How to Make the Most of Your Ab Training

• Many of the exercises call for you to "pull your bellybutton in toward your spine" or "pull your abs in." To do this, imagine you are wearing a girdle and you are pulling it tight to cinch your middle inward. Now imagine your girdle is two sizes smaller -- that is what "pulling inward" should feel like.
• Another instruction you'll see is "tuck your chin toward your chest." You do this to align your neck with the rest of your spine so just tuck, don't touch, your chin to your chest.
• Always exhale through your mouth when you are exerting an effort and inhale through your nose when you are releasing the effort. Proper breathing will ensure that you use even more abdominal fibers.
• If any exercise hurts your neck, lower back or any other part of your body, stop! Review the instructions to make sure you're doing the move properly. If you think you're doing everything right and you still feel pain, don't do the exercise. You can always revisit it in a couple of weeks, once you have increased your middle body strength.
• Feel free to mix and match exercises from different routines. You may need to do a beginner version of one move but be able to handle an advanced version of another. The exercises are laid out progressively. In other words, the first exercise of the intermediate routine builds on the skills you've mastered on the first move in the beginner routine.
• Don't overdo it! Two to three workout sessions a week and one to three sets of each exercise are more than enough to see results.
• Remember, you're not going to melt fat away from your middle by doing these exercises. But you are going to strengthen, tone and define; you're going to improve your posture; and, if you have back pain, you are going to reduce or even eliminate it. Not bad!

More No-Crunch Ab Workout

• Back to Introduction
  
• Basic Guide to Abs
  
• Beginner Routine
  
• Intermediate Routine
  
• Advanced Routine