`Twas the season to be jolly. However, holiday merrymaking often results in jeans feeling too snug and skirts not zipping with ease, which is probably why someone invented New Year`s resolutions, not to mention stomach muscle exercises.
”Abdominal work is something you can do easily every day,” says Joelle Peterson, aerobics director for the Lakeshore Athletic Club, in Chicago, who teaches a 30-minute class targeted to whittling middles.
”Not only will (abdominal) exercises help to shape the curve we all like to see,” she says, ”but strong abs will also improve your posture and can help reduce lower back pain.”
Pain in this area is often the result of the back being forced to overcompensate for a weak abdominal muscle group.
And because these exercises do work the area around the back, if you feel discomfort while doing them, stop. Your form probably is not correct, and you can risk injury. Injury is also the reason that fitness experts no longer suggest the traditional situp, lying prone and pulling yourself to a sitting position.
Curls, a modified version of the situp in which the lower back remains on the ground while the abs are tightened, is the current preference. Regular workouts combining the basic curl with variations of the move, along with aerobic exercise to burn calories, will result in a trimmer torso in four to six weeks, Peterson says.
To start, she recommends doing 25 of each of the moves, and adding more in increments of five as your strength improves. As with any workout, stretch before and after.
The moves are:
– Basic curl: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. The idea is to lie as flat as possible with no arch in your lower back. ”Keep your stomach in,” Peterson says. ”The sensation should be that your navel is pushing your spine into the floor.”
With hands behind your neck and elbows wide, so a straight line connecting them would run through your ears, lift your shoulders. The movement is subtle, but quite effective.
”The only motion you should see is the shoulders coming off the ground,” says Peterson. ”But what you should feel are the upper abdominals beneath your ribs tightening.”
Crossover curl: This exercise is good for two reasons. One, it works the obliques, muscles that run down the sides of the torso and define the waistline. Two, it allows the abdominals, which make up the front of the torso, to rest briefly before the next exercises target them.
Assume the same starting position as for the basic curl. Then lift your feet off the ground so that your toes are pointing to the ceiling. However, keep knees bent. Instead of lifting your shoulders straight off the ground, bring your left elbow up and over to your right knee. Repeat with your right elbow and left knee.
”These are really easy to cheat at,” says Peterson. Make sure the elbows stay straight out; don`t collapse them. And resist the temptation to pull the knees in to meet the elbow; results come from the lifting and crossing motion.
To increase the difficulty, do the exercise with your legs extended, instead of bent.
Reverse curl: Starting again from the same prone position, this time slowly bring the knees in until your bottom begins to lift slightly off the ground.
”You should feel a giant push in the lower abdominal regions,” Peterson says. ”Don`t let momentum do the work. Keep the pace slow and feel the lower abs doing the work.”
For a more challenging version, lift and straighten your legs perpendicular to the floor.
Toe press: Lie on your back with your toes pointing at the ceiling with virtually no bend at the knees. Reach for the ceiling with your toes.
”Don`t let the lower back do the work,” Peterson says. ”You should feel this in the lower abs.”
