Upper Abdominal Exercises: Roll-Ups on the Mat

Video Transcript

"Roll ups on the mat. Now this is an exercise designed to help the upper abdominal area. A lot of people may think that they are crunches but it is different and I'm going to explain why in a minute. You want to get a rolled up towel and this is actually a pair of my exercise pants that I rolled up just to get in the back of the neck so I can fill in the gap as I am laying on my back. When I come down facing up, get the rolled up towel or whatever you can get, a T-shirt or something that fits comfortably, it is not like a pillow, it is more like filling the gap. My knees are up and they are hip width apart. Now when I roll up as opposed to a crunch, a crunch people tend to do this and you see what is happening here, you are just leading with the chin. What you want to do is you want to curl your chin into your chest and as I do that I am looking to look at my belly button so I say always keep eye contact with your belly button. That is the initial move before you lift the shoulders so what you are going to do is you are going to inhale and as you exhale you curl and come on in and exhale. Another thing I want to tell you about is the tongue position and I know that this is going to sound a little weird but just try it out. Swallow and keep the tongue in the roof of your mouth, keep your mouth closed just like as if you were quiet at home, you know, at church or something, just listening, so I am not going to talk throughout this so I can show you the proper form. I am going to inhale so I inhale down and exhale up. If you notice I am not letting my shoulders do this, keep the shoulders down, curl the head and then you lift, then you lower and you uncurl so that is the proper technique for a roll up. And this is working your upper abdominal area with everything else that I have shown you for the lower abs and the middle abs. Before you know it you are going to have abs of steel."