EVERYONE
wants flat, toned abs, not just if you are a new mum or mum! The
problem is most people do not know how to get them.

According
to text books and numerous fitness magazine workouts and some health club
classes ab exercises revolve around bent knee sit ups, twisting bent knee sit
ups,curl ups and crunches. And these have been the ab training exercises
people choose for generations.

What do you currently do or have you done in the
past to flatten your abs and tighten your tummy?

1. Fifty crunches or sit-ups/day…and you
   didn’t get results and may have hurt your neck and back from it
2. Held the plank…without
   understanding that it needs to be flat (the area between the shoulders and butt
   resembles a sagging hammock)
3. Used the latest ab
   gizmo..enough
   said
4. Shoulder presses…while balancing or sitting on a swiss ball or
   bosu (half an inflated sphere)

So what’s the problem
with these exercises? 

1. Fifty crunch lady – she is just working her abs,
   rather than her whole ‘core’, in only one direction
   (up and down) at a low intensity. If she has diastasis she will be further widening
   the gap between her abs (following pregnancy and childbirth) putting her back
   under further strain.
2. The plank with bad form isn’t effective, however performed with good technique being
   completely straight from shoulder to toe, without flexing the lower back means
   this is one of the best exercises to work the whole core.
3. The latest ab gizmo (don’t be fooled, bodyweight exercises are better)
4. Shoulder presses on a swiss ball or bosu – great if
   you are rehabilitating from an injury otherwise you’d be
   better doing them with your feet on the ground and heavier weights as it provides
   more challenge to your abs and core (assuming you adopt good posture throughout the exercise)

Why Crunches and Sit-Ups don’t get your flat abs
and what you can do which will work!

Spot reduction doesn’t work and in the case of
crunches and sit-ups, it can hurt!
Research from a study at a State University in
Ohio tested how effective sit-ups were with 71 men and women split up into three groups. One
group didn’t do any sit-ups, another did three sets of 20 sit-ups three times a week
on non-consecutive days. The last group did sit-ups six days a week. The difficulty of
the sit-up was increased every four weeks. The
researchers were surprised by how ineffective the exercise proved to be. None
of the three groups showed any strength gains, muscle tone or reduction in waist size
or body fat percentage. Therefore the group which didn’t do any sit-ups got the same
results as those doing 60 sit-ups per day, six days a week.  The
research authors stated “This finding suggests that training the abdominals
with Resistance
levels short of fatigue is inadequate to produce strength gains,” So, a
more challenging
abdominal exercise needs to be employed to effectively exercise your abs, reduce
belly fat and waist size.

More
research from the University of Waterloo revealed that sit-ups can cause back
problems. According to Professor Stuart McGill (IDEA fitness Journal article – Jan
2010) “Realize that the spinal disks can bend only so often before
damage ensues,” So a crunch or sit-up is almost replicating the exact movement
to cause of bulging or herniated discs of the lumbar spine. Therefore doing
hundreds of reps is going to put your lower back at grave risk!

So what should you do..to protect your back and flatten your abs

The
true function of your abdominal muscles, core and pelvic floor is stabilization
in different directions (and not just lying on your back!). So why does movement
forwards and backwards lying on your back dominate abdominal workouts? Exercising
the abs and core standing is more functional as we are standing when we need to
abs to be strong to lift, bend and carry our babies or little ones. You want a stable core, mobile hips, and a strong
but not over worked or too flexible lower back

The
best way to strengthen abs and improve core stability is via pillar stability
holds –  front and side pillars/planks,
hip extension holds, and all fours opposite arm and leg reach variations. Plus
it is better to focus on quality and form rather than quantity.

10-Minute Home Sample Core Stability Workout in
10 mins

We are going for perfect form and quality for the best results. So aim to do each exercise for 10 second with 3 secs rest and repeat 6 times. 
This is better than doing 1 set of
a 60-second hold, which can be too difficult and tricky to keep with good technique! 

1. Front Pillar/Push-up Hold
2. Left Side Pillar Hold
3. Right Side Pillar Hold
4. Hip Extension or on all fours opposite arm and leg reach Hold
5. Knee Raise Hold (standing)

Whether you’re hitting the beach in a few weeks time or just wanting to get into shape for the great weather – as busy mums we need and want something quick, fun and easy to do, that also gets us radical results, right?!

Enter the best (secret) way to get fit in no time – cardio intervals. These are based on the American method of Tabata training. It is the most effective, time efficient cardio workout you can have. Alternating short bursts (30, 45 or 60 secs usually) of exercise – running, cycling, rowing or swimming at a ‘high/fast pace’, followed by a similar period of time (30, 45 or 60 secs or so) at a slow pace, repeated several times for three times a week over eight weeks.

Why it makes you super fit, quicker!

Shorter, higher intensity exercise works your body and cardio-vascular system harder so that it boosts your metabolism. Your body responds by becoming leaner and stronger, improving your body shape improving your muscle tone. Plus they are acutally quite fun to do – believe me – and they are over quickly! They are not however suitable if you are pregnant or less than 16 weeks post natal. Make sure you’ve had the green light from the Doctor or Midwife to say you’re OK to exercise!

This is a maximum fat burning technique and far more effective than slow, long cardio like walking of swimming leisurely for 40 minutes or so, where you don’t feel out of breath. To back this up if you swim gently you burn about 6 calories per minute. Times that by 30 minutes (30 x 6) and you burn 180 calories (equivalent of a glass of wine)!

If you swim front crawl at a higher/faster pace doing say a length (25 metres) in 25-30 secs, you would burn approx 10 calories per minute, if you did that for 30 minutes then you would burn 300 calories.

HOWEVER, as you are going at a much faster pace, it’s not possible to keep going for 30 minutes (this would be asking you to sprint for 30 minutes – sprinters only sprint for 20 secs or so, hence we do the short intervals. If you did eight intervals of fast swimming you’d burn approx. 80 calories in 8 minutes (8 x 60 seconds fast pace at 10 calories per minute) and burn 48 calories during your slow gentle swims (in between the fast ones).

That would total 128 Calories in 16 minutes ( 8 x 60 secs fast pace, 8 x 60 secs slow pace). So you can see you burn nearly as many calories in half the time of doing slow gentle swimming for 30 minutes!

You can also try skipping, cycling or running.

The actual Tabata training is based on eight 20 second bursts of exercise done at the highest level you can with eight ten second rest periods to make up four minutes. This is known as the four minute workout. HOWEVER, it is NOT suitable if you’ve just had a baby or for people who are not fit.

Instead follow the following variations:

Always WARM -Up first for 3-5 minutes at a slow pace and perform dynamic stretches and after the workout cool down at a slow pace for 2-3 minutes and stretch

Introductory: (for twelve weeks post natal if you exercised before your pregnancy)
30 secs fast
2 minutes – slow
Repeat 4 times

Beginner: (for minimum twelve weeks post natal if you exercised before and during your pregnancy)
30 secs fast
60 secs slow
Repeat 5 -6 times

Intermediate: (for sixteen weeks plus post natal and if you feel fit and exercised before and during your pregnancy)
60 secs – fast
60 secs – slow
Repeat 6 times

Advanced: (for minimum five months plus post natal and if you feel fit and exercised before and during your pregnancy)
45-60 secs flat out
30 secs – slow
Repeat 6-8 times

Considerations if you’ve just had a baby!
• You must, you must do your pelvic floor exercises – especially if you are doing higher impact activities such as running.
• Listen to your body – you experience any short, sharp pain or chest pains you must stop immediately.