6 Amazing Benefits of Heel Touches Exercise

Exercises provide numerous benefits including helping in weight loss, boosting energy levels, building muscles, strengthening the immune system and so forth, and doing exercises is very important to keep oneself fit and healthy.

6 Amazing Benefits Of Heel Touches Exercise

Including heel touches exercise in your workout routine is extremely beneficial as it provides numerous benefits to its practitioners.

Intrigued to know more? Keep reading the article till the end then as we share all the details.

A. How to Perform Heel Touches Exercise?

The heel touches exercise is a great exercise that works along the midsection of the body. It is a great workout for the oblique muscles as well as for the abdominal muscles.

To perform heel touches exercise, you have to use an exercise mat for doing this heel touches exercise, as lying flat on the barren floor can hurt your back.

So, follow the steps carefully:-

  1. Lie flat on the exercise mat on the floor, face pointing towards the ceiling. Keep your knees bent, knees pointing towards the ceiling. Also, keep your feet flat on the surface.
  2. Keep your arms straight on the side, your palms facing inwards, this is the starting position.
  3. Raise your shoulders and head and bend forward a little bit, so that you feel a kind of pressure in your midsection.
  4. Rotate your midsection so that your right-hand touches the right heel and your left-hand touches the left heel.
  5. Exhale and crunch your abs. Push your navel into the spine. Touch the right ankle with the right hand and the left ankle with the left hand and maintain this position and repeat.
  6. Inhale while returning to the starting position.
  7. Repeat the alternate sides.

Watch the Video: Heel Touches Workout

Alternate HEEL TOUCHES For Women | How To

Note: Beginners can do 10-12 repetitions on each side touching the right heel and left heel. While doing this exercise, always remember to keep your knees bent and don’t straighten your knees. Also, keep your arms straight and don’t fold your arms.

B. Benefits of Heel Touches Exercise and What Muscle Groups Do Heel Touches Work

Incorporating heel touches exercise in your daily workout routine can be of great help. Some of the potent benefits of heel touch exercise are:-

1. It is a great exercise for core muscles

Heel touches exercise
By Andrea Piacquadio/ Pexels, Copyright 2021

The heel touches exercise is a great core exercise and it helps to strengthen the core muscles.

This exercise works along the midsection of the body and helps to activate primary muscles along the midsection which includes upper abs and lower abs, rectus abdominis, and transverse abdominis.

This exercise is great for those who practice gymnastics, as it helps to increase the strength of the core muscles which helps to have good balance.

2. It is a great exercise for oblique muscles

Heel touches exercise
By Jonathan Borba/ Pexels, Copyright 2021

Unlike other core exercises such as crunch, plank, leg raises, and sit-ups, the heel touches exercise is a great workout for the main muscle group such as oblique muscles. This heel touches workout also helps to activate abdominal muscles.

This is a great and easy workout for beginners, especially for those whose main target is their oblique muscles and those who want to define their abs.

3. It is a great workout for the abs

Heel touches exercise
By Anush Gorak/ Pexels, Copyright 2021

Heel touches workouts can be easily practised at home. It is the perfect workout that can help you to get the defined abs that you have dreamed of without going to the gym or lifting any weights.

Repeat 10-12 heel touches workouts to see great results.

4. A great workout for those suffering from back pain

Heel touches workout
By Karolina Grabowska/ Pexels, Copyright 2021

Heel touches workout help to improve posture by strengthening the muscles in the lower body which further helps to get rid of back pain.

It is also a great workout to bring flexibility to hip flexors.

5. Heel touches are a great workout for the muscles in the upper body

This workout amazingly works for the muscles in the upper body, and by the end of this workout, your muscles relax.

6. Helps to improve posture

Tired of hearing complaints about your bad posture? Then it’s time to take note of it, as ignorance can lead to your back pain, and sometimes back pain can be worst. Heel touch workouts help to improve posture and combat the back pain caused due to it.

C. Is this workout easy for a beginner to do

As compared to other workouts such as the plank, burpees, and heel touches workout is comparatively easy than other workouts.

However, there are certain factors to keep in mind.

  1. While doing this workout, keep your legs bent. Don’t bend forward too much and don’t touch your chest with your chin. Remember to maintain some distance between your chin and chest, as bending too much can have a reverse effect on your body.
  2. Remember to keep your neck and head in a neutral position. While doing this workout maintain this neutral position and repeat until you feel a kind of burning sensation in your core.
  3. And most importantly, keep an eye on your breathing pattern and maintain the proper form for this workout.

D. Does this Workout Cause Injury?

The workout cannot cause any injury but the way of doing the workout can cause pain.

Don’t perform this heel touches workout at a faster pace. Do it at a slower pace, and as a beginner, start with the repetitions of 10 on each side. The moment you become comfortable, you can repeat 15-20 of this workout on each side.

And most importantly, always do warmup before doing any kind of workout which hardly requires 5-10 minutes. Jumping jacks, and jogging in the same place is a good warmup that can be done to avoid any injury.

Also, remember to take sufficient rest to allow recovery of the same muscle groups, you will be training the next day.

Closing Thoughts

So, what are you waiting for? Add this simple heel touches exercise to your daily routine which can be done from the comfort of your home.

There are numerous tutorial videos on how to do heel touch exercises properly on Youtube that can guide you through the process.

However remember, besides exercising, one also needs to follow a proper diet to get good results.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are heel touches for? 

The majority of your abdominal muscles, namely your rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, and upper and lower abs, are engaged when you touch your heels, hence the heel touch help in strengthening the core muscles.

2. Do heel touches slim your waist?

The heel touchers can help you cinch your waist and achieve the ideal hourglass shape by tightening every aspect of your ab wall.

3. Is heel touch effective?

Heel touches are a wonderful bodyweight exercise to increase strength and stability since they work all of the major abdominal muscles.

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Ananya Pal

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