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Heel taps are an excellent exercise to strengthen the obliques and rectus abdominis muscles, both part of the core.
The activity has a straightforward motion pattern, which can be picked up quickly, even by beginners. Additionally, the workout calls for zero additional resources or equipment; all you need is a little bit of floor space to lie down.
Core exercises are a necessary addition to a basic at-home ab routine or a gym routine. If you like doing metabolic conditioning training, you can add this core exercise to a circuit routine.
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How to do heel taps?
Heel taps are fabulous because of the benefits they provide. These guidelines will help you perform heel tap abs workout correctly and reduce risk of injury:
- Make yourself comfortable on the floor by bending the knees and keeping the feet flat.
- Position yourself so that the arms are by te sides, back is straight and knees point up.
- Exhaling, tighten your abs, and get your head and upper back off the ground.
- As you bring your right hand down to your right heel, crunch to the right.
- When you're done tapping your heel, stand up tall, and let out a deep breath.
- Take a deep breath to the left. Return to the starting position by tapping your left heel with your hand.
- Continue switching sides till the set is complete.
How many sets and reps to do?
There is some flexibility in the number of sets and reps required. Your level of physical fitness should be taken into account.
Most importantly, as you improve, you should learn what works best for you and increase the difficulty of the heel taps by increasing the number of sets and reps. Injuries can be avoided if you don't get too excited or set too high of expectations for yourself.
- If you're just getting started, aim for two or three sets of 10-12 reps.
- Try doing 12-15 reps on each side as you get stronger, but keep your sets to 2-3.
- Aim for two or three sets of 15-20 reps per side if you are already in excellent physical condition.
What muscles do heel taps activate?
The heel tap is a straightforward exercise for strengthening the abdominal region's superficial muscles.
It primarily works the obliques because of the position of the foot. The obliques are a pair of muscles on either side of the rectus abdominis (the six-pack) that allow twisting and crunching the torso to the side. Because of the oblique muscle's ability to contract, the midsection can be crunched to the side.
When this exercise is done, the rectus abdominis muscle helps keep the shoulders off the floor. By drawing the rib cage closer to the pelvic bone, the muscle strengthens the core and creates a firmer midsection.
Benefits of heel taps
Here are a few:
1) Strengthen core
Exercises that focus on strengthening the core are crucial, and the heel tap is one of the best oblique exercises for core stability.
The upper back and abdominals are included in the core. The core muscles provide the power needed to maintain an upright position, which is essential for maintaining balance and proper posture.
Heel tap exercises can help keep these muscles strong, so long as you do them properly with the correct technique and breathing.
2) Tone abs
Heel taps are performed primarily to strengthen and increase agility in the front and side abdominal muscles. These muscles, when strengthened, result in a more toned and defined abdominal region.
3) Enhance obliques
Heel taps are one of the best exercises for men to build oblique muscles.The oblique muscles run along the front and sides of the stomach and bend in opposite directions.
Unlike other core exercises, which focus primarily on the front abdominal muscles, heel taps target the back muscles of the core.
4) Improve spinal flexibility
Heel taps strengthen not only the front and side abdominals, but the entire torso and lower back too. That increases core and spine strength, which reduces likelihood of lower back pain.
Modifications
Here are a few:
1) Heel tap with crunches
When performing heel taps, it'scustomary to start in a semi-raised torso position and remain there for the duration of the set. In this variant, called the heel tap with a crunch, you perform a crunch in between every two taps. Check out the sequence below:
Semi-crunch - Tap (left) - Tap (right) - Semi-crunch - Repeat
2) Pause heel tap
to increase the difficulty and, ideally, the degree to which the abdominals are engaged in the exercise, all you have to do is pause between each heel tap. Crunch to the side, but don't immediately return to the starting position; hold the position for one to three seconds.
3) Weighted heel tap
If the bodyweight variation of the heel tap becomes too easy, moving on to the weighted version can be a great next step. The simplest way to do so is to use a set of light dumbbells to perform the movement.
