Belly blitzing exercises for the summer
Do you want to have a flat toned tummy like Kiera Knightly? Of course you do and quite frankly who doesn’t. Here’s how to do some great tummy toning exercises to get you on the right track. These are just some that I do with my clients – try them as they really do work.
The classic crunch
Benefits of exercise – suitable for everybody. This exercise works the deep abdominal muscles, as well as the middle and upper areas of your six pack.
- Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
- Use your abdominal muscles to curl up at the waist and lift your shoulders from the floor.
- Keep your head in line with your body as if you are holding an apple between your chin and your chest.
- Pause briefly at the top of the movement and lower slowly without letting your head or shoulders drop back to the floor completely.
- Make sure you breathe out, on the way up and breathe in on the way down of the crunch.
Reverse Crunch
Benefits of exercise – suitable for everyone. This exercise works very well on the lower stomach muscles. This is great if you want to improve your core stability, balance and strength.
- Lie on the floor face up, with your head and neck relaxed and your arms by your sides.
- Squeeze in your stomach muscles and then maintain the tension in the stomach, remembering to breathe naturally.
- Keeping your back flat on the floor, lift your legs into the air, so that your thighs are perpendicular to the ground.
- Using your lower abdominal muscles, slowly draw your knees in towards your chest, but aiming to raise your bottom and lower back a little way off the floor. (If your back arches up from the floor then you have gone too far.)
- Return to start position.
10 minute workout
- 3 minutes of step ups
- 25 crunches/25 reverse crunches
- 2 minutes of knee lifts
- 20 crunches/20 reverse crunches
- 2 minutes of star jumps or half stars
- 15 crunches/15 reverse crunches
- 3 minutes of jogging on the spot
If your tummy is feeling a bit wobbly, then these exercises can certainly help, but you need to get rid of the top layer of fat first – and I’m afraid the only answer to that is to cut back on the fatty snacks and get walking, jogging, cycling etc. It is all about getting moving. Next week, we shall look at a couple of other fantastic tummy exercises which can help you get that honed, toned washboard stomach!
