Summer may seem like a lifetime away as you layer up three jumpers, but trust me, you don’t want to leave it until you are in a Christmas Pudding induced-food-coma to start thinking about getting that bikini body.
In this post I am going to focus on how to feel the extra burn from your ab routine, and how to use use your workouts to sculpt the perfect physique.
#1- FAT BURNING COMES FIRST
You can have super-strong ab muscles, but if they are hiding underneath a layer of fat you will never see any definition. To have a visible six-pack, for women you must be at around 12-14% body fat, and for men around 8-9%. However if you want a slightly softer look you will see some definition for women at around 18-20% body fat. I would highly recommend HIIT or Tabata training for fat burning (I will cover these in more detail on a separate post)
#2- DITCH THE HEAVY WEIGHTS
Whilst gaining muscle mass from weights is highly desirable for arms, shoulders, back, legs and glutes. The waist is something, that I personally, like to keep small. Using heavier weights in your ab workouts can lead to a bulkier slightly less feminine looking waist. I use weights up to 5kg in my ab workout, if you are doing the exercises correctly there is no need to use very heavy weights.
#3- SWITCH ON YOUR CORE
It is extremely important that during all ab exercises your stomach is held in and your core is tight. When you become fatigued from an excercise it is easy to disengage your core and let your back take over, or use your hands to pull up your neck. This will only cause injury and will have no benefit on your abs at all. So make sure for every excercise you are squeezing the abs really tights.
#4- TARGET EACH AREA
Whilst your rectus abdominis works as a whole and you can’t contract each section independently, there are exercises where the upper portion of your abs contracts harder than the lower portion, or vice-versa.
The ‘LOWER-AB’ section can be a tricky section to work. These are two of my favourite exercises.
REVERSE CRUNCHES:
Make sure as your legs come down you don’t relax your core and let your back take over. The slower and more controlled the better.
LYING LEG RAISES:
Keep your legs straight and take your legs up to 90 degrees, pulsing on the way down for an extra burn.
To achieve the overall toned stomach it is important to work the OBLIQUE muscles as well.
RUSSIAN TWISTS:
These can be done using a plate or medicine ball. For an advanced version keep your feet a couple of inches off the floor.
BICYCLE CRUNCHES:
Make sure to fully extend your leg and hold each crunch for a second, whilst squeezing your core.
#5- TAKE IT SLOW
It is common misconception that higher volume= a better workout. I can guarantee that ten slow, controlled reps will be more challenging that twenty fast reps. When completing a slow rep you are able to focus on form and make sure your core is fully engaged.
I hope these tips were useful in enhancing your ab routine. For some great ab workouts check out backonpointe, fitnessblender or the Nike Training App.
Bye for now X
DIONNELIFTS 