Exercise for the abdominal “fold” – variations on the floor and on the bench!

Quite complex and effective exercise on the entire rectus abdominis muscle is the so-called fold. In appearance, the movement resembles double twists, with the difference that you are stretching your straight hands to your right legs, and the buttocks are the fulcrum. During the movement, the body takes the form of the Latin letter V. Advantages of the fold is that it allows you to maximize the muscles of the press, without overstressing the back.

Load on the muscles:

The fold intensively works out all the muscles of the press, especially the straight (its lower and upper part). Thus, one this exercise replaces the classical twists, which load the upper part of the press and raise the legs lying (or reverse twists), stressing the load on the lower part of the abdominal muscles.

The exercise uses the oblique abdominal muscles – they always work in conjunction with the straight. However, the load on the oblique muscles in this exercise will not be as significant as, say, in oblique or lateral twists. On an additional principle, hip flexors and quadriceps (quadriceps femoris muscles) work.

Technique for folding Such an exercise, as a fold can be performed lying on the floor (this requires a soft gym mat) or on a horizontal bench. The first variant will be considered as the main one, and the second as a variation.

The technique of folding on the floor is as follows:

1. Lie on your back, straighten your legs, straight arms outstretched your head. Now you have a deflection in your lower back. It must be minimized by pressing the waist down to the floor. For this, you can slightly bend the legs in the knees. This is the starting position. The press is already working in static, but we will load it in full.

2. Simultaneously lift your legs up and twist the body, trying to reach out with your hands to your feet.

3. Hold in the point of maximum voltage for several seconds. On inhalation, gently, without a jerk, go back to the starting position. On the floor, do not lower your arms and legs to the end, keep your back tight and press tight.

4. Repeat the exercise as many times as you like.