Whatever your fitness and wellbeing goals are, everyone wants better abs. A tight toned tummy is the end goal of many weight loss programmes, but miracle pills and fad exercise products won’t help you achieve this (and won’t do your wellness any good). You need to partake in good old fashioned tummy toning exercises and, luckily, we’ve found three that will work wonders.
Seated Clam-shell Crunch
For this first exercise you need to sit on the mat, face forward, bend your knees and place your hands on the floor behind your hips. Your chest should be open and your torso needs to be long and extended. You also need to keep the inside soles of your feet together and knees separate, and then lift your feet a few inches off the floor.
Breathe in and then, as you exhale, lift the legs and bring your knees toward your chest, so as to complete an abdominal crunch. Don’t collapse your torso or hike up your shoulders; focus on keeping your core strong. When breathing out, drive your ribs into your hips, as this will engage your deep abdominal and lower back. Remember to maintain control and do this movement slowly, isolating it to your core. It’s good to do this for a set of 16 repetitions, single counts, followed by eight repetitions, with pulses. This means going up and pulsing for three and then lowering down on four.
Side Plank with Arm Extension
Lie on your side, extend your torso and keep your legs straight and stacked on top of each other. Make sure your bottom elbow is bent and placed directly behind your shoulder, with your neck long and a space between your shoulder and ear. Your shoulders and hips should be facing forward, stacked on top of one another, and your upper arm should be bent with the elbow by your waist.
From this starting position, engage your lower back and abdominal as you raise your hips and knees from the ground and extend your upper arm above you head. Make sure your bottom foot is still touching the floor and your head is in line with your spine. At the top, pause for a moment and then slowly lower yourself down to the starting position, maintaining control of your body at all times. Remember to focus on lifting and engaging through your centre, and keeping your neck long, or you could overload your shoulder. You should perform 8 to 12 repetitions on each side but if this is too tricky you can try the exercise with your knees bent, or with your upper arm placed on the floor in front of you for additional support.
Hip Lifts with Torso Rotation
This exercise engages your centre and spine to balance and control your body. To start, sit on the mat with your knees bent and your feet hip-distance apart. Put your hands behind your hips and place them down flat on the mat for support. Extend your torso and keep your head in line with your spine.
Once you’ve got this starting position, take a deep breath and, as you exhale, lift your hips off the floor while rotating your torso and extending your right arm to your left leg. You should only be supported by your left hand and right foot in this upper extended position. Then simply lower your body and repeat the movement with the other side. You should aim to do a set of 16 repetitions, alternating sides, and try to hold the upper position for a few seconds to challenge your body. However, if this is too much to tackle at first, you can remove the balance element and still engage your core by keeping your hips on the floor while you rotate your torso and extend your fingertips to your toes.