Flatten Your Abs Forever..it just takes a few minutes a day!

Did I get your attention?  Who doesn’t want to flatten their abs forever?!? I have to apologize for the trashy magazine style title but I was hoping to grab your attention and if you are reading this I guess it worked!  The trouble with titles like this is that they do what they are meant to do (get your attention) but they rarely, if ever live up to their potential.  I am afraid this is another one of those situations.  In this article I have outlined in detail 4 yoga poses you can do to help tighten and trim your waistline, but what I didn’t tell you is that you can’t spot train any area of your body.  Meaning, if you have an cushiony layer over top of your abdominal area, no amount of strengthening will flatten it forever, that is where a healthy diet and regular exercise comes in.  All that said, strengthening your core muscles is an important component of fitness and should be included in a well balanced fitness routine. 

The core generally refers to the abdominal muscles group, but also requires gluteus medius (the side of your hips) and lumbar muscles, as well as the postural muscles of the back.   Aside from that fact that we all would love to have flatter abs, a strong core can improve your posture and stabilize your back, therefore, reducing your risk of back injuries.  The goal is to balance muscle tension and build core muscle strength to protect the back from injury and maybe even improve your posture.

A little note on goal setting when training your muscles: We should always train our muscles to improve in FUNCTION, not in looks, and since the main function of our core muscles are for stabilitization, core work should be about making deeper muscles stronger, not outer muscles harder. This is why I don’t usually recommend crunches for core work; the best exercises for your core are those that require your abs to engage in order to support and stabilize your middle.   That is why I love, love, love yoga and yoga like poses for improving core strength.  In order to do the poses properly, and protect your back, you need to engage your core…they even have a name for this, they call it ‘Uddiyana Bandha’ or ‘Core Lock’. 

Yoga asanas (poses) are known for increasing flexibility but anyone who has practiced yoga may know that it also increases strength, including core strength. As much as I love yoga for all of its multifaceted benefits, for the purposes of this article I will focus on the poses that can help you improve your core strength, and yes, flatten your abs…. 🙂  If you want to see photos of this you can easily Google any of the names or go to www.yogajournal.com and get more details. 

Do them on their own or add these poses to the end of any of your workouts:

For beginners I recommend you start with one repetition of each, holding for about 30 seconds or 5 full breaths.  When you start to get stronger you can increase the number of repetitions. 

1) Chair Pose http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/493

2) Plank Pose http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/470

3) Boat Pose http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/489

A detailed description of these poses….

1) Utkatasana (Chair Pose):
Stand with your feet together and draw the buttocks downwards. Lift your chest bone and roll your shoulders back and down. Take your arms straight out in front, palms facing each other, elbows straight. Now on an inhalation take your arms up overhead, keeping the elbows straight by pressing the outer arms in. Maintain this. Next, bend your knees to almost 90 degrees, keeping the buttocks drawing downwards. Do not arch your back but rather act as if you are going to sit in a chair. Meanwhile keep those arms lifting upwards and pressing in. On an exhalation straighten your legs and then lower your arms. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times.

It is necessary to engage abdominal muscles to prevent arching of the back. Back paraspinal muscles are also engaged to maintain an upright posture. Demand on the quadriceps muscles of the legs also builds back strength. The arms increase the use of the back muscles as well as strengthen the triceps.

2) Plank Pose:
This unofficial asana is more often a bridge to other poses. This asana more fully engages all four layers of the abdominals than any other abdominal exercise out there.

Come on to your hands and knees. Hands are forward of the shoulders and come in line with the shoulders once you are up. Feet hip width apart. Have your fingers pointing forward and arms locked straight by pressing the outer arms in. Turn your toes under, lift your knees off the floor and straighten your legs. Lift your inner thighs upwards and press back through the heels of your feet. At the same time tuck your tailbone in, keeping the buttocks in line with the spine and legs. Roll back your shoulders and look slightly forwards. Hold 30 seconds or longer and repeat 3 times.  If this pose bothers your wrists, try putting your elbows on the floor, shoulder width apart, with your hands clasped together.   If you want to kick it up a notch, try rotating your whole body (like one solid plank) so your weight rests on just one hand and one foot (the other foot can rest on the instep of the other) and then switch sides.  This is often called Side Plank Pose and the full pose can be viewed at http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/783.  Note, you probably don’t want to take your foot into your hand unless you are an experienced yogi!

3) Boat Pose:

I haven’t seen very many boats that look like this but boy can it work your core.  Sitting on your hips with your knees bent, one hand behind each knee and your feet on the floor take an inhale and lift your chest.  On the exhale bring your shoulder blades down.  On the next exhale lift your legs off the floor.  Some of you will need to keep your hands under your knees until you have enough strength to let go, others will be able to remove their hands right away.  If you are among the few with really strong hip flexors and abs you will also be able to straighten your legs.  Hold it here for about 30 seconds, and repeat three times.  Don’t forget to breathe and remember to keep your chest elevated and to rest your weight on your ‘sit bones’ and not on  your sacrum.

Once you have finished this practice rest quietly on your back for a few minutes.   Perhaps taking time to hug your knees into your chest.  Because this is a practice targeting core muscle groups it is important to execute the asana correctly and fully engage, do not let your back slouch. This may not happen right away due to weakness of certain muscles, however it is important to know if you are doing the practice correctly or not and to progress towards proper execution. Only with effort will the correct action come. These asanas are difficult so feel good about your effort.

Christine Sachse