July Abs Challenge: Intro

I have been saying it for months and months so it is time to do something about it... I need to work my abs everyday! Seriously, it takes all of 10 minutes to really fatigue the muscles and it really is the only part of my post-pregnancy body that I am not proud of. So starting on July 1st I made a commitment to do a 10 minute ab workout everyday, and so far I have only missed July 4th (and I honestly forgot since we were running around all day!).

To help motivate me to achieve this goal I decided that I should write about it. I am not at all obsessed with fitness, but in my experience as an aerobics instructor and studying for my certification I definitely picked up some basic knowledge in the area. So as I go on this journey I thought I would take the opportunity to maybe inform you a little bit about the basics of abdominal exercises. Again, it probably won't be anything groundbreaking, but if you are interested in getting stronger tummy muscles the information could be helpful.

I want to start by stating the sad, sad truth. For most people muscle tone, especially in your stomach, depends about 10% on exercise and 90% on what you eat. I wish I could eat pasta and ice cream everyday and make up for it with crunches, but the truth is I can't. As always diet and exercise must work together to help anyone achieve their fitness goals, so on a daily basis I just try to focus on eating healthy and remember that treats are okay in moderation.

With that being said, doing ab exercises really can make a difference too! It is amazing how quickly a 10 minute routine can help you to develop tone and strength throughout your core, and how much a strong core can improve the rest of your strength training.

I am a routine oriented person, so my ab exercises stay pretty consistent from day to day. What I want to do is inform you about the 4 different muscle groups you should focus on when doing abdominal exercises, and show you a few effective ways to work these groups. I will also talk about how to strengthen your back since you should always work your back when you work your abs (in general you should always work opposing muscle groups together). I hope to include pictures, tips and the mistakes that I see people make most often when they are doing each exercise.

In the end I hope that you can build your own ab routine from the exercises that you like and that we can make our tummies tighter and stronger together :)