Scissors Exercise For Diversity And Strong Abs
The scissors exercise is another ab exercise you can add to your skills portfolio. If you lack ideas for targeting your core, scissors are one more option you can try.
When you are able to do lying leg raises, you may try scissors. If leg raises are still challenging, this exercise may still be too hard for you.
However, it’s relatively easy to do. This is one of the easiest skills in a front lever progression.
When I started my fitness journey, I was in awful physical shape. The sedentary way of life reared its ugly head on me. I had a “nice” belly fat cushion on the front and almost no muscles. Things started sagging on my body.
I developed a double chest – one that was supposed to be muscle and the other underneath it formed from fat. My butt started hanging and looking ugly and flat. Of course, my wife noticed this first.
I struggled with lying knee raises for months. Scissors were out of the question for me at that point in time.
What are scissors
Well, scissors as a training skill are not something you can use to cut paper or hair. Sorry. But it looks a lot like those scissors you use for cutting.
This is a great skill used to build your core muscles. It will work your hip flexors, abs, and your obliques as well. Your lower back muscles will also help keep your legs up in the air.
To perform the scissors exercise, you will lay on your back. With your legs a few inches off the floor, you will change their position. Left over right and right over left.
Sounds pretty simple. But if you struggle to lift your legs from the ground, it will be impossible to pull them off.
Can you make your abs visible with scissors exercise
Even though scissors exercise works your core muscles, making your abs visible is a different story.
Yes, core exercises will help your abs get stronger. But only when you reduce your body fat percentage, your abs will be visible.
Depending on the overall body fat percentage, your abs may or may not be visible. If your body fat percentage drops under around 15% – 13% you will notice your abs appear under the stomach fat.
When your body fat is 12% and lower and you’ve been working out, your abs will be easy to notice.
Although working out can help reduce body fat, most of the work is actually done in your kitchen.
No amount of exercise can undo overeating habits. Did you ever compare the number of calories you eat in one pizza and what you can lose in one workout session?
If you did, you may have noticed the vast difference.
One pizza has around 2,400 to 3,200 calories. You can burn around 300 calories in one hour workout session.
So, you would need about 10 workouts to outwork what you just ate.
As a rule of thumb, around 80% difference in your body fat will come from eating habits and around 20% from working out.
So, if you want visible abs, look at what can be done in the kitchen. Don’t worry too much about what you can do in the gym.
Equipment
You will not need any equipment to do the scissors exercise. But, you can decide to use an exercise mat for comfort.
Equipment:
- Exercise mat (optional)
Prerequisites
If you are not able to lift your legs off the ground and keep them up a few inches off the floor, scissors will be too hard for you.
So, when you are able to do lying leg raises you will be able to try scissors. Lying leg raises is a prerequisite for scissors.
Scissors exercise muscles worked
Scissors exercise will target your core muscles. It will be a great addition to your core training giving you more options. This will keep your core workouts more interesting.
Scissors exercise muscles worked:
Primary
- Hip flexors
- Rectus abdominis
- Transverse abdominis
- Obliques
Secondary
- Lower back
- Glutes
- Quads
How to do scissors exercise
Positioning:
Lay down on the floor on your back. Place your arms on the ground to your sides with palms down.
Performing:
Raise your legs a few inches off the ground. Raise one leg over the other. Right leg over the left. After that, switch the position of your legs. Now your left leg will be above the right.
You have just done one scissor rep.
Progression / Regression
If you have problems performing scissors, you may try a few easier exercises. Because this is one of the easiest skills in a progression your options will be limited. Here are some exercises you can try:
When you master scissors, you can do more challenging exercises. Here are some options for you to try:
Since this exercise is pretty easy, there is a long way to go on your way to full front lever. But don’t let this discourage you. Working your way up the progression will be fun. Especially when you get to some impressive skills like dragon flags.
Once you master this skill you can still use it as regression. It will help you increase time under tension and round up your workout session.
Key takeaways
The scissors are a great option for building your core. It’s one of the easiest core exercises you can do. If you are not able to do it at the moment don’t let this discourage you. There are easier exercises you can do and progress slowly to more challenging ones on the way.
Once you are able to do this exercise, you can still use it as regression. When you lack ideas, you can turn to scissors to increase time under tension and work a bit more on your core.
This exercise will help you build your abs stronger. But if you want your abs to pop under the fat, concentrate on reducing your entire body fat percentage. This has to do more with what and how much you eat. It will depend less on your workout regime.
