ACHIEVING the perfect hourglass figure is something of a battle.
A tight tummy, big booty and slender legs are hard work – but how often do you consider training the waist?
Victoria Bryant (@bodybyvicky), the founder of new female-only fitness Sculpt and Sweat Studio, London, sees plenty of women hoping to trim down their waist.
But the personal trainer and nutrition professional says bulking up your ab muscles is the wrong way to go about it.
She tells Sun Health: “Creating the appearance of a defined waist comes from sculpting the core muscles, being mindful not to over-train the abs, whilst building the glute muscles including the glute medius; which gives the appearance of an hourglass figure.
“Training your abdominal muscles with weighted exercises will make them grow, just like any other muscle group, and if this isn’t combined with weight loss this can make them appear bulkier.
“The key to seeing the best results would include learning how to engage your core muscles which will help you have improved posture, a stronger core, and a flatter stomach.
“This approach to abs, partnered with correct nutrition (a high protein diet) and a healthy balanced lifestyle will create the best results.
“My workout will lift and build your glute muscles while creating the appearance of a smaller, more toned waist.”
Here, Victoria gives her best exercises.
Perform 45 seconds of work on each exercise and take 20 seconds rest before moving on to the next.
Each round is six minutes. Complete two (12 minutes) or three laps in total (18 minutes).
Vicky says: “This exercise is a great one to work the waist and entire core, it will teach you how to engage your core correctly when done with the correct breathing technique.”
Start lying on right side with your right forearm on the ground, forming a straight line from head to heels, with feet, knees, and hips stacked.
Make sure your right elbow is directly under shoulder.
Drive your forearm into floor and lift your hips up off the floor (refer to image below).
If this is too hard you can modify by bending one knee.
From here, inhale and wrap your arm around the waist, as you exhale lift the arm up and pull your core muscles in tightly engaging your abdominal muscles.
Keep the exercise slow to maintain control.
Repeat for 45 seconds and then switch sides (two minutes total).
Vicky says: “Toe touches work the core, mainly targeting the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, and obliques. Toe touches help to improve core strength and build ab definition.”
Start by lying on your back, with your knees bent and your feet flat.
Keeping your arms out by your sides, engage your abs and lift your head and neck off the ground.
Try and keep the lower back pressed into the mat and squeeze your abs as you reach your right hand to tap your right heel — it doesn’t matter if you can’t reach your heel, get as far as you can, feeling the obliques along the right-hand side of your body work.
Return to your starting position and repeat on the opposite side.
Keep switching sides, keeping your abs braced throughout the exercise (one minute total).
Start lying on your right side, making sure you are forming a straight line from head to heels with feet, knees and hips stacked.
Next, bend the knees so the feet are behind you, keeping the knees stacked.
Engage your core tightly and lift up the hips from the floor. Once up, open the legs by raising the outside leg as high as you can.
Hold for a split second, then lower the knee down and drop the to the ground.
Exhale as you lift the hips and knee, drawing your core muscles in.
Repeat for 45 seconds then change legs (two minutes total).
To make this exericse harder you can add a resistance band around the knees.
Vicky says: “Hip thrusts, although technically a glute exercise, are a powerful tool in creating the appearance of a smaller waist. With bigger and more lifted glutes your waist will appear narrower.”
Start lying on your back. Engage your core, tuck your pelvis under, and squeeze your glutes.
Exhale as your drive through your heels to push your hips up until they are in the air.
Hold for a second then inhale as you slowly lower your spine down to the ground.
To make this more challenging, never allow your glutes to fully touch the floor as the lactic acid will build in your glutes, making it harder.
Once you get comfortable add a resistance band to make it more advanced (one minute total).
By Personal Trainer Jenny Francis-Townson
It’s one of the most common exercises you see people doing every day in the gym but could be negatively impacting your health.
Jack Claxton, Expert Personal for Trainer David Lloyd Clubs says the sit-up does “absolutely nothing for your abs whatsoever”, while also being an injury hazard.
Many fitness professionals admit they tell others to leave out of their workout routines in order to avoid causing injury.
If performed incorrectly, actually causes the body to strain in all the wrong places, leaving long-lasting muscle damage and injury.
“The sit-up is one of the most common exercises associated with having visible abs,” says Jack.
“However, people do not realise that at the wrong speed or performed with the wrong form, it can actually have a negative impact on the neck and lower back and does absolutely nothing for your abs whatsoever.”
Performing sit-ups fast is the most common mistake Jack sees.
“Not only does this make them a lot less effective as you are not challenging your core muscles, it also encourages you to lose form and have poor posture” he warns.
Poor posture during a sit-up could put pressure on the wrong places, and may also reinforce bad posture habits day-to-day.
Jack says: “Many people round their backs, yank their necks and allow their lower back to arch off the floor, all of which result in the use of back and neck muscles rather than the core.
“The problem with poor posture is that it puts unwanted strain on the back and neck which can overstretch or even tear these muscles which can be very painful.
“Poor posture when performing exercise can also cause reduced circulation and breathing issues, both of which can seriously impact a person’s overall health and wellbeing.”
That’s not where the health issues end – straining the wrong muscles when exercising can also lead to long-term chronic pain, it’s claimed.
Jack says: “A small strain of a muscle isn’t going to suddenly cause you life-long pain, but consistent misuse of back and neck muscles can be serious.
“Muscle tears or spasms can lead to scarring on the muscles, which can cause further back stiffness, tightness and pain that can last a long time if not taken care of.
“All muscle damage wants to be avoided for optimum health.”
It might be worth re-thinking whether you want to eliminate sit-ups from your workouts and try some better core muscle exercises.
