building muscle and toning up your abdomen

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rocknlotsofrolls
rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I still have a bit to lose on my stomach area, but I've heard that in order to tighten your stomach and not have that "loose skin" look after weight loss, I need to do strength training. What would be the best way to strength train your stomach? Pilates?

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  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    deadlifts and squats? I have a wii game with squats and other things on it. Time to get busy.
    Thanks a bunch!
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
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    I personally favour a heavy lifting program, where you use a barbell and weights for your exercises: low number of reps with heavy weight. Some good programs are Starting Strength or Stronglifts - maybe look into this. They use compound exercises that work your entire body, including abs.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    rocknlotsofrolls wrote: »
    deadlifts and squats? I have a wii game with squats and other things on it. Time to get busy.
    Thanks a bunch!

    Not bodyweight squats. Squats with weight added.
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    stevencloser wrote: »
    rocknlotsofrolls wrote: »
    deadlifts and squats? I have a wii game with squats and other things on it. Time to get busy.
    Thanks a bunch!

    Not bodyweight squats. Squats with weight added.

    oh ok. I see. I only have one 15lb dumbbell so I need to buy a whole weight lifting set. Thanks for the advice. I just didn't know they would help with your abs.
  • Ocrgrrrl
    Ocrgrrrl Posts: 189 Member
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    Squats in the squat rack will give you tighter abs! Do you belong to a gym?
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Oh, I’m not sure I’d recommend you buy a weight lifting set. You’d need hundreds of pounds of weights, a squat rack, a barbell - that gets expensive.

    If you’re not using the gym for strength training, I’m not sure what exercises I could suggest. Maybe check out the bodybuilding exercise database here for ab exercises with minimum equipment. But lifting heavy is awesome!

    Edit: The spell caster is a neat ab exercise requiring dumbells, but I haven’t tried it yet.
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    pennystaplessnyder wrote: »
    Squats in the squat rack will give you tighter abs! Do you belong to a gym?
    no. I wish I did. There's a Gold's gym within walking distance of me. I'm seriously thinking about it, though.
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    Emilia777 wrote: »
    Oh, I’m not sure I’d recommend you buy a weight lifting set. You’d need hundreds of pounds of weights, a squat rack, a barbell - that gets expensive.

    If you’re not using the gym for strength training, I’m not sure what exercises I could suggest. Maybe check out the bodybuilding exercise database here for ab exercises with minimum equipment. But lifting heavy is awesome!

    Edit: The spell caster is a neat ab exercise requiring dumbells, but I haven’t tried it yet.
    thank-you. I will do that.
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    rocknlotsofrolls wrote: »
    pennystaplessnyder wrote: »
    Squats in the squat rack will give you tighter abs! Do you belong to a gym?
    no. I wish I did. There's a Gold's gym within walking distance of me. I'm seriously thinking about it, though.

    Stop thinking about it and join the gym. You will be able to do the heavy lifting you need.

    ok. Thanks. I went there as a guest with my daughter last year, and I was so impressed with all the equipment they had. I don't know what I'm waiting on.
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
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    If you’re considering the gym, I’d totally recommend you look into a heavy lifting program :smile:. The results people get with strength training are really awesome (see this thread, for example). Follow a good program, make sure you maintain good form, and you’re off to the races!
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited April 2015
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    rocknlotsofrolls wrote: »
    I still have a bit to lose on my stomach area, but I've heard that in order to tighten your stomach and not have that "loose skin" look after weight loss, I need to do strength training. What would be the best way to strength train your stomach? Pilates?

    I'm 36 yrs old and have three kid. My stomach is pretty decent (my profile picture is a couple weeks old), and for me-first I had to get my weight down to the low end of a healthy bmi (19.4 now) and my bf% lower (around 22% now). I also do strength training with body-weight exercises, which makes a noticeable difference, but I actually only spend a few minutes a week on it. Over the winter months I did nothing, and in the spring I started doing a (free) 100 push-ups challenge and then a 200 squats challenge. I'm currently doing my second rotation with the push-ups, and my first round with the squats. It's 3 times a week, for just a few minutes (less than 30 minutes a time right now, for both). I like keeping things simple and it's working pretty well for me :)
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    rocknlotsofrolls wrote: »
    I still have a bit to lose on my stomach area, but I've heard that in order to tighten your stomach and not have that "loose skin" look after weight loss, I need to do strength training. What would be the best way to strength train your stomach? Pilates?

    I'm 36 yrs old and have three kid. My stomach is pretty decent (my profile picture is a couple weeks old), and for me-first I had to get my weight down to the low end of a healthy bmi (19.4 now) and my bf% lower (around 22% now). I also do strength training with body-weight exercises, which makes a noticeable difference, but I actually only spend a few minutes a week on it. Over the winter months I did nothing, and in the spring I started doing a (free) 100 push-ups challenge and then a 200 squats challenge. I'm currently doing my second rotation with the push-ups, and my first round with the squats. It's 3 times a week, for just a few minutes (less than 30 minutes a time right now, for both). I like keeping things simple and it's working pretty well for me :)
    yes, I can see from your pic that it is definitely working for you. I've had two kids, and now you have motivated me even more to get to work on my toning. Thanks. And thanks to everyone else who has posted a reply to my question.
  • Fast_Track
    Fast_Track Posts: 33 Member
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    I use an incline bench (and then a ball) and do crunches w/ a 15 lb medicine ball. I also do side bends and crunches on an incline with a 25 lb weight. Seems to work for me

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