The 6 Ab Exercises Your Personal Trainer Didn’t Tell You About
We all know everyone dreams of a flat stomach, men and women alike. There is nothing more annoying than a muffin top and a flabby abdomen. Clothes don’t look as good on you as they are on the magazines because of that pesky little layer of stomach fat.
Here are 6 easy-to-follow workouts which target the abdomen and help you to achieve that toned stomach area.
The following exercises are intensively focused on the abdominal muscles but will not strain your lower back like the ol’ classic crunches we are all accustomed to.
6 DIY Abdominal Exercises - No Personal Trainer Required!
Stomach Vacuum
The great thing about stomach vacuum is that you can literally do it anytime of the day, anywhere you are and that no one will notice you’re actually doing it. Stomach vacuum is an abdominal exercise that aids by giving you smaller waistline and building tougher abdominal walls. This exercise is so efficient it can be done while sitting down, standing up, kneeling down and even while lying on your back.
How To Do It:
- Slowly exhale and allow air to exit from your lungs
- Bring stomach in as if bringing your belly button close to your spine, and hold this position
Mountain Climbers
Source: Toat.com
Mountain Climber is an efficient and effective exercise because it can be done anytime of the day and anywhere with ample space. Also, it is a workout that burns a lot of calories within a limited time. It is an overall body workout that focuses on the core muscles.
How To Do It:
- Assume a push up pose with hands and toes supporting your body weight
- Slowly lift right foot and raise right knee until it is close to the chest
- Do the same position with your left leg and extend your right foot
- Do this with alternating feet for 30-60 seconds
Side Plank
Source: www.popsugar.com
The side plank is a great abdominal workout that most people overlook. Apart from giving your core more strength, it also helps in giving you a nice set of abs.
How To Do It:
- It is like the classic plank except your body is on one side with your elbow directly under your shoulder
- Hold this pose for 30 seconds (up until 60 seconds if you can) then switch to your opposite side
- For increased intensity, lift one leg up while holding the side plank pose
Single Leg Stretch
Source: shesaid.com
The Single leg stretch trains the abdomen to be the force of movement while the trunks, arms and legs are moving. This exercise targets the lower abs.
How To Do It:
- Lie on your back with your knees bent
- Lift head and shoulders and curl your chin to your chest
- Slowly inhale as you draw left knee toward chest, and place left hand on ankle and right hand on knee, lift 45 degrees off the floor
- Switch legs, extend left leg while hugging right leg towards your chest then do it alternately
Bicycle
Source: pelinfitness.com
Bicycle is one of the best abdominal exercises according to research. It is an intense yet easy to follow ab workout
How To Do It:
- Lie flat on the floor with back pressed to the ground
- With hands on the back of your head, lift knees 45 degrees
- Alternately touch right elbow to the left knee, then left elbow to the right knee
Teaser
Source: fitnessins.blogspot.com
This is an ab workout favorite among women because it intensively targets abdominal muscles and it doesn’t strain the lower back like your ordinary crunches.
How To Do It:
- Lay on your back with your arms stretched over your head but not touching the floor, keep your legs together and do not let it touch the floor either
- Inhale
- While exhaling, lift upper body (still with your arms stretched over head) and legs altogether forming a V-position.
- Go back to the original position and repeat
Summing Up
These unique ab exercises will help you escape the plateau in your workout. You will see your metabolism revving up when you will notice the change in your body after a few consistent sessions. Make sure that you do these workouts consistently and enjoy your new toned abdominals!
