Tag exercises

In fitness circles, you often hear about toned abs and 6-packs for guys that sometimes you might forget that the best ab workouts for women can be very beneficial as well.

Toned abs can go a long way in making women look attractive and feel strong and fit; it helps build confidence during “bikini season.”

In addition, abs workouts can help improve core muscles that can make daily challenges much less troublesome.

Doing ab exercises should be included in a complete body workout and not just working the ab muscles only.

Top Three Best Ab Workouts for Women:

• Standing Side Crunch. Start by standing with your hands on your hips and your feet about 3½ feet apart, with your toes slightly turned outward. Now bend your knees over your toes, while you lower your hips directly under your shoulders. Then when you straighten yourself back up, lift your right knee slowly towards your right shoulder. When you start lowering your knees again, slowly return your right foot back to the floor. You should make sure that your movements are controlled and deliberate. This will work your obliques as you go up and down. You don’t need a lot of reps for this. Just do ten reps on one side and another ten for the other side.
• Stability-Ball Plank Leg Lift. As the name of the exercise suggests, you’ll need a stability ball to get started. Get into a pushup position, except that your hands are on the stability ball directly under your shoulders. You may want your feet planted wider for more stability. Now contract your abs to bring your body into a straight line. You can keep this position stable, lift one leg off the ground, and keep it there for ten seconds. Now do this for the other leg. Do three sets when you hold for ten seconds, then level up to 30 seconds. Keeping your body in this position stresses all of your core muscles, and forces your abs to stay contracted the whole time. If you want a flatter tummy, this is really an excellent exercise technique to use.
• Reverse Press Up. This workout will focus on the lower part of your abs without having to use any sort of equipment. Start by lying flat on your back with your palms pressed to the floor. Now lift your legs straight up in the air over your hips, with your knees bent and your feet flexed. Then push upward using both feet at the same time, with your hips off the floor, while you press your heels toward the ceiling. One set consists of 15 reps, and you should do three sets.

Now the thing you need to remember is that not even the best ab workouts for women can give you a flat tummy if you live an unhealthy lifestyle and fail to take in the right nutrients. Not moving around enough will also hinder you from seeing any results because sitting in one position tightens your muscles and this can make it more difficult for you to contract your abs when you exercise.

You can also see http://myfitnessnut.com/5-tips-to-get-six-pack-ab-results for some good tips on the best ab workouts for women and men alike.

Don’t have a gym membership?

That’s okay, because you can learn how to use your own body weight for strength training. Your own amazing body is the best strength training piece of equipment you will ever own.

But before you get started, run in place, do some jumping jacks or hit the stairs for 5 minutes to get warmed up. The simple body weight exercises below allow you to target multiple muscle groups at one time. This puts your whole body to work improving lean muscle mass, which in turn cranks up your metabolism and burns fat.

Strength Training with the Basic Crunch

Used primarily to strengthen your abs, crunches also help elevate your heart rate. Done correctly, your obliques and rectus abdominis also benefit. Lying on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent, leave at least one foot of distance between your heels and your rear end. With your elbows to the side, interlace your hands behind your head and keep your neck straight.

Simply move your chest and shoulders up, trying not to yank with your head and shoulders. Hold at the top, slowly return to your starting position and repeat. Crunches are a core-strengthening form of exercise that improves overall athletic performance, and can even help correct bad balance and posture.

Strength Training with the Bird Dog

This simple exercise uses your own body weight for strength training by working your back, hip muscles, glutes and abdominals. With your hands directly aligned under your shoulders and your palms flat on the floor, assume a position on your hands and knees. Keep your back straight and your knees in line with your hips. Simultaneously reach out with your right forearm and left leg until they are parallel to the floor. Hold for a moment, return to the starting position, then switch sides.

Strength Training with the Classic Push-Up

Strengthening your chest, shoulders triceps and even your core, the traditional push-up has been around seemingly forever because it works so well. Place your hands palm down on a mat or rug, slightly wider than your shoulders and aligned with your chest. Your legs should be close together and straight behind you, then simply push up slowly. Slowly return to the starting position and begin again. Keeping your back stiff is very important, as this helps prevent lower back pain.

Strength Training with the Squat

This exercise uses your body weight to strengthen your quads, lower back and glutes. You simply stand with your feet a little wider than your hips with your hands at your sides. Looking straight forward, bend your knees slowly and squat down. Your weight should shift to the back of your heels, and remember to keep your spine stiff and straight and your abs contracted. Return to the starting position slowly, and repeat. Try to keep your weight on your heels to prevent pain in your knees, and to target the appropriate muscles correctly.

Your body is a value adding piece of equipment when it comes to strength training so get up and get going with what you have to start working out right now. You can get more of these helpful tips by browsing the different sections of the My Fitness Nut website at http://MyFitnessNut.com and when you subscribe to our newsletter. Now get moving and start using your own body for strength training today.

Now, let’s talk about different kinds of fat burning yoga workouts. The great thing about these workouts is they are more fun than work. If ever “fun-out” gets to be accepted as a word that’s descriptive of truly engaging physical activities done in pursuit of fitness, yoga is going to be its synonym!

Aside from the four basic yoga poses mentioned earlier, here are some other beginner’s poses that you can study and perform. Again, remember that these poses can be found in the sample yoga workouts that are found in the more than 70 videos which serve as complementary audiovisual tools to this yoga guide.

When Yoga Workouts Equal Fun

Urdhva Hastansana or the “Raised Arms Pose”

This is your basic morning stretch! Focus on good alignment. Inhale, and bring your arms up and right over your head. You can look directly at your hands, a shoulders’ width apart, or with palms touching. Great for getting you in the proper frame of mind!

Uttanasana or the “Standing Forward Bend”

Fold over your legs into a forward bend, and don’t forget to exhale. Your hamstrings will feel a little tightness at first, but you can bend your knees to help your spine. Let loose and let your head hang heavy. Straighten your legs very slowly but don’t forget to keep your head hanging. Feet position can be hip width apart. This pose is ideal for letting negative energy flow out of you.

Malasana or the “Garland Pose”

Time to move your feet off the edges of the mat and start bending your knees coming straight up to a squat. Toes may balance you but if your heels do not reach the floor, you can always use a rolled up blanket for balance. This pose can be quite natural for kids to assume, but may be challenging for adults. This is great exercise for your hips and counteracts the effects of sitting on your butt all day long.

Seated Forward Bend

During exhalation, carry your torso over your legs in a forward bend. You should feel some tingling sensation in your hamstrings, but it should also feel warmer right after doing the standing forward bend earlier. Be at rhythm with your breath and feel the length of your spine on each inhalation. Then deepen your forward thrust fold on each exhalation. Stay for five breaths again and keep your feet flexed. This has the effect of relaxing your torso as well as your legs, and freeing your mind from clutter.

Head to Knee Pose

Sit and bend your left leg, having the sole of your left foot inside your right thighs. Use the same techniques from the Seated Forward Bend. After five breaths, sit and switch legs. This underscores the effects you derive from the Seated Forward Bend pose.

Happy Baby Pose

Lie on your back and hug your knees right into your chest, imitating a very happy baby. This position should be familiar to anyone who has kids. Separate your knees and have each ankle straight over its respective knee, your shins should be perpendicular to the floor. Flex feet and hold on to them outside as you draw your knees downward. Roll from side to side from your sacrum and see if it feels good, but please, resist the urge to put your toes in your mouth (not that a few have attempted to do so, but the “happy baby” feeling that arose was just too good to pass up). After five breaths, stretch your legs and you’re good with your sample yoga workouts.

In the last article of this Hatha Yoga Guide titled “Why You Need to Do Yoga Exercises” we showed you where to get the demonstration videos that goes with this guide. As you start to learn these yoga exercises you can begin to put together your own set of your favorite yoga workout routines. Next, we’ll take a look at signing up for a “Beginners Yoga Class” and some of the positives and negatives in doing so.