Effective tummy exercises?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to lose weight. I go to the gym, I normally do about a 1hr and a half - 2 hour workout. I can see a difference in my arms and legs, and I do floor exercises focusing on my tummy, but it's a stubborn area!

Yes I am dieting as well.

Any exercises you can recommend for me? I currently do 30-45mins of cardio and then my floor work I do 100 ab crunches and 100 ab twist crunches (you know the bicycle-y one) and 2 planks. I do other floor work but these are the ones focuses on my tummy.

Thanks in advance.

Updates

+1 y

Really struggling with BA, few of you have given fantastic answers, thank you x

[xoamjk92x]

Cardio will help you lose weight, and to tone your stomach you do the ab work.

Instead of 100 straight crunches, maybe do 50. Then do 50 of your bicycle ones.

After that, try 50 russian twists (a tuck hold, moving your arms from side to side.)

20 leg lifts (right, middle, left)

Along with the planks, do 30 second V sit holds and tuck ups.

You can google whatever I said that doesn't make sense.. just make sure that in whatever you do, tighten the muscles.

I'm a college cheerleader, and our coach's goal is for us to have washboard abs. That's about 1/4 of our ab workout.

[Asker]

I do 100 ab crunchs and then 100 bicycle ones. So 200 in total. I also do 100 twists (grip palms together, sit upright, lean backwards and twist from the waist). I then do 50 leg lifts (on all fours, bring the leg backwards as far as possible towards your head). I do 2 30 second planks pulling the tummy in.

Just out of interest, what diet do cheerleaders have?

[xoamjk92x]

Our coach is about health and stuff, and she can be pretty realistic. She told us to think about what we eat as a 20/80. We're not on a specific diet, but 80% of what we eat is healthy and beneficial, and then 20% is as she puts it "instant gratification for food" (in other words, slightly unhealthy food.)

[nancyjune561]

you don’t need to spend hours in the gym. Following the right program, if you exercise around 20 minutes three times per week should be good enough. You can try Turbulence Training to eat delicious foods to lose fat and do 20-45 minutes of exercise at home 3 times per week.

[Anonymous]

I do circuits with my rowing team and we do a range of abs exercises.

Double leg shift, curls, elbow knee curls, superman, rope climbing, to name a few. I think you are on the right track - do cardio first, but you need to increase your abs exercises to a full set with 40 reps each. You'll see the tone being defined within a few weeks (if you are cutting the pounds also).

I think double leg shifts are definitely the hardest.

[Asker]

I currently do reps of 20 and do 5 sets :) Could you link/go into detail of each those? I can't rope climb to save my life haha, but I'm interested in the others?

[kambo_trick3y]

I always give this answer because it's worked for me:

link

link

Ab Ripper X

Take breaks where you need to, until you can do the whole thing with no break.

[Asker]

Those look intense! Thank you for sharing this, I'd never heard of it! On a level of 1-10 how much will this kill me? Haha! How often do you do it?

[kambo_trick3y]

15/10

TAKE.

BREAKS.

I do it twice a week, but I don't recommend it. Stick to once a week until you can handle twice a week. You MUST allow appropriate time to heal, don't try and tough anything out or something will tear.

[Asker]

No I've learnt that lesson before! Tearing muscles hurts like hell. Thank you

[kheserthorpe]

You can't target fat loss.

Are you trying to lose fat or tone your stomach? You can't tone fat away. If your stomach is more rounded then you'd like but its not fat, ... then we can talk.

[Asker]

I know you can't target fat loss sadly but I do floor exercises to build the muscles in my tummy and help me improve my cardio, just generally get fitter. It is mostly fat, I won't lie, but I do them partly to try and lose my love handles. I've never known if that's a fat thing or a toning thing.

[kheserthorpe]

Its a fat thing.

Diet 85%

Cardio 15%

If you tend to store more abdominal fat vs. lower body fat, lower glycemic foods may help, also vitamin C and better stress management. Stress hormones tend to encourage fat storage in mid section.

Mainly diet, however.

[Asker]

Ha... oh stress is a huge factor of my life! I have just increased my dieting, cut down yet more. I've lost weight before but I have a stubborn tummy.

[krisdaschwab912]

If you go to a gym, a big ball and an ab machine work pretty well.

[krisdaschwab912]

I personally prefer the big inflatable ball, since you gain more forward/backward motion.