Midsection exercising

Your abs are one of the easiest muscle groups to train anytime in your own home. Besides being aesthetically pleasing, a toned midsection is the core foundation of a healthy back, because strong abdominals will help give your torso the stability and support necessary to protect your back from injury.

First and foremost, when doing this home-exercise program for your abdominals you want to make sure that you target the muscle group specifically by using correct form. Here are a few key points to remember:

1) Do lower-abdominal exercises first, because they often require a stable upper body while the pelvis and legs perform more complex movement patterns and coordination. This will ensure optimal recruitment for lower-ab development before muscle fatigue sets in.

2) Isolate your abdominal muscles by relaxing your hip flexors (the muscle group in front of your hipbone) and concentrating on your abs doing all the work to curl your head and shoulder blades off the floor in upper-ab movements. Never anchor your feet underneath an object, as this will promote hip-flexor activity.

3) Ensure proper form and spine alignment by making sure your knees are bent and your feet are flat on the floor (or up). This helps protect your lower back. Place your hands lightly behind your head and look up toward the ceiling. To prevent neck pain, make sure your chin is far enough off your chest that you could place your fist under your jaw. 

4) Make sure your lower back always remains in contact with the floor in upper-ab movements. Crunch any higher than this and you'll use your hip-flexor muscles to pull yourself up. 

5) Visualize your abdominal muscles and concentrate on squeezing and holding the contraction at the top of the movement, focusing all your attention on the targeted region. 

6) Stretch your abs between sets to avoid cramping. To do this, lie on your stomach (push-up position with your elbows next to your body) and press your pelvis into the floor while pushing through the palms of your hands to extend your arms (often called a cobra stretch). Make sure your pelvis remains in contact with the floor while you stretch your abs. Breathe deeply and relax your muscles further to increase the stretch.

7) Practice proper breathing. Exhale on the concentric phase of the crunch (rising up) and inhale on the eccentric portion of the crunch (lowering back down). Failure to breathe could cause cramping and dizziness and, in extreme cases, loss of consciousness.

This home ab program takes only 15 minutes, and if followed on a consistent basis with a healthy diet, can help you develop the often-coveted set of washboard abs. You'll want to perform each of the following recommended exercises 3-4 days a week, aiming for three sets of 10-15 repetitions to begin with. As you become more advanced, increase the reps to the 20-25 range. Intensity and correct technique should bring you to failure at around 25-30 repetitions. If you can do more, you may need to tighten your form or increase your intensity by contracting hard at the top of each rep.