Your Exercise Challenge:

Reverse Abdominal Curls

By Bernadette Kathryn, LMT, IHLC

Your abdominal muscles are a very important for your posture, your healthy back, and your appearance. When you have strong, well-toned abdominal muscles you are more likely to reduce your waist line circumference and improve the health of your back.

It is important that you perform these exercises properly — as with all exercises to prevent injury.

To properly perform the Reverse Abdominal Curls and prevent injury it is important to understand the abdominal anatomy. The abdominal muscles make up a large part of what is considered the “core” muscles of the trunk. The actual ‘core’ muscles extend to include the entire trunk — from the neck to the pelvic bone, front, side and back of the trunk.

The important thing to know here is:

The abdominal muscles originate under the rib cage & attach to the pelvis. The ‘origin’ of the muscle is reversible so you can either do abdominal curls or reverse curls, you can reverse where you initiate the movement from, which determines where you focus your attention.

You lift your hips with your abs, from the pelvis.

A very important part of proper exercise is:

• understanding what muscles you are working
• knowing where the muscles are located
• knowing what actions the muscles perform
• where you want to focus your mental energy
• doing the movement properly will aid in injury prevention

When you can visualize the muscles involved, the action you want to perform, and how to do the movement safely — you will be able to get the results you are going for.

 Your Exercise Challenge:

First — Make sure your understand the exercise fully
Next — Practice the exercise daily, 5-10 repetitions to start
Finally– Create a habit of practicing abdominal exercises daily

Your Goal is to create a habit of exercising daily and including regular abdominal work to support your overall fitness.