Exercises like flutter kicks target your core muscles, particularly the lower rectus abdominal muscles, as well as your hip flexors. They are carried out on dry land, although they resemble swimming strokes. You may carry out these exercises while laying on your back or, if you also wish to improve your back muscles, while resting on your stomach.
Lower abs, glutes, and thighs are the focus of flutter kick workouts. They are without a doubt excellent for stabilizing and strengthening the core. This workout helps eliminate extra fat from the belly, hips, and problem regions that many women struggle with. In addition, swimmers employ flutter kicks to advance their bodies. Additionally, they assist in developing the lower abdominal muscles, which are crucial for better posture. When carried out properly, they can help with everyday issues like lower back discomfort.
What are flutter kicks?
A low-impact exercise that is frequently used in Pilates, barre, or strength training sessions are flutter kicks. They especially seek to strengthen the muscles in your core that support your lower abdominal wall.
Flutter kicks target your glutes, hip flexors, and quadriceps in addition to your abs, so they’re more than simply an ab exercise. They can also assist your back muscles get stronger if you perform them while resting on your stomach.
When it comes to leg movement, think of flutter kicks as if you were swimming on land. There are several variants on the workout, which gets its name from the fact that you kick your legs up and down in a fluttering motion.
How to do flutter kicks
Prone (aka reverse) flutter kicks
- Lay facedown with your elbows spread widely and your hands firmly clasped in front of your face. Place hands on your forehead or chin.
- Lift both legs off the ground to hip height or just slightly above hip height by contracting your core muscles, depending on how it feels.
- Lift one leg, then the other, fluttering your legs as if you were swimming.
- 10 repetitions on each side. 3) Repetition.
Crisscross flutter kicks
- Stretch your legs out toward the floor at a 45-degree angle while lying faceup on the ground. Keep your arms by your sides, parallel to the ground, palms down. (Or you may stretch your arms and put both of your hands beneath your butt.)
- Keep your core engaged and your spine neutral, with only a tiny arch in your lower back.
- Keep your legs off the floor the entire time as you crisscross them over one another, switching which leg is on top each time.
- 10 repetitions on each side. 3) Repetition.
Make it harder: Lift your head and neck off the floor while maintaining a straight back. Bring your legs out further with each cross to feel the heat in your abs more.
Traditional flutter kicks
- Stretch your legs out toward the floor at a 45-degree angle while lying faceup on the ground. Keep your arms by your sides, parallel to the ground, palms down. (Or you may stretch your arms and put both of your hands beneath your butt.)
- Maintain a neutral spine with just a little arch in the lower back. Keep your legs straight and nearly glued together while pointing your toes.
- Raise one leg, then drop it while elevating the other with your legs a few inches above the ground. It’s one rep.
- 10 repetitions on each side. 3) Repetition.
Make it harder: Lift your head and neck off the floor while maintaining a straight back.
Benefits
Improves Endurance
During strength training, flutter kicks also aid to increase muscular endurance. This will develop with time and dedication to your fitness regimen. With three sets of 25 flutter kicks, you will not feel the heat as you improve. Engage in fitness challenges by upping the reps or setting a timer to perform flutter kicks continuously for a minute.
The following are ten advantages of performing flutter kicks. Let me give you some advice on how to perform flutter kicks properly before I go on.
Increases Flexibility
The abdomen, glutes, and inner and outer thighs are just a few of the muscles that the flutter kick targets for relaxation. This enhances your flexibility in turn. Flutter kicks alone won’t make you a gymnast, but they will enable you to sit on the floor for longer periods of time, perform yoga postures, asanas, or dynamic stretches more easily, and avoid lower-body soreness.Reduces Back Pain
The majority of us experience back discomfort. We exercise incorrectly, sit too much, slump, or don’t move at all. No matter what the cause, back discomfort must be taken seriously. When you flutter kick, you lift your legs a little, which engages your lower abs and stretches and relaxes your back muscles. Flutter kicks have the potential to eventually lessen back discomfort. Keep in mind that in order to determine the degree of your back discomfort and avoid future consequences, you must first visit your doctor before performing flutter kicks.Improves Posture
Like other workouts, flutter kicks serve to improve posture. Any slouching or bending may be corrected by raising your legs off the ground, resting down with your spine on the mat, rolling your shoulders back, and gazing up at the ceiling. Always remember to execute flutter kicks precisely to avoid developing incorrect posture or hurting yourself.Strengthens The Legs
Flutter kicks are used by swimmers to move their bodies forward, which is why they have powerful legs; as a result, they are included in swimming exercises. Flutter kicks not only work the muscles in your abdomen but also the ones in your thighs.
A muscle ages more quickly the more you use it. However, when you relax or sleep, your muscles become revitalized and rebuild themselves into strong muscular fibers rather than resulting in muscle weakening. In actuality, muscles that are powerful contain more mitochondria, which are organelles that produce energy and speed up metabolism. So, by flutter kicking, you may strengthen and tone your thighs in addition to losing belly fat.
Sheds Belly Fat
We all want to lose our tummy fat, right? Unfortunately, it is the most resilient and obstinate type of fat. Your health is really at danger when belly fat accumulates due to stress and unhealthful lifestyle choices over time. Flutter kick targets and burns the excess belly fat since it is an aerobic workout while working all of your core muscles.Sculpts Your Abs
Sculpting the abs is the next stage to getting a flat stomach. Flutter kicks aid in body contouring by making your belly appear chiseled and carved and helping to emphasize the ab muscles. A small demonstration of your dedication may offer you a significant boost of serotonin, the “feel good” hormone, even if you don’t have fully developed six packs (why not?). You may then find it easier to maintain your motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle.Tones The Lower Body
A lower body that is toned looks amazing. Flutter kick also aids in developing lean lower abs, a strong lower back, hips, and thighs. It accomplishes this by causing the muscles to contract, causing them to regenerate and become bigger and stronger. You do not, however, have as much testosterone as a guy, therefore it does not imply you will look like one. In addition, you must exercise frequently if you want to appear like a bodybuilder.
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Excellent Cardio
The heart rate rises during exercising. Because of this, the muscles receive more oxygen from the capillaries, which is subsequently utilised to burn fat. Therefore, cardio is essentially an aerobic activity. An inconspicuous cardio workout called the flutter kick targets problem regions including the tummy, hips, and thighs.Burns Calories
Flutter kicks are excellent for burning calories. You can burn anywhere between 20 and 120 calories each hour of exercise, depending on your current body weight, the length of your workout, and its intensity. That is equivalent to 15 minutes of brisk walking. Flutter kicks are a great way to burn calories!Safety tips and risks
Although flutter kicks are a very simple exercise to learn, harm can nonetheless occur.
You might want to discuss it with your doctor to receive their consent before starting it, just as with any new workout. If you feel any severe discomfort or become lightheaded, you should cease performing flutter kicks right once.
Stretch your hip flexors
Your hip flexors may feel tight after performing flutter kicks. After performing the technique, stretch your hip flexors and attempt additional exercises to strengthen them as well.Watch your neck
Avoid raising your head and neck if you notice that executing the exercise while holding them up is straining your neck. This will aid in avoiding harm.Engage your abs
You must keep your abs contracted the entire time. While moving your legs and breathing in and out, pull them into your tummy. You need to correct your technique if you can feel your leg muscles contracting but not your abs.Maintain a neutral spine
It’s crucial to keep your lumbar spine neutral during this workout. Think of the small of your back like a grape. You shouldn’t force your back into the floor while performing this exercise, but you also shouldn’t let go of the grape.
This will maintain your neutral lumbar spine posture, which is a very little arch in your low back. This is where your core muscles function best, according to research.
This activity is pretty challenging. Try keeping your legs lifted higher if you start to feel low back discomfort while performing exercise to avoid putting too much strain on your low back until your abs are stronger.
Bottom Line
Lower abs, glutes, hip flexors, and quadriceps may all be worked with flutter kicks, which are a low-impact exercise. Flutter kicks, when performed on your stomach, can also strengthen your lower back muscles and reduce back discomfort.
Improved posture, increased stability and balance, increased endurance, and injury avoidance are all advantages of flutter kicks. Additionally, the exercise might help you develop more defined abs while burning calories.
If you experience any discomfort or wooziness while performing flutter kicks, stop. Always keep your spine neutral and adjust the workout as necessary. To avoid a tight feeling, stretch your hip flexors after performing flutter kicks.
In your second and third trimesters of pregnancy, stay away from flutter kicks.
