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When we hear the words “ab workout”, many of us immediately envision endless crunches and good old fashioned sit-ups. While these exercises do have a time and place, there is more than one way to burn off our muffin tops to find that hidden six pack of abdominal muscles. Whether you are a novice or a physical fitness guru, with a little concentrated effort and effective core exercises we can stretch and tone those illusive interconnected muscles we all secretly long for.

Exercise Smarter: Tips For Great Looking Abs

First of all, we need to realize that not everyone is created equal. We all have those friends who are blessed with great abs without a single crunch, while others have to target and strengthen their cores over a great amount of time before any definition is seen. This leaves numerous trainers to stress that good abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. However, even though reducing body fat is a great step for great looking abs, there are a few tricks to utilize during workouts to help us get those dreamed about ripped abs:

• Focus on moving our waists, not the hips. Any twisting motion can be maximized by isolating the movement above our bottom ribs.
• Tighten your core. Imagine you are zipping a pair of pants during each exercise and strive to feel a tightening in your muscles as you move.
• Focus on proper exhaling with each breathe. Deep and slow breathing during exercise can strengthen abs and offer our lower backs valuable protection.

The Two Week Ab Challenge Workout

When the above tricks are combined with exercises that engage multiple ab muscles, we can work our way to a tighter core and stellar abs and see results in just two weeks with the following abdominal circuit exercise plan:

• Begin with a light warm up of your choice.
• Include a three minute session of cardio that includes one minute of burpees, one minute of jumping jacks, and one minute of mountain climbers. This three minute session is important to remember, because we will use these movements several times throughout the two week ab challenge workout.
• Plank. Lie back down on the floor and get into a traditional pushup position. Instead of lowering your body, bend your elbows and put your forearms onto the floor. Stiffen your body, abs braced, and hold as long as you can.
  
• Try a side plank. Lie down on your side, support your body by resting that side’s forearm onto the floor. Next, raise your hips off the floor so you create a straight line, brace your abs, and hold for as long as you can. Repeat with the other side.
• Include another three minute cardio session from above.
• Move into a boat pose. Try this traditional yoga pose to help sculpt your ab muscles. Lie down on your back and position your feet on the floor with your knees bent. Using your stomach muscles, press your belly down toward the flooring and lift up your head and upper torso as you extend your legs up. Hold this pose for a minute, focusing on your breathing. After you master the basic boat position, you can alternate twisting each arm and torso as you reach across your body for more abdominal definition.
  
• Include leg crunches. Lie on your back and place your hands behind your head. Next, cross your ankles, and extend your legs up while remaining slightly bent at the knees. Now, lift your head off the ground and reach for your knees with your hands by contracting your ab muscles to achieve this movement. Relax. Repeat for 10 times. Take a deep breath. Do two more reps.
• Prepare to do an abdominal hold. Sitting on a sturdy chair or step, place your hands on the edge of the seat. Suck in your abs and bring your feet two to 4 inches off the floor and your bottom off the chair’s seat. In the beginning, aim to lift for 5 to 10 seconds. However, as you improve your strength and stability, try to hold this position for as long as you can. Lower your body. Take a deep breath and repeat the abdominal hold two more times.
• Do another round of the three minute cardio.
• Cool down with light stretching and beginner yoga poses to increase your stamina and focus on deep breathing.

What exercises do you use to target your abs?

Have you put on a few pounds since becoming a mom? Finding it difficult to get to the gym or start any sort of exercise regimen?

It’s totally understandable: Most moms put the needs of their children first, and as a result, moms needs go on the backburner. This is especially true in the case of exercise. How are you supposed to do pilates or go for a run when you have kids in tow?

Fortunately, there is good news: You don’t have to find a sitter to get back into shape! There are plenty of ways that you can get in some good quality exercise while spending some good quality time with your kids.

Spend some time at the Playground

Instead of sitting on a bench or just standing with a watchful eye when you take your kids to the playground, get up and play!

Climb those rock walls. Slide down the slides. Swing so high you’ll almost touch the sky. That playground equipment is almost as good – if not better – for working out those muscles and can definitely help you tone up and trim your waistline. Plus, your kids will love that their mom is playing with them!

Go on a Hike

Or at least a long walk.

Walking provides an array of benefits, including weight loss and toning. Plus, it’s a great way to de-stress and spend some quality time together as a family. It will get you away from the responsibilities that may often distract your attention from your kids, and it will get your kids away

from all that technology and get them to appreciate nature.

While you’re hiking, take the time to point out trees and flowers, explore rivers and streams and just enjoy being in the great outdoors.

Get out on the Bike

The next time your child asks to ride his bike, grab yours and ride alongside him!

Biking is a great way to tone your core, legs and buttocks, and can definitely help you shed those extra pounds. And of course, your child will love that you are riding alongside him – and you’ll love it, too!

To up the fun, challenge your little one to a race, or explore new locations. You’ll have a blast together, and you’ll also enjoy reap the benefits of excellent physical exercise.

Dance it Off!

There’s nothing more freeing and fun than dancing. It’s de-stressing, it allows for creative expression, and it’s just so enjoyable.

Put on some upbeat tunes and show off your moves, and ask you kids to show off their moves. There’s bound to be lots of giggles, and sweat, too!

Get creative! Anything that exerts energy and works out the muscles is bound to get you back into shape, and your kids are bound to love spending the time with you. Plus, you’ll instill the importance of exercise in them. Talk about winning all around!

Hooping is the fitness craze that’s sweeping the country and taking hold of celebrities. Everyone seems to be grabbing a hoop after discovering that the fun twirling toy also doubles as a fantastic fitness tool.

Celebrities have discovered that twirling the hips to rotate the hoop also helps in weight loss and toning the core. Kelly Osbourne openly professed her happiness with the hoop and its role in helping her keep off her 70-pound weight loss.

What’s the hoop mania all about? And how can one simple plastic toy have so much fitness potential?

The hooping secret is actually weights—or weighted hoops. When twirling hoops for fitness, most avid hoopers use weighted hoops. The weights not only help make it easier to control the hoop, but they also provide resistance during workouts.

While twirling a simple plastic light hoop from the dollar store might be fun, it likely won’t help tone or burn serious calories. The studies that investigated hooping fitness potential all studied hoopers who utilized weighted hoops. And the results were crazy!

According to a study conducted by researchers for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), hooping with a weighted hoop burns seven calories a minute or 210 calories per half hour. Researchers also discovered that hooping also provided a great cardio workout and were pleasantly shocked by the effect hooping had on the heart rate.

John Porcari, Ph.D., one of the lead researchers for the study, stated in an ACE article announcing the results that hooping was as beneficial to the body as other forms of exercise.

“Hooping compares pretty favorably with most other group classes, in terms of heart rate and calorie burn,” he said in an ACE article about the study.

For new hoopers, there are numerous ways to introduce the hoop into a fitness routine. The simplest way, of course, is to purchase a lightly weighted hoop and learn the basics. Rotating the hoop around the waist is easy to learn, but it takes some practice. With the weighted hoop, however, the hoop will be easier to control.

Moving the hoop is all about the hips. Everyone might hoop a bit differently, so the key is to just figure out how to keep the hoop moving. Once the body has mastered the art of the hoop twirl, more difficult moves can be attempted and mastered.

Hoop aficionado Deanne Love provides great tutorials on YouTube for those who want to learn different hoop moves and even more basic hoop skills. She also provides workout tutorials for hoop fitness instruction.

For those who have perfected the art of the hoop, opt for challenging movements. Avid hoopers have mastered the rotation skills and can begin to move hoops in groups around the waist and hips. Twirling two or more hoops at once gives the body an insane workout. Hoop dance also is a popular way to add fun to hoop fitness, and it’s a skill that can impress at music festivals like Ultra and Coachella.

With the winter weather hitting hard in so many areas of the country, hooping also is a great way to stay in shape when going outside just isn’t an option. And learning the basics—and beyond—of hooping shines a bit of lighthearted joy and upbeat attitude to days that might be just a tad boring and blah.

Hooping is fun fitness that’s become the latest and greatest way to move and stay in shape. Celebrities swear by the hoop, and even Queen Bey uses the hula hoop to move the hips. So grab a hoop and enjoy the body benefits of a hooping!