It may be winter, but some of you may already be thinking about getting ready for your summer-bod (hey, it’ll be summer before you know it!). And it’s true, if you want a fit body for the warmer months, then the training for it needs to start pretty soon.
When we think of what being in physically, great shape means, normally more muscle definition and less body fat comes to mind. And ultimately, a shredded 6-pack.
Before we get into what exercises you should be doing for a trimmer waist, I first want to mention that nutrition needs to play a substantial role. If it is not dialed in, no amount of the perfect core exercises will give you the results that you want. You might get stronger–which is great–but complementing core exercises with a crappy diet won’t do much to get rid of the fat around your waist.
You don’t need to take drastic measures, but what you should do is to start cutting back on processed foods, cook when you can and focus on making them nutrient-rich, and calorie-intake should be monitored at some level. Everyone has their own strategies that work for them, but following these guidelines will make all the exercises worth it.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s explore some movements for you to try!
The ones below are common exercises I’m sure you’ve seen, but I need to mention them because they are effective. If you want to add these to your workouts, go for it, or you can check out Mind Pump’s No BS 6-Pack Formula.
These are usually done with a cable machine, but if you don’t have access to one, resistance bands are a great alternative. As with most core exercise, you don’t need to go heavy with these, because then you’ll likely start recruiting other muscles and not as much of the core.
This one is a bit challenging, and they’re easy to do wrong, but are an awesome exercise to hit the core with and wear you out.
Plank Variations
Generally, planks are excellent to do if you want a healthy, stable core, along with an aesthetically pleasing one. There are many variations to this exercise, but side planks are my favorite.
Reverse Crunches
When you’re not swinging your legs and using momentum, I love this exercise to really emphasis the abdominals. Just remember to take it slow!
Medicine Ball Slams
This one is kind of out of left field, but if you’re engaging your core as you slam the medicine ball down each time, you’ll understand why I added this one. There are other core exercises you can do with a medicine ball, but this is one of my favorites (and it’s a lot more fun than crunches).
If you want a 6-pack, make sure you are doing ab work nearly every day. These sessions don’t need to be long (your core muscles need to rest too), but we do want to emphasize this muscle group. Commit the last 15 minutes of your workouts to core work, and even make one workout a week dedicated just to midsection.
And if you have any questions regarding whether you are doing an exercise with correct form, or just general tips on core work, Mind Pump has tons of videos to help keep you in check.
