Belly exercises? (Ang?)

ArcticFox

So I've dropped the baby weight, but I hate my abs.  I know in part they won't ever be the same after 2 kids, but has anyone done ab exercises they found to be effective?  Should I stick with a traditional curl?

Lady*

Ooh - I hate to butt in (haha), but if Ang gets on here, can you also tell me what to do for my saddle bags? My abs have gone back to their pp look for the most part, but I seem to be unable to lose the gigantic feed bags strapped to the top of my legs. Seriously, I'm hauling around 2 ham hocks here. I'd love some tips of getting rid of THOSE!

Mrs.AngelaA

Well gals, the bad news is that you cannot target weight/fat loss to a certain area, but you can lose fat overall and then tone up those areas.

I would suggest doing a mixture of cardio and light weight training.

Then, once you have shed some fat, try doing ab exercises on a big ball.  They allow you to extend and contract much further than a regular floor crunch. 

http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises_3.htm

As far as the "saddle bags" are concerned, those are just where the fat is settling on your body. Overall fat loss is the only thing that will get those to go away.  Cardio and weight training!  If you enjoy running, that will surely shed the fat on those areas. 

I am a spin instructor, so of course, I need to plug my class!  Spin gives you endurance, cardio health, strength and fat shredding!!!!

Hope that helps!

SeptemberBride'08

I second Ang. Spinning is fabulous and does so much for your body and is always a new challenge with each class!