Monday, March 7, 2011

How To Do Dragon Flag Crunches

by

healthy_blogging

Have you got sagging abdominals? Have you been trying to tighten up your abs but can't seem to make any headway? Today I'm going to show you how to do dragon flag crunches which is a body weight exercise that will strengthen and tighten your abdominal muscles.

There are lots of reasons why you need strong abs including

  • good posture
  • prevention of lower back problems
  • helps with heavy lifting e.g. deadlifts
  • improves aesthetics

   
If you want to strengthen and tighten your abs, then you'll definitely want to do dragon flags. And now you're going to learn how they're done.

How To Do Dragon Flag Crunches

This exercise is also referred to as "Rocky IV Sit Ups" because Sylvester Stallone popularized them in Rocky IV. But dragon flags are not sit ups. In fact they're crunches and are very similar to reverse planks. You'll need a flat bench for this exercise. After you've gotten the bench, lie flat on your back. Grip the underside of the flat bench with your hands. Your shoulder blades should be flat against the bench. Your legs can be extended beyond the edge of the bench. If you do this, at the low end of the exercise it will place your feet below the plane of the bench. With your legs fully extended, use your abs to pull your legs upward until you form a bow. Your feet should be over your head at the top of the exercise. Now lower your legs back to the starting position. That's one repetition. Repeat this exercise until you've done fifty reps. You don't have to finish them in one set, if you're a beginner divide them into five sets of ten reps each. If you don't feel a pulling in your ab muscles, it's because you're not doing them correctly. You do not swing your hips when doing dragon flags. Make your abs do all of the work.

I'll say this to you now: this exercise will tighten your abs, which makes it easier to develop  six pack abs, but it won't make them visible. What I mean is, if you've got excess fat covering your gut, there will be no way to show your abs. You'll need to lose body fat to make your abs visible. And that means shoring up your diet.

Okay, that's it for the dragon flag  crunches. They're a heck of a lot better and safer for you than sit ups which can damage your neck and spine. If you perform ab crunches on a regular basis and have a healthy diet, it won't be long before you notice positive results in your lifts, posture and appearance. So don't put them off. Get started now.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Dragon Flag Crunches" copyright 2011 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.