Abdominal Muscles - Crunches To Get Those Elusive Six Pack Abs

Abs crunches exercise is a really effective work out in the process of building six pack abs. Lie down flat on your back on the floor or preferably on a mat, whichever is comfortable and convenient to you. Remember to keep both of your arms in front of your chest. Start bending your knees and keep on bending as long as you think you can hold onto a certain bend during this exercise. 

Make sure that you do not make the mistake of placing either or both of your hands behind your head. If you make the mistake of placing your hands behind your head for support, in the long run this is not going to imply really good news. Over a period of time it can cause serious injuries to the lower back region of your body, owing to constant pulling and jerking of your head and neck for support during crunching, which is not what you want.    If you use the arms behind your head for more of a psychological support than an actual physical support then it is a very good idea to simply cross both of your arms across your chest, and place the index finger tip of each arm behind the tip of each ear, thereby lending you the necessary psychological support. This way there don't arise a question of you happening to pull your neck.

Now that you are all set your ready, raise your entire upper body, starting with your shoulders and then your entire upper torso to touch your knees. Use your power house, which is your abs and back muscles to raise your upper body all the way up to your knees. As a beginner, though it is not really advisable that you bring up your whole back all the way off the floor, until your back muscles are strong enough to stay unaffected of such strain. 

The phase that really proves to be more effective than any other phase during an abs crunching exercise is the one where your shoulders just get lifted off the floor. It is during the flexing of your abs muscles during this phase of the exercise that is really responsible for gradually building up those six pack abs. Make sure that you exhale your breath away just before going through the motion of lifting your shoulders off the floor. As you shoulders lift off, gasp a breath of air. Hold on to this gasp of air, until you upper body touches your knees, and then exhale this last breath of air while feeling your abs muscles flexing inside your stomach at this point of time. If you do not get your movements and breathing right, this exercise is not going to be instrumental in the making of any six pack abs. 

Now gradually release yourself and go all the way back down and onto to the floor. While going down, make sure that you inhale through your nose, till the point of time, when your shoulders finally touch ground. Keep your head slightly off the ground and do not rest it on the floor, and continue repeating the exercise. You could do one set of 10 to 12 reps on your first day, and gradually increase the number of sets as your abs muscles strengthen up.