much more effective and also poses less stress to the body.
The reason for the formation of horizontal folds on the abdomen
The reality is that horizontal folds on the stomach are a “problem” that is familiar even to avid athletes and people who are not inclined to be overweight. So what is the reason for these “wrinkles”? You need to understand that folds on the stomach are normal. They do not have any consequences for the body, their presence (in most cases) does not indicate any disease.
This is a physiological feature of the body: the skin wrinkles when a person sits, and over time “remembers” this compressed position, leaving marks on the stomach. However, the intensity of this “memory” depends on the elasticity and firmness of the skin - if the turgor is disturbed (due to the individual structural characteristics of the skin, as a result of age-related changes, due to illness, etc.), then after extension the skin is more difficult to “remember” its original position.
Yoga's cousin
Abdominal vacuum (stomach vacuum, in English) literally translated as “empty.” This exercise is designed to tone the abdominals, does not require any tools and is based solely on proper breathing.
Abdominal vacuum is not new. It has been practiced in bodybuilding since at least the 70s and has its roots in the ancient technique of yoga.
Constantly performing abdominal vacuuming allows you to reduce your waist and make your stomach more toned (obviously, in combination with sports activity and proper nutrition). But these are not all the benefits that such an exercise entails.
How to pump up your oblique abdominal muscles
When working on building a beautiful abdomen, you cannot leave unaffected the oblique abdominal muscles, which, in addition to the relief, are also responsible for the visual appearance of the waist.
The obliques are a large muscle group. To involve them in work, you need to simultaneously statically tense the rectus muscles and make movements with the oblique muscles. That is, these are all movements in which twisting occurs in the spine. The “Criss-cross” exercise can easily cope with these tasks.
Exercise "Criss-cross". Starting position: lying on your back. The back is pressed tightly to the floor, the legs are raised at an angle of 90 degrees to the body, the lower leg is perpendicular to the thigh. Hands behind your head, elbows to the sides. The shoulders and the upper edge of the shoulder blades are raised from the floor. We twist as we exhale, touching (or simply aiming) our right elbow to our left knee. At the same time, we simultaneously extend our right leg above the floor as low as possible. As you exhale, repeat the exercise on the other side.
Important! Watch the position of your shoulders and head, do not rest your chin on your chest area. Keep your head straight. Do not press your knees to your chest, maintaining a perpendicular position of all planes. The abdomen is tense during the entire exercise; when turning the body, the lower back does not come off.
The exercise should be performed without additional weights, but with full control over the condition of the muscles.
It is better to perform several sets with a large number of repetitions. For example, 4 sets of 12 repetitions (6 on each side) with a minimum rest interval. To actively work out the oblique muscles, use the following method: perform the first set of the exercise slowly, actively twisting and fully straightening the “non-working” leg. The second approach follows immediately after the first, but it is performed at an accelerated pace - almost twice as fast. The last approach is in the same rhythm as the first.
Benefits - From Flat Belly to Better Posture
The abdominal vacuum stimulates in particular the transversus muscle, which is essential for good posture and maintaining abdominal stability. Thus, by training this muscle, you can not only tone your stomach, making it attractively flat, but also affect other aspects of your figure without unnecessary effort.
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Basically, the vacuum consists of drawing in the abdomen and then exhaling air.
Performing a vacuum protects our spine, unlike twisting, and really “works” deeply, internally.
This exercise not only strengthens your waist, but also relieves tension and stress and relaxes your entire body. Vacuum can be useful for abdominal diastasis, it increases lung capacity and strengthens all muscles.
It also stimulates bowel function and relieves back pain. Unlike classic abdominal exercises, which load both the spine and cervical region, vacuum does not create tension or muscle problems, but, on the contrary, helps solve them.
About nutrition
When it comes to cubes (or the so-called vertical strip), proper nutrition alone will not be enough. Here you will have to adhere to a fat-burning diet. What kind of diet is this? You know that I am an opponent of all kinds of diets, which only lead to serious health problems and double or even triple the lost weight. No, a fat-burning diet is not at all a diet where you need to sit on kefir alone or eat apples all day. It implies a complete refusal or a controlled restriction for a certain period (a month or two) of the use of specific foods that, in principle, can be eaten on a diet, and they are a storehouse of useful vitamins, micro- and macro-elements.
What are these products? These are mainly carbohydrates: both complex and simple.
But we do not completely give up eating carbohydrates, UNDER NO EVENT!!! We continue to eat foods rich in carbohydrates in the first half of the day, we just slightly reduce the amount of carbohydrates we eat. For example, you ate 120 g of carbohydrates per day, then next week you eat 100 g. After a week or two, you reduce a little more - to 80 g. The extreme limit is 50 g of carbohydrates per day, you should not fall below it!
The next stage is to reduce the consumption of simple carbohydrates (fruits, honey, starchy vegetables) and drinks containing sugar (natural juices, milk) to 100 grams/ml per day. You can eat up to 200 grams of sour berries per day.
It is also important not to eat these simple carbohydrates in the evening, only in the first half of the day! Since in the evening your blood sugar level should be minimal.
What to choose on a fat burning diet? You need to eat more protein foods (fish, poultry, lean beef, legumes, eggs), and also don’t forget about vegetables. Each meal, and you should have at least 5 of them, should contain both protein and non-starchy green vegetables (any cabbage, cucumber, green beans, asparagus, herbs). You need to eat in fractions! Divide your entire calorie intake into 5-6 meals of equal calorie content. This will keep your metabolism high throughout the day.
Essence and basic principles
The beautiful abs that stand out on a girl are the result of regular and intense training. Achieving a positive result with the development of attractive abdominal muscles is impossible without observing the following basic principles of the training process.
For example:
| Basic principles | The essence and purpose of the training process |
| Regularity of training | The subcutaneous layer of the anterior abdominal wall is characterized by the rapid accumulation of adipose tissue. Especially if the girl has an individual genetic predisposition to gaining excess body weight. To ensure stable burning of subcutaneous fat and achieve the effect of developing muscle fibers, it is necessary to regularly perform exercises to pump up the abs. The training program for this part of the body should include visiting the gym or sports ground at least 3 times a week. Abdominal muscles require regular and intense physical activity. |
| Using your own body weight | One of the basic principles of training the abdominal muscles is to use your own body weight. These are exercises on the horizontal bar, parallel bars, lifting the body in a prone position, doing a plank, and simultaneously touching the arms and legs in a snatch. All of them allow you to use the maximum number of abdominal muscle fibers located in the area of the anterior wall of the abdominal cavity, as well as from the sides. The advantages of using your own body weight are that this type of exercise can be performed independently at home. In this case, the result will be no worse than from training in the gym. |
| Endurance development | The abdominal muscles are quite wide and cover 1/5 of all the fibers of the body. In order for regular training to lead to the development of the abs and ensure progress in achieving relief or gaining muscle mass, it is necessary to perform endurance exercises. They involve fixing the girl’s body in such a position that creates maximum physical stress on the abdominal muscle fibers. In this case, it is necessary to be in static voltage for up to 1 minute. This type of exercise for endurance and definition of the abdominal muscles includes the plank exercise. |
| Cardiac stress | Healthy sports activities with pumping abdominal muscle fibers are not possible without regular cardiological exercise. This is a separate training program for the cardiovascular system. Its use is a prerequisite to ensure the strengthening of the heart and prevent the development of diseases associated with cardiac arrhythmias. |
| Variety of sports equipment | For the comprehensive development of the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall, you should use all sports equipment that allows you to strengthen and pump this part of the body. Compliance with this basic principle will make the training process more varied and ensure maximum physical activity. |
| Doing exercises with weights | For girls who have been pumping their abdominal muscles for 3 months. in a row or more, your own body weight may not be enough. In this case, it is necessary to use additional weights and sports equipment. For example, fix a plate from a collapsible Olympic barbell, a dumbbell or a small weight weighing from 3 to 8 kg or more on your belt. Along with additional weights, the body is lifted in a lying position, pull-ups on the horizontal bar, leg lifts on parallel bars, and fixing the weight on the back during the plank exercise. |
| Achieving a relief effect | Beautiful abs for a girl involves following the basic principle of training in the form of working on the relief of muscle fibers. To get this result, you need to focus on the number of repetitions. Each exercise is performed as many times as possible until the abdominal muscles are completely weakened. During abdominal training for relief, the effect of rapid burning of subcutaneous fat and drying of muscle fibers is achieved. |
| Strength training | The use of exercises to develop muscle strength in the anterior abdominal wall is also one of the basic principles of the training process. To achieve this result, sports equipment and additional weights are used. Strength training helps you gain muscle mass and makes your abs more voluminous and beautiful. |
| Proper nutrition | Without observing this principle, it is impossible to increase the mass of muscle fibers, as well as achieve the effect of abdominal relief. A girl should balance her daily diet, saturating it with dishes that contain lean meat, ocean and river fish, dairy products, fresh fruits, herbs, vegetables, and chicken eggs. Adequate nutrition ensures stable saturation of muscle fibers, their growth and uniform development. |
A girl can only have beautiful abs if she follows all of the above basic principles of the training process. Regular sports, cardiological exercise, periodic training to gain muscle mass and the relief of the anterior wall of the abdominal cavity will ensure the achievement of a positive result in the shortest possible time.
Useful tips
A girl’s beautiful abs can be pumped up at home, as well as in the gym.
Before starting the training process, you must follow the following useful recommendations:
- undergo a comprehensive examination of the body by a general practitioner, take an ECG, measure blood pressure;
- purchase sportswear (shorts, sneakers, moccasins, pants, T-shirt, tank top);
- during classes, always have a sufficient supply of water with you, and during training drink at least 1 liter of liquid;
- eat food no later than 1 hour before starting exercise;
- try to eat in the first 30 minutes. after completing the training course;
- to avoid the formation of calluses and dropsy from sports equipment, use special gloves for fitness;
- completely give up alcohol, cigarettes and drugs;
- create an individual daily routine indicating the diet, time of awakening from sleep and bedtime;
- limit heavy physical and mental stress;
- avoid stressful situations, since the development of abdominal muscle tissue is impossible under conditions of nervous overstrain;
- balance your diet by excluding animal fats, confectionery products, sugar, soft carbonated drinks, processed foods, foods containing preservatives, flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, food colorings.
A girl will get beautiful abs much faster if you follow the above rules, perform them before starting the training process and during complex pumping of the abdominal muscles.
