I'm not sure where to put this but I need to strengthen my abs. It's funny, I am not overweight in the least and I think I eat pretty well, although my sister would tell you otherwise. I don't know if we can mention weight here or not but I only weigh xxxxx. and I am 4'6" tall. If that's a problem you can PM me to find out what I wrote. I don't have anywhere close to the stomach my sister has but she over eats. I don't. She has a weight problem. I don't.

I have tried to do crunches and they hurt my back and neck. I bought a video from Tony Little and the first day I did it, oh my Lord, I could feel it in my abs and my stomach. I did it the next day and I felt nothing. I did it for a week I think and I didn't feel anything like I did the first day. My VCR is not working right now anyway so I can't use that video. I stopped doing them. Should I have stopped?

Anybody know anything I can do besides crunches and please explain, really explain, so I know what you are talking about. Sit ups don't work either and I have trouble doing them. My dance teacher says my abs are fine but I know they aren't. I want a flatter stomach. Oh yeah, I'm 57 if that makes a difference.

Well, it might be your lower abs. Try doing shotguns - they are things where your body is just of the floor and your legs are bent and off the floor, you keep that position with your legs and lift your legs toward your head and your body towards your legs at the same time.
You could also do another thing. It's the same thing but with straight legs, you have something light and soft to hold and you put that between your legs and hold it. You go back to the ground and when you lift again, you grab the thing and stretch out on the ground.
Also- lay on the ground with your legs together in the air and touch your toes over and over again.
Tell me if I didn't describe one well enough.

Pilates!!!!! If you do it with an instructor, they can make sure that you don't get any pain in your neck, back or joints.

Squats, lunges, deadlifts, weighted situps, hanging leg raises, push ups

No ab exercise will give you a flatter stomach though, just as a heads up.

I can tell you a few of the things you were doing wrong, you weren't using your transverse, this is the muscle that goes all round the lower abdomen and your lower back. You would have been popping your ribs and therefore releasing the obliques and the transverse, this means the Lumbar spine is put at risk. It's something dancers do a lot in ab exercises.

The problem with sit ups probably has nothing to do with your abs and everything to do with lower spinal articulation.

If you really want flat abs then contemp_is_rad is right, get thee to a Pilates instructor.

Do 100 sit ups or crunches everyday and stretch after doing them.

Dancer 395, I think I get what you are saying. Is it kind of like the bicycle? I'm going to try it.

I am not working right now so any Pilates workouts w/a trainer are out. Unless one of you guys wants to come to my house? LOL

Thanks for the help guys. If anyone else wants to comment, go ahead. I'll listen to anyone.

DANCEOLIVIA1999 wrote:

Do 100 sit ups or crunches everyday and stretch after doing them.

No amount of situps or crunches or stretching is going to give someone a flatter stomach, sorry, that's just not a reality.

Do 100 sit ups or crunches everyday and stretch after doing them.

Crunches are actually one of the WORST exercises. Good trainers don't use them in their workouts because of the high percentage of people that do them incorrectly and use other muscles (like your neck) to compensate for your weak abs. You don't want to just strengthen your abs, its about your entire core that supports your body. Here are some exercises...to be honest some are better than others and I'd be more than happy to tell you what I recommend from a personal trainer's perspective:

www.sparkpeople.com . . .

If you want a flatter stomach that isn't about strengthening your abs, that is all about cardio and losing the fat covering your muscles. We all carry weight differently and that could be a stubborn spot for you.

For actual ab strength , I recommend the "Plank". I saw a HUGE improvement in my stomach muscles after doing these. I also do them on one of those huge balls at the gym. The second photo is the one that I do these days.

img4.cookinglight.com . . .

static.howstuffworks.com . . .


I'm not sure how "good" these are for you, so maybe Renae, the personal trainer, can weigh in?

Crunches are basically useless since they only target the upper abs and that alone won't give you a flatter stomach. And Jazzy is right, planks are among the better ab exercises and there are a lot of variations to target different muscles. I have the P90X set and he has people roll from superman to banana (in the links provided by imadanseur) without using their arms or legs, all core and it's a challenge.

I actually don't do tons for my abs and they are pretty solid. Right now I have a bit more fat over my abs than I would like, but they are still pretty solid underneath that. (cardio time!). I'm under the impression that your abs get worked with other exercises and in daily life. I even feel them after I run if I haven't run in a long time. Too much strengthening will make them bigger which leads to bigger waist line.

Btw, OP, are you wanting more strength or better endurance?

Planks and high repetition exercises (bicycles, situps, etc.) build great ab endurance but not a whole lotta ab strength.

If you actually want more strength in that area (your "core" if you will), you'll need to add resistance to these exercises and lower the repetitions.

Flatter stomachs are attained through losing fat. I'll admit, however, that I saw your weight before it got edited and I definitely wouldn't lose a lb from where you're at. Eat more and do resistance exercises to increase definition in that area.

You know, it's funny. There were times when I would be at dance in my leotard and my stomach would be flat. Then there are times when I have what some people would refer to as a baby bump, especially after I eat. At competition, and I don't know why, I have to pee a lot. Then my stomach gets flat. I got weighed today at the doctors and I weigh the same as I said if you saw it. So I haven't gained any weight. I'm guessing I do tend to put on something and it's in my stomach.

I have a Wii. I play the dance game and after 15 or 20 min. my shirt is wet, my hair is dripping and I am huffing and puffing (I have exercise induced asthma). Everyday we play 100 Pin Bowling, at least 3 games, sometimes 4. It's helping the pain in my mom's shoulder. I bowl like I would bowl in a regular alley if the balls weren't so heavy. I also play Frisbee Dog. I have a huge garden so I am out there. I have a hula hoop and jump rope which I use. There are times when I just put on music and dance. We have a channel on our TV that just plays music. So it's not like I don't exercise. I just want a flatter stomach. I can use the hula hoop and do it for quite a while. Will that help me? It's not a heavy hula hoop like they use at the gyms but it's not a really light one because I can't seem to use those.

I will click on the links you guys sent and see what I can do. I think I look good for a 57 year old except for my abs or stomach. Thanks for all the help. Keep it up for me. You guys are the best!

Interval training is really effective for helping to reduce fat in problem areas. The exercise you are doing is probably not aerobic enough and not getting your heart rate up enough to lose the stubborn areas.

We all carry fat differently and usually the place we hate the most has the largest reserve that just won't move. You may not be genetically conditioned to have natural washboard abs...its okay. It's all about being healthy, and at 57 you sound like a rockstar!! Keep it up.

imadanseur wrote:

Interval training is really effective for helping to reduce fat in problem areas. The exercise you are doing is probably not aerobic enough and not getting your heart rate up enough to lose the stubborn areas.

We all carry fat differently and usually the place we hate the most has the largest reserve that just won't move. You may not be genetically conditioned to have natural washboard abs...its okay. It's all about being healthy, and at 57 you sound like a rockstar!! Keep it up.

^ Agreed! Wii is really fun and a nice way to contribute to your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis), but it usually doesn't raise your heartrate enough for a sustained enough time to really be considered cardio.

Interval training, HIIT, and Tabata training are all great options. HIIT only takes about 15 minutes and Tabata training takes 4 minutes, but they will make you sweat and then some!

Crunches are TERRIBLE. When I danced, our workout included too many crunches IMO, and it gave us all freakish-looking upper abs. We all had flat stomachs except for a gigantic bulge right up under our rib cages. So trust me - crunches make your stomach BIGGER, not smaller.

And if build muscle under a layer of fat...the layer of fat is still there!

Here is something my personal trainer told me.

I wanted washboard abs and I asked him how much fat I would actually have to lose. He said for me to get the look I am looking for, I would need to be between 14-16% body fat. I was 22% when I asked him. I think people don't realize HOW much fat you(general) would have to lose in order to get great looking abs.

I know you aren't looking for the abs that I was looking for, but I think a lot of the general public think that they can get abs with just ab workouts.

8packabs.com . . .

This was the muscle mass I was aiming for. Over time, I realized that I want more girlie looking abs, and he said those are actually attainable for my body type.

This is now the look I am going for. He said I would need to be between 17-21% bodyfat for something like this.

www.realbeauty.com . . .


I usually jog up stairs and my abs always seem to hurt the day after. Renae, is there a reason why my abs hurt more then my legs jogging up stairs?

plank is perfect for full central core training! go into push up position and the place yours elbows on the floor hands one on another. hold this position as long as you can

have you been going to a gym? or have you purchased any of those ab equipment on TV? i found kettlebells great in strengthening abs. perhaps you could try that.

I can't afford a gym. I haven't been working much. I've seen those ab machines on TV and on HSN and QVC. A lot of them look like they are for people taller than I am, like those I've seen where you are sitting but kind of laying down & rocking. My head wouldn't go all the way up to the top. One of the curses of being really short. I'd like to get the machine that Susan Lucci uses and I've seen on HSN. I think that would work. Now all I have to do is find some money for one.

As for the ball, I've never tried one before. I have a DVD called Yoga, Booty, Ballet but a lot of it was kind of boring, like finding my inner person, breathing & namestaing ( I can't spell it) all over the place. I'm a Christian so I don't believe in all that Buddhist stuff. It looked cool on TV. It wasn't so cool once I got it. Maybe I should try it again.

^^I don't get it. People gave you a lot of great links for ab exercises that you can do at home, for free, and will be better than the machine you are looking to buy and you are still searching for answers and gizmos that will somehow give you the abs of your dreams. There are a zillion 20 minute core programs that you can find on youtube, or even online that you could do at home easily. The problem is that you have to actually be inspired to do them on your own and be accountable to yourself for doing them 3 times a week (which would give you the best results.)

Also...there is no religion in yoga. It's teachings have nothing to do with Buddhism. Yoga has no deity to worship, no rituals, no statements or creeds of religious beliefs, no requirements for confessions of faith, nobody is leading a service etc. I'm Christian and so are a ton of my friends. The lady next to me in yoga tonight was Jewish. I think you have some misguided beliefs and preconceived ideas of the practice of yoga.

I'm going to try what was sent to me. I didn't say I was buying a machine, not unless I make a lot of money in the next few months which doesn't look like it is going to happen.

As for the yoga, I know there is no religion involved, it just seemed like that's what they were getting at in this DVD. It looked like a lot of fun on the infomercial but there wasn't a lot of booty or ballet in it. I just can't get into yoga and the last time I did it, at dance camp, I was sore for a long time and couldn't do a lot of the things she wanted us to do because of my size, I think. I don't know for sure but I was having a lot of trouble doing things and everyone else seemed to be doing it okay. Maybe it was just me.

Didn't mean to offend anyone or imply I wouldn't try what people told me. Some people mentioned joining a gym and I'm not even sure I can afford dance this year. I hate this economy!!!!

I'm going to try what was sent to me.

I guess that is good, but you asked this question over a month ago and haven't tried anything.

I also think you just had a bad yoga instructor...I've volunteered at the Cancer Treatment Center in Phoenix and seen people of all shapes, sizes, and different states of health do yoga. I'm not saying it is for everyone, but I don't want other people to get dissuaded from trying it by your skewed remarks to envelope all yoga classes and styles.

Watch and do the new york city ballet workout
heres a link

h ttp://www.putlocker.com/file/370C8EE5B7080D89

Hope this helps

Tightanic