BRIGHT SIDE

11 Training Mistakes
That Keep You From
Showing Your Abs to
the World
2 1 31 19k

You need to have 10% or less body fat in order

to be able to show your 6-pack to the world.
We all want abs, but with our excitement to get
them we sometimes make mistakes that
slow us down on the path to our perfect body.
In order to achieve our gym goals, we need
to do our exercises in the correct way. And the
best way to do this, is knowing what not to do!

Ailiga Travel Villa Djuragan Kamar Wisata Edukasi

Siti Hotel and Resort
IDR 487k
Kebun Pak Budi
IDR 187k
IDR 436k

Learn more Learn more Learn more

Traveloka

ADVERTISEMENT

Here are 11 of these mistakes from Bright

Side to help you figure out what NOT
to do when you hit the gym.

1. Sitting all the way up

© depositphotos.com © depositphotos.com

When you are doing your basic sit-ups, try not

to go all the way up. This can cause stress
on your back and force you to take time off
from your important ab routine. Instead you
should do crunches and lift yourself halfway
up for perfectly toned abs!

2. Training every single day

© depositphotos.com © depositphotos.com

When you give your muscles time to rest

between workouts, you allow yourself to train
more effectively and get the best results. At the
same time, it helps your body to gain strength.
Basically, it means that you should focus
on different muscle group on different days.

3. Doing planks for too long

© depositphotos.com

If your core muscles are strong, you can spend

a lot of time standing in plank before you even
feel any strain in your abs. Instead
of increasing the time you spend in plank, try
to remove one of the contact points, for
example, one of the legs, from the floor.

4. Expecting a flat stomach

by only doing ab training

© depositphotos.com © depositphotos.com

Just training your abs won’t help you lose belly

fat. You can develop a 6-pack by doing
crunches, but you still need to lose the
surrounding fat. And this fat is not gonna
go anywhere if you just do the targeted abs
training. Cardio training will help you burn extra
calories and lose weight faster.

5. Being stuck in the same

routine

© depositphotos.com © depositphotos.com

If you find yourself getting too comfortable with

doing this or that exercise, you should change
your routine a little bit. For example, you can
try adding a yoga ball when doing crunches.
A nice way to strengthen your core is planks.
You can try to include some yoga or Pilates
into your regular training routine. “Spicing up”
your training routine will help your muscles
strengthen more effectively.

ADVERTISEMENT

6. Leaving your belly puffed

out while doing crunches

© depositphotos.com

Training your abs is a careful job. In order

to keep your stomach flat and toned, you need
to pull your belly in while doing your exercises.
This way your muscle memory will get trained
in the right way and as an added bonus your
stomach size will decrease!

7. Using a ball that is not

fully inflated

© depositphotos.com

The ball will flatten as you curl up if it doesn’t

have enough air in it. It will make the exercise
less effective for your abs. Ideally, when you
push the ball, it should go inward no more than
2 inches.

8. Neglecting your back

muscles

© depositphotos.com

Training your abs without training your back

creates an imbalance in the musculature that
supports your spine. And these muscles are
not just for show! So the best exercises for
your abdominal muscles are the ones that
force your entire core to go into overdrive
to support your spine as well. Some well-
known exercises that do this are squats and
lifts.

Ailiga Travel Villa Homestay at House

Ekost Danurejan Sangkuriang
IDR 487k
IDR 110k IDR 850k

Learn more Learn more Learn more

ADVERTISEMENT

9. Placing your hands

behind your neck

© depositphotos.com © depositphotos.com

Some people believe that if they place their

hands behind their head, they’ll get the optimal
support when they do crunches or sit-ups. But
this can actually cause neck injuries, because
you might pull on your neck and strain it. It also
lowers the tension and the effectiveness of the
workout in your abs. Instead, it’s better to place
your hands at your ears or to cross them over
your chest. If you have to keep your hands
behind your head, imagine that you’re holding
an orange under your chin to make sure your
head doesn’t bend forward too much.

10. Raising your legs

without any support

Trying to exercise without support is very

counter-productive. In this exercise, which
focuses on your lower abs, it is a common
misconception to just raise your legs. There
are much more effective machines to do this
at the gym. These will support your lower back
and workout the correct areas. So stop lying
around on the gym floor and get up on those
fancy contraptions to do your curl-ups!

11. Pushing your butt out

while doing planks

© depositphotos.com © depositphotos.com

Doing your planks in the wrong form has little

to no productive effect toward working your
abs. It is easy to do this exercise wrong since
you may not even be aware of this mistake, but
it is also very easy to correct it once you wrap
your head around it! Instead of bending over
your lower back and pointing up with your butt,
your body should be in one uniform line. Your
spine needs to be completely straight and
aligned with your butt.

Have you made any of these mistakes during

exercising, before reading this article? Share
the article with your friends and show them the
right way to do their exercises!

Illustrated by Leonid Khan for

BrightSide.me

Add your comment

2 1 31 19k

Your opinion...

ADVERTISEMENT

11 1 4 82k

21 Photos Published by a Former Flight

Attendant Show the Extravagant
Passengers You Can Find Onboard

11 1 1 22k

8 Hidden Messages That Show a Deep

Side of Disney Movies

Ad

Ailiga Travel Villa

IDR 487k 3.5

ADVERTISEMENT

10 1 1 37k

Two Sisters That Were Called the Most

Beautiful Twins in the World Are Gonna
Win Your Heart Too: Just Look at Their
Photos

14 1 15k

11 Common Words You’re Probably

Using Wrong

2 2 13k

10 Effective Exercises That Can Give

You a “Baywatch” Body

5 1 25k

13 Times Actors Improvised and Made

Our Favorite Movies Even Better

5 1 14k

15 Quick Tricks That Are Real Gems

10 1 30k

14 Tweets About the Power of

Women’s Solidarity That Made Us
Proud

14 3 42k

25+ Clever Survival Hacks That Can

Help You Escape the Worst

17 1 1 19k

15 Photos That Prove Having a Sibling

Is a Game Without Rules

6 1 6 58k

20+ Eye-Opening Photos That Explain

How the World Works

5 1 4 418k

12 Comics Showing a Relationship

in the First Month vs a Year Later

13 269k

A NYC Photographer Spends 9 Years

Capturing People on Their Way
to Work, and the Results Are Eye-
Opening