20 minutes a day can really help you with your abdominal. For those of you who feel like your mid-section is in the worst shape, be aware that health wise excess abdominal fat is actually the worst kind of fat period. The mid-section houses two of your most important organs involved in fat metabolism and the process of sugar. Your liver and your kidneys can actually become ‘squished’ in too much abdominal fat and this reduces their effectiveness. Women, especially, are in danger of type 2 diabetes because of excessive abdominal fat according to the American Dietetic Association.
Now to be certain, too much abdominal fat will vary from person to person. The average BMI (Body Mass Index) for a woman is around 30% and yes, the average female BMI is much higher than a male’s. It has to be. The excess fat in a woman’s body helps cushion the organs during pregnancy and gives her some ‘stretchy’ room to grow when the baby is developing. So while a woman’s BMI should be higher, it shouldn’t be excessively high.
Yes, I know. Your mid-section is the hardest area of the body to get rid of the fat. So here’s a 20-minute daily workout that can help you trim back the waistline. There’s no one hundred percent successful method and this 20 minutes a day is not the only thing you need to do. Portion sizing your food and cardio workouts at least 60% of the time are going to be the primary keys to your success. We’ll talk about both of those after the workout.
Stress- Less – Spend 5 to 10 minutes a day practicing breathing exercises. This is deep breath control, inhaling until deep enough to feel your diaphragm press downwards. Sit with your back against a firm surface. Practice straightening your posture. Don’t worry about sucking your tummy in, but the breath control will force a contraction of your abdominals as you take deep breaths. These 5 to 10 minutes will help reduce your stress levels. Constant or chronic stress increases the amount of cortisol in the system, especially the midsection. A high cortisol level increases the amount of fat your body deposits in those areas.
Stretch it – (5 minutes) Yes, everyone talks about stretching, but few actually practice it. The art of truly stretching out each area of the body including the lower back and obliques takes a few minutes every day. By stretching, you balance the body’s blood flow to the muscles, reduce stress, reduce the risk of injury and increase flexibility. If you’ve got love handles or a belly that hangs over your waistline, you may have already noticed a reduced flexibility. By increasing it, you can help your body more evenly distribute its resources.
21’s/Crunch/SitUps/Reverse Crunches/Oblique Twists – (5 minutes) Every day, choose a different form of abdominal workouts to use. You can do three sets of 12 or one set of 12 until you feel comfortable with the workout. By doing a different one each day you are working out a different set of the abdominal muscles. Strengthening the muscles gives you a two-fold benefit. One is that muscle requires more energy and therefore burns more fat. Two, the ability to tighten abs comes from a tauter, firmer muscle.
21’s – 21’s involve laying flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. You begin by doing ‘crunches’ with your hands aimed high towards your knee caps for 7. Then your hands aimed towards your mid-thigh for 7 and finally your hands low aimed toward your hips for 7. Your crunches should involve lifting your shoulders from the ground, but not by pulling your neck upwards. The motion should come from the midsection.
Crunch – A straight crunch begins with your body laying flat on the ground, knees bent and feet flat. You can fold your hands behind your head, but do not use them to pull you up. To ‘crunch’ it you curl your body upwards shoulders lifting from the ground and as you pull your shoulders up, pull your knees back. In an ideal crunch, your elbows and knees are moving towards each other ‘crunching’ your midsection. Note: Never use your hands to pull your neck up. Avoid using your neck for lifting and yes this takes practice. Second Note: Do not think you are doing it wrong if your head and knees don’t ‘touch’. The point of the crunch is you are working your upper and lower abdominals at the same time forcing a positive contraction and then relaxing them as you return to base position.
Sit-Ups – Sit-ups are performed much like crunches, however your feet stay flat on the floor and you are lifting yourself up all the way towards your knees and then returning to prone position. You may also use a balance ball for this. Sit on a balance ball with your feet flat on the floor. Make sure your knees are at a 90 degree angle. You may want to brace your feet on the bottom of your sofa or other item to increase stability. Begin by sitting up and then laying yourself back and then rising once again to sitting. The use of the balance ball provides support, helps you isolate your abs and creates a more comfortable position for performing 90 degree sit-ups. See a balance ball instruction booklet for more suggestions.
Reverse Crunches – These are a lot more fun than they sound. Laying flat on your back, put your feet and calves on the sofa or chair. (Note: Don’t use a rocker.) You will perform the reverse crunch by lifting your feet and legs from the sofa and inclining the knees back towards you without reducing the 90 degree angle of your knees. This is important, because you are using your abdominals to pull the legs towards you and you should feel a tautness in your mid-section and in your glutes as you perform this. Do not try to overstrain or compensate as you perform the reverse crunch. If you feel pain, stop and try to repeat the set up in order to perform the exercise.
Oblique Twists – Oblique twists work the muscles along the sides of your abs. These are traditionally the areas where our ‘love handles’ are. You can do oblique twists in two ways. The first involves laying down like you are going to perform a traditional crunch, however instead of lifting straight as you crunch, you ‘twist’ aiming your right elbow at your left knee cap and then vice versa your left elbow at your right knee cap. When doing a set of 12 to start this should be done as a six and six and moved up incrementally. A second way to do oblique twists involves sitting down, stretching out your right leg, cross your left leg over it, foot planted firmly on the ground, knee pointing up. Turn so your right elbow touches the left knee and you are facing left. You will feel a tautening and pulling along your right ‘side’ and ‘oblique.’ This is a way of stretching the obliques. You should only stretch it until you feel ‘taut’ not ‘pain’ or ‘cramp.’ Immediately release the twist if you feel either of these things.
Finally, do not begin any exercise program without consulting a physician if you have concerns. It’s important to recognize that these exercises are designed to help you ‘tighten’ and ‘strengthen.’ In combination with a regular cardio program and portioning, you will reduce midsection fat and thickness.
If you hate counting calories or looking at measuring cup sizes of food, a good way to start a ‘portioning’ diet is to eat only 75% of what you consider your normal portion. For example, when eating a slice of pizza, cut off the crust. When eating a sandwich, cut it into four sections and only eat three. For those of you with kids, the fourth section is often an ideal ‘child-size’ meal. If you already do this to feed your child, then eat only 75% of the portion you have remaining. This way of portioning will help you reduce your intake, but will let you continue to eat some of the foods you like.
Your cardio program should keep your heart rate elevated into a range that is roughly 220-your age for about 30 minutes, give or take. This is not an exact science, but if you walk briskly 3 times a day for 10 minutes each, that still counts as 30 minutes. Try to target a cardio fun workout six days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you bike back and forth to work everyday, vary your routes as you can to change your difficulty around.
Remember, not every program works for every person. The 20 minute power ab workout is offered to you as a guideline or a method that ‘can’ help. But remember, you are going to need to perform it regularly for five to six weeks to ‘see’ a result. It can help to measure your waist at the beginning and then again at the end to see how many inches are trimmed.
We’ll talk about measuring in another blog, but keep in mind you don’t want to measure while you are on your period (if a woman) or right after a workout (for anyone.) A workout causes muscles to swell and can give you an inaccurate measurement.
Cheers and have a great day!