Womens Health

Say good-bye to the bunches-of-crunches approach and try this inventive core workout…

For years, you’ve curled, crunched and twisted, but for some reason your tummy hasn’t shrunk. Want to know why? To reveal that sexy, sculpted middle, you have to target more than the small section of abs that crunches hit, say Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler in their book The New Rules of Lifting for Abs. You need to work your entire core by encouraging it to do the job it’s meant to do: stabilise your spine.

Cosgrove and Schuler’s groundbreaking programme is based on the concept that a healthy, sculpted body is the result of your muscles working the way they were intended. Because your core’s main function is to keep you upright, each unique exercise in the programme falls into one of the three stabilisation categories below.

Progressively incorporate the moves into your regular workout and in a matter of weeks that stubborn paunch will vanish.

The key to a sculpted midsection is using smart and effective stabilising moves. But if your body fat is too high, it won’t matter how wisely you work your abs – they won’t show. That’s why you need to add those moves to a full-body strength and cardio routine that will boost your metabolism, blast fat and finally uncover those abs you’ve been working so hard to develop.

Plank With Leg Lift

Get into a modified push-up position with your weight resting on your forearms and toes, elbows directly beneath your shoulders. Your body should form a straight line from your neck to your ankles. From that position, brace your core and lift one foot off the floor. You can hold that position for the entire set – 60 to 90 seconds – and then do the second set with the other leg raised, or switch legs halfway through each set. QUICK TIP: Keep your hips steady and square to the floor during this entire move.

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