A very happy new year to all you beautiful people out there... and thank you all so much for the loving birthday wishes , I had an amazingly colorful birthday weekend.
I hope you all had an amazing new year's eve ...you know i couldn't help but notice how Christmas and new year parties are sessions of sporting abs ... its almost like a competition " whose abs are flatter ? yours or mine ( i am talking of those stolen glances at each others tummies ) poor tummies...
Anyways I am gonna treat you all to a tip on how to work on flattening your abs ... especially useful to voracious drivers like me , we waste so much time driving but one can put it to real good use by doing these exercises without getting distracted...
this is a unique trick... it's basically a simple exercise that you can do anytime, anywhere to help get a flat stomach over time.
Mind you, this exercise does NOT increase fat burning, but it CAN help to flatten your stomach by strengthening your deeper transversus abdominis muscles and hence "pulling in" a lazy stomach (aka beer belly or "pooch belly").
It involves doing an exercise called "ab vacuums".
I find it a good time to get in the habit of doing daily ab vacuums while driving on your daily commute or another time that would get you in the habit of doing them regularly.
(please make sure this doesn't distract you from driving safely... I find that it doesn't distract me at all...it's certainly much safer than driving while on the cell phone! a big wink here)
Of course, ab vacuums can be done anywhere and don't have to be just for driving, but I've found that it helps me to remember to do them if I do them at a specific time when driving regularly.... this could be while driving home from the yoga class every time, or perhaps during your daily commute to work.
Ab vacuums are simple:
You can do ab vacuums pretty much anywhere, at any time.
You can do them standing, seated (such as in a car), kneeling in a four-point position, or even lying flat on the floor.
The movement is as simple as pulling your belly button in as far as you can by imagining you're trying to touch your belly button to your spine and holding for 10-20 seconds at a time.
Start by inhaling deeply. Then, as you exhale, start pulling the belly button in towards the spine and hold it there for 10-20 seconds while just taking short breaths. Repeat for several holds.
Get in the habit of doing this at least 4-5 days per week while driving somewhere and you may find that this helps to flatten your stomach more by strengthening the transversus abdominis muscle (the deep abdominal muscles beneath the rectus abdominis) if you previously had a "lazy belly".
Like I said, this exercise doesn't increase fat burning... it only helps to flatten a round stomach that has lazy deep ab muscles.
If you want a true "six pack abs" appearance, you obviously still need to burn off the body fat that covers your abs (also refer to my earlier blog post on abs)... and that calls for a fully encompassing yoga plus workout program (not just ab exercises), a strategic nutrition program, and the right mindset for success.
So long people ...till my next post ...
Don't be lazy , Be lean ....
And once again, have yourselves a great new year...
Luvs,
Bosky
