strengthening the stomach muscles

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Forum -> Health & Wellness -> Healthy Lifestyle/ Weight Loss/ Exercise

Strengthening the stomach muscles

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amother

Sun, Apr 12 2009, 2:30 pm

ever since I had a baby almost a year ago, my stomach's shape is not anything like it used to be.
can anyone give me some ideas of what exercises would be good for strengthening the stomach and trying to make my stomach get a little bit flatter (when I was pregnant, my stomach was not a normal ball shape, it was more like a hanging thing at the bottom and that bottom bit is still there, almost like a fat flap and it is making my life nuts, I can not fit into almost any of my skirts because if it).

any ideas?

amother

Sun, Apr 12 2009, 2:53 pm

nobody ???????????????????????????????

greenfire

Sun, Apr 12 2009, 3:51 pm

kegel exercises ... and sit ups ... drop and do 20 !!! Bounce

chocolate moose

Sun, Apr 12 2009, 4:02 pm

You need exercises that work the core like Pilates.

greenfire

Sun, Apr 12 2009, 4:05 pm

welcome to motherhood - some things we never loose ...

bluebird

Sun, Apr 12 2009, 9:12 pm

There are no exercises that will make you lose weight in a specific area. But you can firm up your stomach with exercise, and the best exercise for that is—doing crunches!

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Flat-Stomach

http://weightloss.about.com/od.....e.htm

When I get to the "top" of the crunch I compress my stomach muscles and hold for a count of 2. It helps to reinforce that you need to pull yourself up with your abdominal muscles rather than you back and neck muscles, and also adds more power to the workout.

octopus

Wed, Apr 22 2009, 10:10 pm

any crunch-like exercises where your feet are up in the air and moving in and out will help for lower stomach area. plain crunches alone aren't going to do it. you can search on youtube for core exercises.

Maya

Wed, Apr 22 2009, 10:27 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

You need exercises that work the core like Pilates.

I second this. I just bought my intermediate Pilates DVD.

RightOnTarget

Wed, Apr 22 2009, 10:29 pm

Maya wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

You need exercises that work the core like Pilates.

I second this. I just bought my intermediate Pilates DVD.

Pilates is the way to go!! I've been doing it for some time now!

chavamom

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 1:42 am

Crunches can be really bad for you in the postpartum period if you have a diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal muscles that most women do have after having a baby). There is a book called "Lose Your Mummy Tummy" and video that you can get that addresses how to deal with it.

marina

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 2:19 am

How do you know if you have this and how can crunches be bad for you?

amother

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 2:32 am

im the OP. for pilates, is the only way to do them with a video? meaning you cant just learn it from lets say the internet and go from there?

why are they so good for the stomach?

chavamom

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 2:39 am

marina wrote:

How do you know if you have this and how can crunches be bad for you?

They can make the separation worse. Here is a link telling you how to tell if you have one.

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