Exercises For Your Deep Abdominal Muscles
What are the deep abdominal muscles and how can you strengthen them? Learn 4 exercises for the deep abdominals in this post!
What are the deep abdominal muscles?
Your deepest abdominal muscle is called the transverse abdominis. It’s located underneath the rectus abdominis (the “six pack muscle”) and the obliques.
This muscle is one of the major muscles of your core!
Being able to properly contract the transverse abdominis is the first step towards improving your abdominal strength.
How can you strengthen the deep abdominal muscles?
In this post, you’ll learn 4 different exercises that can help strengthen the transverse abdominis.
But before you try these exercises, you first need to know HOW to activate the transverse abdominis.
If this muscle is really weak, you may need to take some time to work on the activation of this muscle before moving onto the exercises below.
If you’re not sure how to activate the transverse abdominis, I highly recommend reading this post first: How To Contract The Transverse Abdominis. This post describes in detail how to activate the deep abdominal muscles.
If you already know how to activate this muscle and the activation is starting to feel easy, then here are 4 different exercises to challenge the deep abs a little more. The exercises below are listed in order of difficulty, so the first exercise is the easiest and the last is the most challenging.
You’re not going to do all of these exercises in one workout, choose which exercise feels best for you and add it into your workout routine.
4 Exercises For Your Deep Abdominal Muscles
General notes for all of the exercises below:
- Keep your spine in a neutral position throughout each exercise, meaning you want to maintain a natural curve in your lower back so there will be a slight space between your low back and the floor.
- Avoid arching your back excessively or allowing your lower back to press into the floor.
- Keep your core engaged throughout each exercise to support your lower back. This is done by doing a transverse abdominis contraction which is when you pull your navel in toward your spine. Refer to the blog post on the transverse abdominis if you are unsure how to do this.
- Breathe steadily throughout each exercise, DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH!
- All exercises should be performed slowly and with control.
- Your head, neck, and upper back should be relaxed on the ground with all of the exercises.
- The recommended sets and reps for each exercise is 3 sets of 10 reps but remember you are not doing all of these in one workout.
- Find which exercise feels like the appropriate challenge for you and work with that. Once that gets easy, you can progress to the next exercise.
1. Supine Marching
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
- Inhale to prepare, as you exhale, engage your core muscles by gently drawing your belly button toward your spine while bringing one knee in toward your chest.
- Inhale to lower the leg back down while still keeping the core engaged. Once that leg is back on the floor, you’ll switch sides so you’ll exhale and lift the other knee in towards your chest.
- Continue alternating the lifting and lowering motion of your legs, as if you’re marching in place while lying down.
- You don’t need to bring the knee all the way into your chest, see video clip for visual on how far to move the leg.
2. Supine Heel Taps
- Lie down on your back with your legs in a table top position.
- Inhale as you slowly lower one heel down to the floor, exhale as you bring the leg back to the starting position.
- You are just tapping the heel lightly, so you’re not resting the foot on the floor when you tap.
- Focus on using the abdominal muscles to move your leg.
- Alternate tapping your heels on the ground while maintaining the 90-degree angle at your knees.
3. Supine Knee Extension
- Lie down on your back with your legs in a table top position.
- Inhale as you slowly straighten one knee, exhale as you bring the leg back to the starting position.
- Only go as low with the straight leg as you can still maintain a neutral spine.
- Focus on using the abdominal muscles to move your leg.
- Alternate legs, straightening one knee and then the other.
4. Dead Bugs
- Lovely name right….
- Lie down on your back with your legs in a table top position and your arms straight up toward the ceiling.
- This exercise is similar to supine heel taps but it adds in a component with the arms to make the exercise more challenging for your deep abdominal muscles.
- Inhale as you slowly lower one heel down to the floor as you simultaneously move the opposite arm back, exhale as you bring the arm and leg back to the starting position.
- This really challenges the stability of your core so make sure you’re keeping the deep abdominal muscles engaged.
- Alternate sides as you do this exercise and remember, you are moving the opposite arm and leg, so as the left leg lowers the right arm goes back and vice versa.
There you have 4 different exercises to work your deep abdominal muscles!
Incorporating exercises that target the transverse abdominis muscle into your fitness routine can have significant benefits for your overall core stability.
Whichever exercise you choose to work with, remember that the focus should always be on maintaining proper form, continuing to breathe throughout the exercise, and engaging your core muscles effectively. By integrating these exercises into your routine, you’ll be well on your way to a stronger, more stable core.
As always, if you have any underlying health concerns, it’s a good idea to consult with a healthcare provider before starting a new exercise regimen. Prioritize your safety and well-being as you work towards a stronger and healthier body!
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