Health and Fitness Tips

Health and Fitness Tips - Pushdowns Crunches:


If you’re looking for an extremely intense contraction in the upper abs against resistance, this exercise is what you need. It places the majority of its tension on the abs in their most contracted position.


It also hits the abs with a pushing movement rather than a pulling movement, giving it a VERY unique action on the midsection.


How To Do It: This exercise is performed very much like a cable crunch combined with a pushdown. Set up this exercise by clipping a bar attachment onto a high pulley.


Stand in position as you normally would for a pushdown. Get the bar to the bottom of the regular pushdown position.


Lean forward into the cable, pushing your torso into the cable, setting your head either to the left or right side of the cable so that the cable is running down one side of your neck. This will allow you keep your body closer to the line of resistance, minimizing torque on the lower back. Lock the elbows, and arch your back a little for the start position. From this point, keep your arms fully extended and locked out straight down then just try and push the bar right down to the floor or as close to it as you can get.


Bend at the waist and the knees as you come down and push it hard. Squeeze your abs hard at the bottom. Be sure not to move your feet while doing the exercise to get the best contraction. Get the negative as you let your body come up slowly, fighting the weight on the way up.
Switch the side of your head that cable is on every two or three reps to balance the tension on your abs.


Common Errors: 1. Not coming down far enough It’s important to try and push the bar if not all the way to the floor, at least as close to it as you can. The further down you can get the bar, the better the contraction you’ll get on the abs.


2. Not locking the elbows This exercise, while having the word "pushdown" in it, has really nothing to do with a tricep pushdown. Once you’re at the bottom of the pushdown, lock your elbows and push to the ground using your abs.


3. Standing too far away from the pulley If you stand too far back, the line of pull of the resistance will be at too much of an angle rather than straight down. This will put unnecessary torque on the lower back while not substantially increasing the effectiveness of the exercise.


4. Letting the weight up too quickly Be sure to take the movement slowly on the way up. Rather than just releasing the tension and allowing the weight to pull your body up quickly, try to slow it down and control the weight.


5. Not putting your head to one side of the cable For this exercise to be most effective and least stressful on the lower back, you need to let the cable run down the side of your neck. If you just keep the cable in front of you, it puts torque on your lower back when you start to get into heavier weights. Also, be sure to switch sides every few reps to get a balanced workload on the abs.


Tricks: 1. Hitting the sides Use a single handle instead of a regular bar. When you push it down, bring it down to the opposing foot. This will strongly hit the obliques. When you get near the floor, you can go in front or behind the foot (experiment to see which works better for you). You can either switch hands after a few reps or you can do an entire set on one side then an entire set on the other side.



2. Do a small pulsing movement at the bottom When you’ve pushed the bar close to the floor and finished the downward movement, let it up a few inches then push it back down. Repeat this a few times with a short pulsing movement to really peak the contraction on the abs.


3. Wear a dip belt to hold yourself down If you find you’re able to use more weight for your abs on this exercise than you’re able to get into position easily because your upper body isn’t heavy enough, this trick will instantly increase your bodyweight and anchor you down, allowing you to use far more weight on the exercise with better form.


4. Use a short, powerful push as you get near the bottom. You can use a little momentum and give a short, powerful push as you get near the bottom in order to get the bar further down with heavier weight. When you’ve got it further down, don’t let it pop back up. Try your best to hold it down and only let it up slowly to take full advantage of the short push.


More at: http://www.fitnessattitudes.com/absanatomy.html