Health & Fitness
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How can I strengthen my abs without doing sit ups?
I am currently very overweight and am trying to get in better shape and to a healthier weight. I have been walking 25 minutes 4 times a week for the past few months consistently. I am ready to add other exercises and really want to strengthen my abdominal muscles. I tried to do sit ups and I'm embarrassed to admit I couldn't do a single one. Does anyone have suggestions of other exercises I can start with?
Re: How can I strengthen my abs without doing sit ups?
j+k+m+e | running with needles
Add sprints during your walks. (Sprint until exhausted, then walk till recovered, repeat).
Not only with this do wonders for fat loss, it works your core like whoa.
Then planks/body weight exercises.
If you are very overweight, I would suggest running and weight training. Honestly, I wouldn't worry at all about sit ups right now. If you've been consistently walking, check out the couch to 5k program to ease into running.
I also agree with the suggestion of pilates. You can get a book or DVD from the library and work on it at home. It is harder than it looks, but it makes such a difference!
Pallof presses are very good for abs and don't require you to be on the ground. But you'll need a cable machine, so this is for the gym.
sparkpeople.com has a lot of free ab videos and exercises. You could also start with sit-ups by putting your feet under a couch or something to hold them down until you can do them completely on your own. Or, buy an inexpensive exercise ball and sit on that during other times you'd be sitting anyways (watching tv, sitting at a desk job) - you'd be amazed at how engaged your abs need to be to keep yourself sitting up.
I'd worry about upping the cardio and starting some core strength training first. I started working out with a trainer about 3 1/2 weeks ago. He said there is really no point in working abs right away and he prefers to work on your core strenth first to build strenth and help "narrow" you. I didn't do abs at all until three weeks in and I know I'm not going to "see" a difference in my abs until after I lose the fat that is still covering them. lol