Need help with ABs!!!

AmandaDutra
AmandaDutra Posts: 38
in Fitness and Exercise
I've recently been pushing myself super hard to lose weight and have dropped around 13lbs in the last four months, and a ton of inches! I am super proud of myself, but I have one problem area that I just can't seem to tone and I think its from lack of experience and not knowing good exercises. My stomach is around 2 inches slimmer than it was four months ago, but I still find that my stomach looks flabby. My fiance tells me its just skin and that it will eventually spring back, but it's not an overnight thing. If I flex, my stomach muscles are pretty hard and you can see the outline of what looks like muscles, but I cant for the life of me get any further.

Any advice? AB workouts? I am not looking to lose weight in the area, just tone. I do the normal crunches, side crunches, bicycle, etc. with little progress.

Replies

  • corgarian
    corgarian Posts: 366 Member
    cant spot reduce. As you lose weight it will come off your body in different areas. Your tummy will look better in time.

    Do you lift at all? I'm not a fan of the work "tone", but lifting weights will help you with more muscle definition.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    Calorie deficit to lose that last bit of fat. For building abs - start doing exercises with weights - Weighted Crunches, Russian Twists w/weight, Barbell Floor Wipers, etc.
  • wilmnoca
    wilmnoca Posts: 416 Member
    LIFT!
  • MagnumBurrito
    MagnumBurrito Posts: 1,070 Member
    Squat and deadlift. Hold and squeeze the abs 100% during the lifts.

    Flexing and holding any muscle for prolonged periods works too.
  • AmandaDutra
    AmandaDutra Posts: 38
    Thanks for the tips. I do lift twice a week (and do around 100 squats a week, different variations to keep my muscles working), and do hot vinyasa twice a week and engage my core about 30 minutes out of the hour. I had to cut down on my workouts because I was losing about 1lb a week and 1inch a month and I am getting married in a month and need my wedding dress to fit. My biggest problem with lifting is I dont have a gym membership, so I can only use my 10lb weights at home. I'm going to look into the exercises Leadfoot_Lewi recommended, since I have not heard of two of them!
  • steve0820
    steve0820 Posts: 510 Member
    Squat and deadlift. Hold and squeeze the abs 100% during the lifts.

    Flexing and holding any muscle for prolonged periods works too.

    Squats and deadlifts are where it's at, while lowering your BF%. I also like isometric exercises for core like different variations of planks and L-sits.

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