How to get nice abs (for women)

Start with crunches. With the basic crunch, you have to lie on your back with your knees slightly bent, and your feet flat on the floor. Cross your arms in front of your chest and lift your upper body off the ground, lifting from your shoulder blades to your lower back. Sit up straight, pausing for a moment at the end of the range of motion. Then lower back down to the floor and repeat. Don’t strain your body or make sudden movements, and remember to keep your neck straight. The force should be on the abs, not the neck. Keep your back straight – never hunch your back while doing crunches. With a shorter crunch, which is easier than a regular crunch, you only need to lift your shoulder blades off the ground – not your entire body.

• Both methods work the core muscles in the abdomen. Overall, the abs run from the pelvis to just below the chest. The transverse muscles are quite large, but the rectus abs are quite thin. In order for your straight abs to show, you have to develop your core and lose fat around your waistline. ^[1] If you want to have round and defined abs, you must work every part of your abs.
• Plank is also a good exercise for the core. The exercise itself is great for the core, but it’s also easy to create variations – you can work multiple muscle groups by adding other poses and/or movements.

Leg lifts. Lie on the floor with your legs straight and pressed together. Keep your legs straight and slowly raise both legs into an upright position, so that they point to the ceiling. Gently lower your foot to the floor and repeat. Do not separate your legs or bend your knees when exercising, unless you find it too difficult. In this case, you should adjust the exercise by pushing your knees up to your chest instead of just your feet up to the ceiling. If you want to make the exercise more difficult, try to keep a dumbbell or small dumbbell between your legs while exercising!

• Lifting the legs helps to exercise the lower abdominal muscles. The lower abs are especially hard to work out and hard to “show up”, but if you can get them toned, you’ll have an eight pack! The core plays an important role in stabilizing the hips and spine, if these two positions are not stable then you are prone to back injury. ^[2]
• Other lower abs exercises like reverse sit-ups and leg swings also target the area just above the hips, contributing to a toned area above the pelvis.

Bicycle belly crunch. Lie on your back in a basic crunch, with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your hands behind your head and bend your elbows. Raise right knee up to chest. As you lift your knees, gently lift and twist your upper body so that your left elbow touches your right knee. Lower your upper body and bring your right knee down while simultaneously raising your left knee, touching your left knee to your right elbow. Repeat this movement, alternating knees and elbows.

• Cycling abdominal crunches helps to exercise the intercostal muscles, which are an integral part of any abs workout. The muscles on the sides of the torso are not only important in terms of building abdominal strength and core stability, but they also look great if they’re in focus. Toned intercostal muscles will create a slim and solid appearance for the flanks.
• The intercostal muscles are likely to be the first muscle group to show up after a period of abdominal training. They will appear as thin lines from the lower rib to the hipbone.
• Cross crunches and side planks are also great for the intercostal muscles. Just a few minutes of practice will make you feel tired in the flanks!

Work out your legs, butt, and back with the leg lunge exercise. The lunge is a great exercise that targets the legs and butt, and uses your hips, back, and abs as secondary muscle groups. To lunge, start in a standing position with your feet hip-width apart. Step right foot forward. Bend your right leg and lower yourself to the floor until your right knee forms a 90-degree angle, while keeping your back straight. Push yourself up to a standing position, focusing your weight on your right leg. Repeat this movement with the left leg. Do it slowly and smoothly – stiffness or sudden movements can cause knee or back injury.

• Perhaps when you do abs you mainly want to have a toned abs, but a varied exercise regimen is essential for good shape, balance, a strong spine, and good general health. Don’t miss any muscle groups between your chest and knees, or you’ll regret it!
• There are many types of exercises for the core support muscles. You can practice yoga like warrior pose, cobra pose or camel pose. Superman and pointing dog movements also help. A solid core is absolutely essential for a statue-like abs.

Don’t believe in misconceptions about abs. Since a lot of people want to have nice abs, there is obviously a lot of misinformation and baseless claims on the matter. Don’t trust everything you hear when it comes to developing beautiful abs. If some information sounds too great, perhaps you should be cautious.

• You can’t just burn belly fat. This is a widely circulated anecdote. It’s not a matter of trying too hard for a particular body part, because exercise can’t get rid of fat in such a particular location. ^[3] Actually fat is burned slowly throughout the body. To lose belly fat you have to lose body fat.
• You shouldn’t just train your abs. Doing lots of crunches will build strong abs, but you may not see sharp, toned abs. In order to have abs, it is often necessary to diet and make lifestyle changes (see below) to make the abs more visible.