Abdominal Exercises

2019-11-14T05:28:01+00:00

By FDP

Hello fit and healthy ladies!Great to know you are still here.Today, we will be dealing with the most dreaded area for women. If you said “the abdomen” then you are correct!Whether you are single or married, had a baby or not, normal child birth or caesarean? This one is for you.We all have to admit that every woman wants a flat tummy to show off and like I will always say good things don’t come easy, we must work at it.The exercises highlighted below will be targeted at the abdomen, if done diligently, they will help you burn out the fat and give you not just a flatter tummy but also a slimmer waistline.While we are trying to flatten and tone the stomach, these exercises will also help us strengthen the abdominal muscles.

Stomach Tuck-In:

This is my personal favorite; I call it the “natural tummy tuck”. Easy to do as it can be done anytime and anywhere and it is also a good base for the more difficult abdominal exercises.

Sit upright against the back of a chair.
Breathe out and at the same time suck in your stomach.
Hold your stomach in for 2-3 seconds keeping your stomach held in as much as possible.
Breathe in as you release your stomach

It is really as simple as this.

The waist twist:

The Waist Twist or Trunk Twist is a good simple exercise that helps you firm up and tone your waist / tummy. The waist twist exercise is low impact and a nice gentle warm up before adding the sit-ups and crunches.

Remember to always stay in your own comfort zone during the waist twist exercise and keep good form, move slowly and with smooth movements.
Sit fully upright on a chair with feet flat on the floor slightly apart.
Place your fingertips so they are touching the top of the shoulders, so the arms are bent at the elbows.
Slowly twist the elbows, arms and shoulders as if you are turning to look over your shoulder. Don’t turn your head; let it follow round with the upper part of your body.
Throughout the turn keep your abdominal muscles tensed.
Once you have reached as far round as is comfortable, slowly rotate back round to the opposite side, then return to the starting position.
Repeat the exercise.

Abdominal Crunches and sit-ups:

The Sit-up and abdominal Crunches are pretty much one and the same exercise. They are one of the most basic but most effective workouts for the abdominal muscles. There are many different types and styles of Sit-ups and abdominal crunches but we will have a look at the most simple version.You may also want to consider using an Exercise Ball workout program to really concentrate on giving your core muscles a great workout. Remember, always stay in your own comfort zone during the exercise and keep good form, move slowly and with smooth movements.

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, legs bent at a 45 degree angle and hands resting underneath the neck.
It is very important to press the small of your back into the floor throughout the duration of the exercise to guard against back injury.
Lift the back and head off the floor and towards the legs. The feet, buttocks and small of the back remain on the floor.
There is no need to bring your head and body right up against your thighs, if you keep your abdominal muscles clenched you will get the desired effect.
Roll the shoulders upwards towards the knees, lifting the head and top of the back off the floor.
Lower back to the ground and into the starting position.

The amount of repetitions you do will really depend on the strength of your stomach muscles. To start with you may not even be able to get off the floor. This is no reason to be disheartened; if you do what you can regularly, your Sit-ups will come along in leaps and bounds. Once you are comfortable with a set of Crunch repetitions you can consider some of the variations such as pulses, lifting the legs from the floor while crunching, and lying on alternate sides to do side crunches.