12 Minute Workout to Tone Belly Muscles
12 Minute Workout to Tone Belly Muscles
There is a way to finely tone belly muscles without spending hours in the gym and taking carbs out of the diet completely. Our modern lives has reduced the work your belly muscles do – we can find ways of using simple exercises to get more movement into the muscles in that area (the core – so called) using our bodyweight.
CrossFit coach Erica Giovinazzo put together a quick workout to challenge your entire core – a flash way of saying Tone Belly Muscles (called abdominals) . If you have 12 minutes spare you can make big strides to tone belly muscles and get the body you desire. It is helpful always to combine this type of tone belly muscle exercise with proper nutrition (including drinking lots of water) and some form of heart exercise (like brisk walking).
There are 6 exercises. Do each one for 30 seconds with as many repetitions as you can manage. For the 2 plank exercises, just hold the plank for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times with a 30 seconds rest between each. I lied – it is an 11 minute exercise because you have a minutes rest.
The exercises – do them in this order:
- V Ups
- Seated (Russian) Twists
- Flutter Kicks
- Bicycle Kicks
- Plank
- Side Plank
This is how you do each of these
1. V-Ups
Targets: upper belly muscles
Lie on your back with legs and arms extended. Keep your knees and elbows locked, and raise upper body and lower body at the same time. Basically you want to try to touch your toes.
2. Seated Twist (sometimes called Russian Twist)
Targets: side belly muscles (called obliques)
Sit on the ground with your knees bent and your heels about a foot and a half (20 cms) from your bottom. Lean slightly back trying to keep your spine straight. Place your hands behind your head with elbows wide. You may find it easier to have your arms splayed wide. Pull your belly button to your spine (ie contract your belly muscles), and twist slowly to the right. The movement is quite small and comes from the ribs turning. Breathe through your center and turn to the left.
3. Flutter Kicks
Targets: Lower belly muscles
Just lie flat on the floor. At the start place your hands against the torso. If you would like to be more advanced, lay hands wider apart with a gap to the floor. If you need more support place your hands under your bottom. Then, lift your legs up, parallel to the floor. Alternating left-right-left-right start kicking gently – like you are swimming backstroke.
4. Bicycle Kicks
Targets: side and lower belly muscles
Just lie flat on the floor with hands behind your head. You may find it easier to cross your arms across your chest. Lift your feet up, pointing to the ceiling. Then act as if you are cycling – ie . pull right knee in toward chest while twisting left shoulder toward right knee. Return to starting position and repeat with left knee and right shoulder.
5. Plank
Targets: upper and lower belly muscles and bottom muscles (called glutes)
Start by lying face down, flat on the ground with back straight. Raise your body so knees are off the ground and keep a straight line from head to toe (ie. a rigid abdomen). Try to keep the body parallel to the ground. Hold and then lower gently to ground after the 30 seconds. Keep breathing while you do this.
6. Side Plank
Targets: side belly muscles (called obliques)
Lie on your side with lower arm bent at the elbow and arm facing square away from your body. Place lower elbow beneath shoulder and place upper hand on hip. Align ankles, hips, shoulders, and head. Push body toward the ceiling, balancing on the edge of your bottom shoe with one foot directly over the other.
Here’s to getting your body moving and success as you tone belly muscles
Original article and lady on red mat images from Greatist
Seated Twist image from Popsugar.Com
