Floor Twist and Stretch
This exercise stretches the muscles of your hips and lower back.
Begin
Lie full length and relaxed on the floor, your arms loosely stretched down the sides of your body. Lift your right knee up partly towards your chest so the thigh is more or less vertical and your lower leg horizontal with the floor. Place your left hand on the outside of your right thigh just above the knee.
Next
Keeping both shoulders and upper back down against the floor as much as possible, use your left hand to bring your right knee across your body towards the opposite side. You will feel your hip muscle stretching. Now push that knee even further down towards the floor, allowing your right shoulder to move up off the floor only as much as necessary. Feel that long stretch expanding into your lower back. Hold then relax. Repeat on the other side.
Curl Up and Stretch
This exercise stretches your entire back and is therefore ideal to finish on.
Begin
Lie on your back, knees raised, feet flat on the ground. Clasp your hands together behind your knees and bring your knees up towards your chest.
Next
Now imagine that you are a hedgehog. Exhale while smoothly coming up as if into a curl, bringing your head and shoulders close to your knees. Your back should feel stretched. Hold then relax.
The basics
You’ve warmed up – now you’re ready to do your first curl. However, before you begin, there are a few basics you need to familiarize yourself with. Begin by getting into the correct basic position (shown in Chapter 1: At Rest Position), then go on to study the Top Tips for Doing the Curl (Chapter 1: Top tips for doing the curl) and How to Breathe (Chapter 1: How to Breathe).
At Rest Position
Some people call this position neutral. It is the position in which your body is aligned correctly to do curls and the basic position that should be maintained throughout the exercises (unless instructed otherwise).
1. Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor and hip-width apart. Your knees must be a reasonable distance from your buttocks, so you feel comfortable and relaxed.
2. Keep your shoulders relaxed and down and, with elbows at right angles to your head, rest your head in your unclasped hands.
3. Press your pelvis into the floor as far as possible.
4. Now push up gently, feeling your pelvis tilt away from the floor so that there’s a gap between the floor and your lower back. If you could see yourself in proffile, you would be able to see this gap. (It’s sufficient to allow someone to slide their hands and arms right through to the other side.) This is the arched position or low-back curve.
5. Gently rock back and forth between the flat back and the arched position until you can feel your body settling some where between the two. Your pelvis should now be in a comfortable, balanced position. It is important to practise this and adjust the position of your body until you get it right.
Top tips for doing the curl
These guidelines will help you get the most out of your ab routine.
1. Move in a smooth, controlled manner. If you find yourself jerking or getting into the wrong position, stop, focus and start again.
2. Let your abs do the work, not your neck. The curl must come from your stomach region. A common mistake is to interlock fingers or clasp hands behind your neck and haul your head up. Instead, support your head by using your hands as a cradle.
3. During curls where the head is not supported, tuck your chin in a little, allowing the neck muscles to do their work.
4. Avoid the S-bend. Keep head, neck and shoulders aligned in a natural position. Don’t look up at the ceiling.
5. To protect your spine and stabilize your pelvis, imagine that you’re lengthening your back towards the floor when lifting.
6. Try not to rise more than 30–45 degrees from the floor. More, and you’ll be working your hip flexor muscles.
7. Exhale as you lift. Try to pull your tummy in towards your spine and up into your ribs.
8. Use a hand to check the position of your abs – don’t allow your tummy to stick out.
9. When doing curls with twists or rotations, first lean forward a little to bring the ribcage towards your pelvis. Then lead with your shoulder and keep the elbows back.
How to Breathe
Everyone can breathe, can’t they? Actually no! At least, not well enough to gain the optimum from exercise. Learning to breathe correctly during tummy exercises has to be learned and practised. It’s important to get it right before you begin because correct breathing has a direct effect on whether you can hold your tummy in and up during the lifting stage of the curl.
You will notice that when we inhale – try it now – the tummy naturally tends to stick out and as we exhale it goes back in. For curls, where the aim is to flatten the tummy and strengthen the abs, we must be able to use and control this breathing pattern to our advantage.
The key to curling is to breathe out during each lift and pull the tummy further in and up
1. Lie on the floor in the basic At Rest position. Instead of having your hands under your head, spread your fingers across your tummy with your thumbs approximately at the bottom of your ribcage (diaphragm) and your middle fingers pointing towards, but not touching, your belly button. Your shoulders should be down on the floor and relaxed. Take a deep breath in.
2. Now breathe out. As you exhale, note the direction your tummy moves. It should flatten slightly.
3. Breathe in. Notice that your belly goes out, or sticks up.
4. Continue breathing in and out, but now exaggerate the pattern so that you can tell the difference. As you exhale, concentrate. Use your abdominal muscles to press your stomach down even further. As you inhale, make your stomach stick out more.
Continue practising this until you are very aware of