Saturday Fitness Post | Favourite ab exercises

Today I will talk about my top 3 favourite exercises for abs - without crunches. Say what? Crunches are actually one of the most ineffective exercises for sculpting abs, especially if you have bad posture, weak back and neck. Yes, you gain muscle and abs get tighter with crunches, but with tighter abs your upper body will lean forward, you're scrunching your body, which will cause upper body pain and lead into bad posture. To prevent that, you can try full body exercises, which will help you shed fat, sculpt the muscles and tighten inner corset of your abdominal muscles.

Source: Google.

1. I have a love-hate relationship with squats. I love them, because they are super effective and you see quick results, I hate them because they hurts. And they hurt so good :).

Exercise posture: abs tight and back straight. Then you go down as low as you can, imagine that you are sitting down on a chair, making sure your knees don't go past your toes, so it's not hard on your knees and then come up, squeeze your glutes and still keeping a good posture.
This exercise is not just amazing for your abs, but also your tights, glutes and it can be amazing cardio, if you do it fast enough. If you feel strong enough and you're up for a challenge, do jump squats. It's basically the same, you just add a jump when you come back up from a squat. Repeat and try to do them as quickly as you can (keeping a good posture!) for one minute.

Source: Pinterest.

2. Plank is killer for your abs, back and shoulders.

Exercise posture: Get on the floor, arms in 90 degree angle, elbows underneath your shoulders, body in one straight line, keeping your abs tight. Time yourself how long can you hold in this positing, try to add 5 more seconds every couple of days. You'll see how fast you can progress.
If you're up for a challenge, you can switch arm posture into full extended arms and then switch again. Do this exercise for 1 minute and you'll see how your abs and shoulders are shaking :).
You can also modify this exercise by keeping your hips little bit more above your body, but always remember not to drop them. Keep your abs tight.

Source: Google.

3. Last but not least are push ups. This exercise is basically plank with an arm movement and it always leaves me with abdominal pain (good pain).

Exercise posture: arms are extended straight underneath the shoulders, body in one straight line, back straight (not curved), abs tight. Holding the good posture, bent your elbows and bring your whole body towards the floor and push up. Repeat.
If you're not strong enough, you can modify push ups doing them off your knees and if it still feels too hard, you can keep your hips above your body (same as plank), which will take some benefits off your abs, but will still sculpt you. You'll gain your strength faster than you think.


You also need a good cardio session and clean diet. My favourite cardio session is still Zuzana's Zcut power cardio (check out my review here), which also contains all of the above exercises, and I love jumping rope as well.


What is your favourite exercise for abs? Do you go to the gym or workout at home? Do you even workout? ;)

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Time for a new challenge!

I actually have 2 challenges - one is just for myself and the other one is for whoever wants to join me:).

Firstly, I will start writing my posts in English, as you may have noticed already :). Please be kind, English has always been my weakness, so I take it as a challenge. Always do something that scares you, right? :)

Second challenge is more health related. I've been reading a lot of books lately and I always find myself in strange positions while reading It's kind of a "book-asutra" :P or however you'd like to call it. While I was laying on my belly with my legs extended, I remembered an easy but effective exercise from waaaay back when I was still going to physiotherapy for my hip joints (never been injured, they just hurt me when I was walking, standing and even sitting too long). All you have to do is squeeze your butt as much as you can and hold it for few seconds, then release. Repeat countless times :P. And you  can do it for 5, 10, 15 minutes or even half an hour. It's not really time consuming if you read a book while doing it.

There is another great exercise for your bottom: one leg squats. Even regular squats are challenging enough (make sure you make them properly), but one legged ones are really really tough. And you need only one week to start seeing massive changes. Been there.

(Source: click)

So what's the challenge, you ask?


Whenever you find yourself in a "book-asutra" position (sorry, I had to do it again :P) - laying on your belly on a flat surface, sqeeze your gluteus maximus muscles for as long as you want. One minute is always better than zero! This goes for everything workout-related. I repeat that all the time.

And do one leg squats five times a day for five repetitions on each leg (5 times X 5 reps X 2 legs = 50 squats). It really takes a minute to do them 10 in a row. Sqeeze them in to your day - do them after returning from the toilet to your work desk, do them while you wait for your veggies to get steamed, do them while watching Deseprate Housewives or whatever show you're watching ... there is one more rule: if you don't do them 5 times a day, you have to complete all 50 (or whatever number is to make them 50) before bed time. It may sound impossible, but I guarantee you will see a change in one week only! If you don't, pease feel free to unsubscribe, insult me or beat me up when you see me in the street :P But that won't be necessary :) 
Here is a decriptions how to make them properly: click.

So, let's start! :) I'm starting tomorrow, because I'm still kinda sick (who follows me on Twitter already knows that :)). And this is the main reason for lack of posts lately. Sorry :(.

I hope my English is understandable :)) I was first thinking about writing in Slovene and English, but time is precious and my posts are always informative and long ... And I don't have all time in the world. I need to workout and eat and be awesome when I don't write my blogs. It's not easy :D

Have a lovely weekend <3

xoxo Deja