I know speaking for myself and A LOT of women out there, the tummy area is a troublesome one. For a lot of women it is the area where excess weight and fat seem to want to congregate. I've found from my personal experience that the lower abdomen area is also the hardest to change.
I used to believe that if I did copious amounts of sit ups, I would develop the abs I dreamed of. However that couldn't be farther from reality. I've had to learn the hard way that the only way to get the fat layer off my stomach is to lose body fat all over. You see, your body can't pick and choose where the fat loss comes from; all it knows is how to lose it all over. I know a lot of women are concerned about losing fat all over because that means "the girls" usually get a little lost in the mix. However, it is a necessary evil that we need to lose body fat all over to accomplish what we want in certain areas.
I've heard the phrase a lot "abs are made in the kitchen". This has proven to be true. It wasn't until I changed my diet that I noticed that lower abdomen area start to dissipate along with the cellulite on my ass. It is a long and slow process, but I've been very pleased with the results so far.
I used to also do ab workouts every day that I worked out. I figured that if I worked them harder and more often that it would make a difference. I noticed it wasn't working so I scaled back and started lifting more and incorporated more deadlifts and squats. I reduced my "ab days" to once a week after doing some research and finding that what I needed to do was "build" my ab muscles just like I would any other muscle. This change incorporated with my diet made me see results better than ever! When you do any kind of compound exercise like deadlifts, you need to brace your core and flex it the whole time. This helps keep your body stable and in good form, therefore the abs are working the whole time along with other muscles in your body.
I still do ab workouts to exhaust them just like any other muscle group. I've changed what I do though. Instead of just doing hundreds of plain sit up and crunches, I use them to warm up and work them a little bit before doing more difficult exercises. I like to do more difficult ab workouts because then I don't have to do 50 reps before feeling the burn, I can do 10-20 and feel it just as hard instead.
So here are a few of my favorite exercises.
1. Side Bend
Target: Obliques
This one I do with either a kettle ball or a weight. I like to do a heavier weight over a light one to really give the oblique muscles a workout. One thing to keep in mind is to keep your hips and shoulders really straight and don't let the weight take you too far down (far right pic), it may risk injury to the lower back (take it from my experience).
I used to believe that if I did copious amounts of sit ups, I would develop the abs I dreamed of. However that couldn't be farther from reality. I've had to learn the hard way that the only way to get the fat layer off my stomach is to lose body fat all over. You see, your body can't pick and choose where the fat loss comes from; all it knows is how to lose it all over. I know a lot of women are concerned about losing fat all over because that means "the girls" usually get a little lost in the mix. However, it is a necessary evil that we need to lose body fat all over to accomplish what we want in certain areas.
I've heard the phrase a lot "abs are made in the kitchen". This has proven to be true. It wasn't until I changed my diet that I noticed that lower abdomen area start to dissipate along with the cellulite on my ass. It is a long and slow process, but I've been very pleased with the results so far.
I used to also do ab workouts every day that I worked out. I figured that if I worked them harder and more often that it would make a difference. I noticed it wasn't working so I scaled back and started lifting more and incorporated more deadlifts and squats. I reduced my "ab days" to once a week after doing some research and finding that what I needed to do was "build" my ab muscles just like I would any other muscle. This change incorporated with my diet made me see results better than ever! When you do any kind of compound exercise like deadlifts, you need to brace your core and flex it the whole time. This helps keep your body stable and in good form, therefore the abs are working the whole time along with other muscles in your body.
I still do ab workouts to exhaust them just like any other muscle group. I've changed what I do though. Instead of just doing hundreds of plain sit up and crunches, I use them to warm up and work them a little bit before doing more difficult exercises. I like to do more difficult ab workouts because then I don't have to do 50 reps before feeling the burn, I can do 10-20 and feel it just as hard instead.
So here are a few of my favorite exercises.
1. Side Bend
Target: Obliques
This one I do with either a kettle ball or a weight. I like to do a heavier weight over a light one to really give the oblique muscles a workout. One thing to keep in mind is to keep your hips and shoulders really straight and don't let the weight take you too far down (far right pic), it may risk injury to the lower back (take it from my experience).
2. Swill Ball Pike
Target: Lower abs
I really like this one as it works the whole core. Stabilization muscles are exhausted with this one. One thing to keep in mind is not to push out from the shoulders, try to keep your upper body as stable as possible and allow your lower body to do the movement.
3. Medicine Ball V-Ups
Target: Upper abs primarily and lower abs too!
This one I find very difficult, which is why I really like it. I start with the medicine ball above my head and then lift my upper and lower body simultaneously and try to touch the ball to my toes. If lifting both the upper and lower body at the same time is difficult then do a leg up and lift your legs first and then the upper body and try to get the ball to touch the toes.
4. Plank & Plank Variations
Target: Whole Core!
Who doesn't love the plank? It targets so many areas including the whole core, arms, & quads. I like to do the elbow plank and do variations from that. One of the difficult variations I like is to lift my opposite arm and leg (left arm, right leg) and hold it.
This is only one variation, but you can start with basic plank then work up to lifting one arm at a time then one leg at a time. Remember to breathe.
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