 
INCLINE BOARD SIT-UPS:Lie on your back on an incline board with your head down, your knees bent to take the train off your lower back, your feet hooked under the support trap, and your hands behind your head or on your hips. Sit up, and try to bring your chin as close to you knees as possible. Lower yourself back and down, but don't let your back touch the board. The strictest way of doing this movement is with the hands behind the head. However, you can make the exercise easier, which you can help you to get through a set when you are especially tired, by keeping your hands on your thighs or hips or extended out in front of you. KNEES-IN-AIR-SIT-UPS Lie on your back on the floor, hands clasped behind your neck. Keeping your knees bent, raise your feet in the air and cross your feet in the air and cross your ankles. Keeping your knees steady, sit up and bring your head as close to your knees as possible.  Really try to feel the "crunch" as the abs contract; don't just go through the motions. Lower yourself back to the floor slowly. To make the movement easier when you are fatigued, do the exercise with your arms extended in front of you instead of behind your neck. INCLINE BOARD LEG RAISES: 
Lie on your back on an incline board, head higher than your feet.
Reach back and take hold of the top of the board or some other
support. Keeping your legs straight and feet flexed, raise them up
as high as you can, then lower them slowly, stopping just as they
touch the board
(don't let your heels "bounce" against the board).
Breathing is important while doing Leg Raises. As you raise your
legs and compress the abdominal cavity, breathe out; as you lower
your legs again, inhale deeply.NOTE: For all Leg Raise movements, it is important to tuck your chin forward into the chest in order to flex the upper abdominal area during the exercise. BENT-KNEE HANGING LEG RAISES: After you begin to tire doing Hanging Leg Raises bending your knees will enable you to do more reps with a longer range of motion. Take hold of a chinning bar with an overhand grip and hang at arm's length from the bar. Bend your knees, and then lift your legs as high as possible. Lower them back to the starting position. Be sure not to swing while doing this exercise.  (Arnold recommends you use lifting straps to help secure your grip on the bar)  SEATED LEG TUCKS: Sit on a bench holding on to the sides for support. Raise your legs slightly and bend your knees. Straighten your legs, leaning backward as balance requires. Lift your knees up toward your chest as you simultaneously sit up, bringing your knees and chest together and flexing your abs really hard. Throughout the movement, make certain you can feel continuous tension in the abdominal muscles. Do not let your feet touch the floor at any time during the exercise. SEATED TWISTS: Sit on the end of a bench, feet flat on the floor and comfortably apart. Take hold of a broom handle or light bar and hold it across the back of your shoulders. Keeping your head stationary, and making sure your pelvis does not shift on the bench, swing your shoulders in one direction as far as you can, feeling the oblique muscles on that side fully contract.  Come back to the center, and then twist as far as you can in the other direction. As you get looser and more warmed up, increase the pace, swinging energetically first in one direction, then reversing and swinging back the other way. Note: Twisting exercises, in addition to working the oblique's and intercostals, help develop a narrow waist.  STANDING BENT-OVER TWISTS: In Bent-Over Twists you fully contract the oblique's in order to develop a firm, tight waistline. Stand upright, legs straight, feet shoulder width apart. Hold a broom handle across the back of your shoulders. Bend forward from the waist as far as comfortable. Turning from the waist but not letting your hips move at all, twist in one direction until the end of the broom handle is pointing toward the floor, then twist back the other way until the other end of the broom handle is pointing toward the floor. Continue this windmill movement, swinging energetically first in one direction, picking up speed as you become looser and warmed up. VACUUM: Being able to produce and hold a vacuum actually reduces the size of your waistline, and allows you to suck in and hold the abdominal when you are posing. But mastering the vacuum is a matter of hard consistent practice. Get down on your hands and knees, blow all your breath, and suck in your abdominal as much as you can. Hold this for 20-30 seconds, relax for a few moments, then try it again two or three times. The next step is to practice your vacuum in a kneeling position. Kneel upright with your hands on your knees and try to hold the vacuum as long as you can.  Doing a seated vacuum is more difficult still, since gravity is in opposition to your efforts. But once you can hold a vacuum in a seated position without any problem, you will be able to practice holding a vacuum while standing and doing a variety of poses.  |