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- Blake Harrison has this ab thing down. Photos by Kim Lucian
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Upper Ab Isolation
Crunches are a great way to work the upper abs that you associate with a six pack.
Step 1:
To begin this subtle crunch, lie on your back. Keep your arms straight and form a diamond with your thumbs and forefingers. -
Step 2:
Drawing your belly button in towards the spine, lift your shoulders 2-3 inches off the floor for a 5 second hold. Lower your shoulders back to the ground, and repeat. -
Lower Ab Press
When you finish with the upper abs, it's time to move on to the lower abs. Leg lifts will challenge the lower abdominals.
Step 1:
Start lying flat on your back. Rest your hands, palms down, at your sides. Wi -
Step 2:
Press your palms into the floor, and lift your hips, driving your feet toward the ceiling. -
Step 3:
At the highest point, your legs will form a 60-70 degree angle with your torso. From that point, slowly lower your hips back to the ground and repeat. -
Your abdominal muscles form a natural corset that supports internal organs, improves your posture, and tightens your waistline. Blake recommends two exercises to work that corset: the plank pull-through and the corset recruitment.
Plank pull-throu -
Step 2:
Drive your hips upward into a slight pike, pulling your belly button in toward your spin. Imagine that you have a string attached to your spine, and feel the spine pulling through the shoulder blades to engage the abs as you raise your hips. -
Corset recruitment
Step 1: Start in a forearm side plank with your hip toward the floor. -
Step 2:
Drive the elbow away from the body, lifting the hip back toward the ceiling. The corset muscles engage at the highest point in this move. Hold the pose. Slowly lower down, and repeat. -
A different view on corset engagement
To perfect this movement, focus on attaching your lats (the muscles just below the shoulder blades) to your core. To use hyper technical terms, y - Alternate view of the top of the motion. See? No scrunching.