Side abdominal muscles (internal and external obliques)
The pelvic lift is an easier version of the reverse crunch. Lie on your back on a mat with your arms at your sides and your palms facing the floor. Bend your knees at 90 degrees angles, keeping your feet flat on the floor, about shoulder width apart. Tighten your abdominal muscles as you lift your hips toward your head and lift your lower buttocks off the floor slightly. Focus on lifting with your lower abdominal muscles, not your buttocks.
You can use a vertical bench to make the exercise harder. A vertical bench allows you to support your body on your forearms while your legs hang. Lift yourself into position with your forearms on the arm pads and your back pressed flat against the back pad. Bend your knees until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Then lighten your abdominal muscles and curl your buttocks up slightly, keeping your back against the back support. This exercise is more difficult because you are working against gravity.
The reverse crunch focuses on your front abdominal muscles, but also gives your side abdominal muscles a good workout. This is an excellent exercise for flattening and toning the lower portion of your front abdominal muscles. Be careful performing this exercise if you have lower back problems.
Your upper body should not move as you perform reverse crunches. To maintain proper form and help stabilize your upper body, you can grasp an edge of a secure object, such as the underside of a sturdy couch or chair. You can also lie on a bench, instead of the floor, and hold the edges of the bench.
When performing the exercise, focus on using your lower abdominal muscles to lift your buttocks off the floor. To keep the focus on your abdominal muscles, do not jerk your legs or thrust your hips to lift your buttocks.
Once you are comfortable with the exercise, you can make it a bit harder by performing the exercise with your legs straight instead of bent.
You should be careful when performing this exercise if you have shoulder, elbow or wrist problems.
Do not swing your legs. Focus on lifting just your buttocks..
Do not allow your lower back to lift off the mat as you lift your buttocks.
