The stomach vacuum exercise. Does it sound scary? Maybe, but don’t be scared. It does not involve any vacuum machine to vacuum your stomach. Instead, it is a more natural and easy exercise that can help you to shrink your waistline and build your abdominal muscles. This exercise is not something that anyone can start and hope for results. Some pre-requirements and conditions must be fulfilled to achieve the stomach vacuum results.
So, what are the prerequisites, how to do the stomach vacuum exercise, and what are the results that you can expect from this exercise? Read this article to find out.
The stomach vacuum exercise
The stomach vacuum exercise involves your transverse vacuum. You can refer to these muscles as your six packs. They help maintain your posture and protect the internal organs in that area.
Now, you can perform the stomach vacuum exercise anywhere. You can do it while sitting in your car/ office chair, or you can do it while standing in a line. You can also do this exercise when you are in bed. There are different levels of this exercise. However, it would be best if you did not push yourself while doing this exercise. The muscles involved in this exercise protect your internal organs. So going over your limit may damage those internal organs. So, it would be best to do the stomach vacuum exercise while staying in the safe line.
There are some prerequisites of the stomach vacuum exercise. Those requirements are low/average body fat percentage, clean eating habits, and proper daily water intake. If you do not have these requirements fulfilled, you cannot get the benefits of the stomach vacuum exercise.
How to do the Stomach Vacuum Exercise
As we said, you can do the stomach vacuum exercise while standing or sitting. You can even do it while lying in bed. This implies that there are multiple ways of doing this stomach vacuum exercise.
This section will discuss four ways of doing this stomach breathing exercise. So, let us begin.
Doing stomach vacuum exercise while standing
Let us start with the easiest way of doing stomach vacuum exercises: standing straight.
First, stand up straight/ upright. Place your hands on your hips for support. Now exhale the air in your lungs completely, and expand your torso (chest). Now try to bring the stomach in as much as you can. But if you feel pain, then don’t push it anymore.
One easy way of this is to visualize your navel touching your backbone. Then hold it there for 20 seconds. This 20 seconds of holding results in one contraction. During the contraction phase, breathe normally. Then after 20 seconds, slowly loosen your abdominal muscles and bring your stomach into the normal position. Then repeat this process.
If you are a beginner, you should start this exercise with the standing method. Once you have mastered the upright technique of the stomach vacuum exercise, you can move on to the sitting, kneeling, and laying positions.
Doing stomach vacuum exercise while sitting on a chair
If you have mastered the standing format of the stomach vacuum exercise, then it is time to practice this exercise while sitting on a chair. The steps are relatively similar to the upright format.
To begin, first, take a chair and sit on it. Keep your posture, and back straight/ upright. Place both your palms on your thighs. Now, just like the standing position, exhales all the air out of your stomach. Imagine your navel touching your backbone. Hold it in this position for 20 seconds. Breathe normally during this contraception phase. And after 20 seconds, let go of the muscles slowly. Then repeat the same procedure after a few seconds.
Doing stomach vacuum exercise while kneeling
Now let us discuss the kneeling position of the stomach vacuum exercise. First, you need to kneel and sit on the floor. Then you must ensure that both the toes and knees touch the ground. Then place your palms on the ground too. They should be directly below their respective shoulders. This will create some pressure on your stomach. Before exhaling and starting the exercise, ensure your spine is straight.
Now whale and push all the air out of your lungs. Visualize the naval touching the backbone in your mind and take your stomach as deep as you can. Hold the stomach there for around 20 seconds (for beginners), and breathe normally. Then let go, and repeat the same procedure.
If you want to make this more challenging, do not breathe in the contraception phase, but give your stomach some pump with your abdominal muscles. Then slowly breathe in and let go, and repeat.
Doing stomach vacuum exercise while lying in bed
Now we come to the last format of the stomach vacuum exercise, which is the laying format. To begin, you first need to lay down somewhere flat. It does not necessarily have to be your bed. You can lay on plain ground if you want to.
Now straighten your legs and keep them together. You will need to extend your arms and place them over your head. Make sure that the palms are touching the ground. Also, make sure that your spine is straight in the process.
Now start exhaling all the air out of your system. Imagine the same navel touching the backbone concept and pulling your stomach as deep as possible. Hold it there for 20 seconds, and then let go. Remember to breathe normally in the contraception phase while pulling your stomach in that position. Then slowly breathe in, and let go. Repeat the same process.
Conclusion
So that was all about the stomach vacuum exercise. Remember that you must fulfill the prerequisites to achieve the stomach vacuum results. Otherwise, you cannot get the benefits this easy exercise offers.
As a beginner, you should start with the standing method. You should also increase the contraception phase as you master the stomach vacuum exercise.
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