Ab muscles are divided into Lower Abs, Upper Abs and Obliques. Yuva Prakash explains how to train each of them aesthetically to get the desired bulge on the right places. He gives two exercises to each of them. For upper abs, he does Toe-Touchers and Weighted Crunches, for lower abs, he does Hanging Leg Raise and Cable Reverse Crunches; and for obliques, he does Hanging Side Raise and Side Crunches. He said that this ab-training routine must be followed at least twice or thrice a week.
Upper Abs
1. Toe-Touchers (4 Sets)
Lie down face up. Bring both your legs to 90 degree angle and touch your toes with your hands. As you bring your hands to your toes, breath out and as you take them back, breathe in. You will feel the crunch pressure on your upper abs this way. Yuva stresses that you must at least 3 to 4 sets of this exercise and reps you must do until you cannot do it further, reaching the point of breaking out! The gap between two sets should be less than 30 seconds, the lesser the better.
2. Weighted Crunches (4 Sets)
Lie down face up and bring your legs up from knees to 90 degrees where the lower legs are parallel to the ground. Keep weights ready overhead. Now, pick-up the weight and keep it on your lower legs which are parallel to the ground. As you come up, you squeeze your upper ab muscles and weights further put pressure on your ab muscles, making the tension constant. Now, in the same manner, take the weights back up and keep them over head. As you squeeze, breathe out and as you relax, breathe in. Yuva again stresses that do reps till you reach point of failure and hence, there is no fixed amount of reps in each set.
He says that if you are a beginner, it is better to do the crunches without weights by locking placing your hands at the back of your head, legs in the same position as above and lift your upper body up as much as you can, squeezing your abs every time and then going back again. Slowly, one must go further to do weighted crunches.
Lower Abs
1. Hanging Leg Raise (4 Sets)
Hang on the bar, let your body stabilize until you start doing the leg raise. Lift both the legs together at the same time at 90 degree angle. Squeeze and breathe out, hold for a while and then come down again. Repeat, keep your abs tight and feel the muscles working up. There is an alternative of doing the same exercise, this time bend your knees and lift up.
2. Reverse Cable Crunches (4 Sets)
Put your feet into the cable handles, sit on a slightly raised angle using your buttocks as fulcrum. Now, bring your legs up from knees towards your torso. As you squeeze up, breathe out and as your bring your legs back, breathe in. Keep doing as many number of reps as many you can in a set. The action lies in having the maximum pump in your ab muscles. However, the beginners can start with the same movement, without cable.
Obliques
1. Hanging Side Raise (4 Sets)
Hang on the bar and turn your lower body towards left. Now bring both your legs up from the sideways putting pressure on obliques. As you squeeze up, breathe out and as you bring the legs down again, breathe in. You have to repeat the same movement on the right side. Stretch as you bring the legs down every time and then again bring them up.
2. Side Crunches
Lie down sideways on the ground. See if your body is straight aligned. Now, bring your upper body and legs together in between, squeezing your oblique muscle. As you squeeze up, breathe out and as your stretch back down, breathe in.
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