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This
exercise targets the abdominal muscles with an
extremely intense contraction. The range of motion
of the exercise is short but the tension on the
abs is excellent.
For
this exercise, you will need a bench or chair
(a bench will work better) and a bar with adjustable
height. This can be a regular Olympic bar on a
power rack, a Smith Machine bar, or any other
set-up you can think of.
Put
a bench inside the rack. Set a bar on the racks
at about forehead level when you're sitting on
the bench. Sit on the bench and grasp it with
an underhand grip. Your legs should be slightly
bent with your butt and feet on the bench.
Pull
your butt off the bench and raise your knees up
into your chest. Hold your breath while doing
this short movement to help stabilize the abs
and improve the contraction.
The
movement itself looks like the top bit of a hanging
leg raise. Squeeze hard at the top then lower
your legs and set yourself back down on the bench.
Release all tension on the abs as you exhale then
do another rep.
Note how the movement
is started sitting on the bench. When you begin
the movement, you lift yourself off the bench
then raise the legs up as though finish off a
hanging leg raise movement.
Be sure to sit yourself
down on the bench between reps to completely release
tension on the abs. Starting from zero tension
with each rep results in a greater contraction
at the start of the movement.
This
exercise results in a very hard contraction in
the abs for several reasons:
First,
the position of the legs at the start of the rep
is already near the maximum contracted position
of the abs.
Second,
your abs start the movement in a mechanical disadvantage
because they are already shortened. This means
they must work harder in order to achieve the
contraction.
Third,
releasing all the tension on the abs between reps
means you dissipate all the elastic tension that
the muscle normally builds up in a regular movement.
Put
these three points together and you can see that
the abs have to start from scratch at a mechanical
disadvantage near their peak contracted position.
The results: major burn!
Another
advantage this exercise has over regular hanging
leg raises is that it primarily targets the abs.
Normally, when you do hanging leg raises, the
first part of the movement involves a lot of hip
flexor action. This variation starts the movement
with the hip flexors already almost fully contracted.
The tension in this position goes primarily to
the abs.
Even
better, this version greatly reduces stress on
the lower back by eliminating the first part of
the movement. Generally, pain in that area occurs
due to the torque on the lower back as you raise
your legs from hanging directly down to bringing
them up about halfway. Skip that range of motion
and you skip the pain.
If
you are looking for an exercise to really bring
out the washboard in your abs, give this one a
try. I would recommend also doing a set or two
of Small Ball
Crunches to hit the stretched and middle ranges
of motion of the abs. The Seated Hanging Leg Raise
is perfect for finishing the abs off.
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