Abdominal Excersises to Help You Lose Weight

Abdominal exercises can help you lose weight as part of a balanced workout regimen. Strengthening and toning your core muscles is one of the key elements of overall fitness. Still, you must understand that working out your abs alone will not lead to effective weight loss. Hundreds of crunches each day won't achieve much if you don't eat well or perform aerobic exercise. However, you can realistically work towards shedding those excess pounds if you combine aerobic activity with a healthy diet and abdominal exercises.

Sit-ups

• Start your abdominal workout with sit-ups, a basic ab exercise that will work the upper and middle abdominal muscles. Lie flat on the ground with your legs up and bent at the knees, preferably on a workout mat for moderate padding. Cross your hands on your chest. Slowly sit up, using your abs to pull your weight up from the ground until you are in an almost upright position. Make sure to keep your neck straight to avoid pulling with the neck muscles rather than the abs. Hold this upright position for 3 seconds before lowering your upper body back down to the ground, waiting until your shoulders are almost touching the ground before doing another sit-up. Avoid returning all the way down to the ground to keep your abs from resting. Perform 3 sets of 10 sit-ups, gradually increasing this number over time as your fitness improves.

Crunches

• Continue your workout with crunches, designed to exercise the upper abdominal muscles. Lie on the ground in the same position as you did for sit-ups. Repeat the same sit-up motion using your abs, but stop when you get roughly halfway up from the ground. Your upper body should form a 45 degree angle with the ground and your knees. Hold this crunch for 3 seconds before lowering yourself back down. Do not let your shoulders rest on the ground. Come right back up with the next crunch, repeating this cycle for 20 repetitions. Perform 3 sets, resting for 1 minute between each.

Leg Raises

• Finish your abdominal workout with leg raises. This exercise targets your lower ab muscles as well as your hip flexors and obliques. Lie flat on a workout bench with your bottom at the end of the bench. Your legs should be bent in a sitting position and your feet on the ground. Reach behind you with your arms and hold the bench with your hands for stability. Put your legs together and extend them straight so that your entire body is straight and rigid. You should feel the muscles in your abs working to support the weight of your elevated legs. From this flat position, slowly raise your legs until they are nearly at a 90-degree angle with the floor, the bench, and your upper body. Hold this raised position for 3 seconds before lowering your legs to their straightened starting point. Perform 10 to 20 repetitions of this exercise, focusing on tightening your lower abdominal muscles as you pull your legs up each time. You can also alter this exercise to work your oblique abdominal muscles by raising and lowering your legs to the left or right rather than the middle.

Additional Advice

• Work your abs with these exercises three to five times per week. Remember that abdominal workouts are only one part of the complete weight loss process. Make sure you are watching what you eat and getting plenty of aerobic exercise as well. Eat mostly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. Jog, swim, bike, play sports, and stay as active as possible. Doing this will greatly increase your chances of losing weight.