Fitness From the Pro

Yesterday I was telling you about this great training I went to on Saturday called AthleKinetix.  Today, I was going to talk about some exercises with various pieces of equipment.  The training was all about, not stopping in between exercises and flow from cardio to toning, balance etc.  It was about doing multiple things usually with equipment utilizing as many pieces as possible.  Today, I am going to specifically talk about abdominal exercises.

Let’s use the Bender Ball first.  Place the smaller ball behind the low back.  Lay back on the ball and perform a basic crunch.  It requires more abdominal work because you are on an unstable surface a bit more challenging than using the big stability ball not to mention a greater range of motion.

Another exercise would be the Pilates 100s.  Place the ball between your legs and squeeze, while simultaneously lifting head neck and shoulders off the mat.  Legs are bent at either 90 degrees (easier), as shown or fully extended straight legs to about 45 degrees.  Arms and hands are by your side pumping, inhaling quickly for 5 breaths and exhaling for 5 breaths.  Working abs and inner thighs by squeezing the ball.

This abdominal exercise is fabulous! It includes a body bar.  You could use dumbbells.  Lay  supine holding body bar, shoulder width apart.  Perform a tricep extension, while performing bicycle legs.  What a challenge!

These multiple body part exercises are for more advanced fitness levels.  Tomorrow  we will talk about cardio intervals to throw in between the toning, balance, etc.  I’d love to know your thoughts on these abdominal exercises.