Healthy Living • YMCA Health and Fitness
How to get the abs of your dreams (No crunches needed)
31 March 2016 - by Nicole Meredith
Looking to tighten up your midsection? Forget the dreaded sit-ups (and learn why they’re not the best option here). Here’s what you need to know to build a lean, limber centre:
- Get your posture in check
The single best way to strengthen your core is to engage it 100% of the time. Make good posture a habit: no matter where you are or what you’re doing, properly align your spine by sitting or standing tall, pulling your shoulders back and down, and pulling your belly button in towards your spine. What will start off as a conscious effort will eventually become second nature; before you know it, you’ll be getting an ab workout while sitting at your desk, waiting for the subway, watching TV, doing cardio, and going through every other part of your daily routine. - Inject your ab workout with variety
Endless sit-ups alone will not give you the strong core you’re looking for. To sculpt a toned midsection, start by combining dynamic movements that target the variety of muscles that make up your core - the deep muscles that support your spine. Try exercises that force you to resist your own body weight or go against gravity, like planks, bridges, leg raises, side bends, and oblique twists. YMCA fitness instructors can teach you how to do these movements properly, help you refine your technique, or give you more challenging variations so you can keep your regime moving forward. - Avoid an ab rut
Shake things up - constantly. Doing any ab routine repeatedly for several months will not only yield minimal results, it’ll probably start to hurt. Every core training session you do should consist of a variety of movements targeting different areas: you need to be contracting, twisting, and turning to tone all 360 degrees of your centre. And when that series of exercises start to feel easy, it’s time to find new variations that will challenge you to keep pushing yourself. - Make it a team effort
Above all else, you need to make sure you’re doing core exercises right. If your technique’s off, you’re not going to see results, and you may end up with some nasty back and hip pain. All YMCA fitness instructors are qualified and trained to provide you with guidance tailored to your individual needs. Take advantage of their expertise and refine your technique so you can get the abs of your dreams. - Re-think your snacking habits
Belly fat is one of the toughest deposits to lose. No matter how long you spend sweating it out at the gym, those last few pounds around your midsection won’t melt away if you’re indulging in burgers and donuts on a regular basis. That’s not to say you have to give up sugar or commit to a crazy juice cleanse; instead, think about healthier, more sustainable choices. Start by talking to a registered nutritionist to see which parts of your diet could use an adjustment.
Don’t let this long list discourage your mission for a tighter tummy. If you commit to safe, healthy core workouts and sustainable eating habits, you’ll start to see the strong, sculpted center you’ve always wanted.
