I love abs. I may not love ab exercises, at least not in the moment, but abs are wonderful.
The basic ab exercise is the
crunch. In Pilates, it is called
the Chest Lift, which is actually a better name because we really shouldn’t be
crunching while exercising, unless we are eating popcorn, which is best done in
front of a movie rather than while trying to work. (Persistence is key when you fall into a sentence like
that!)
The exercise begins Lying
Down. Everyone loves lying
down! Even lying down, form is
important. You will want to bend
your knees and place your feet in line with your sit bones. Your spine should feel relaxed, not
smooshed into the floor. Leave a
little tunnel under your lower back for passing ladybugs. If the tunnel is big enough for an
iguana, you will need to lower the ceiling. You will want to support your big heavy head with your hands,
keeping your elbows where you can see them; those elbows get up to no good when
unsupervised.
Breathe.
Now we are ready to work. As you exhale, use those abdominals to
pull your breastbone down toward your toes. This will, as a side effect, lift your head off the
floor. Thinking about the exercise
this way will help keep your chest safe from evil chin incursions, which will
keep your neck safe from excessive flexing. Since you are a wonderful multi-tasker, you can also think
about keeping your abdominals flat and spread out across your body to avoid
that little bubble that tends to pop up like an alien fetus.
Curl back down. Breathe more.
There are lots of variations on
this theme, but this is the basic place to start. Sets of 10 are good, but you know your body; do what works
for you.