Karen answered Wednesday October 20 2004, 1:00 pm: All you can basically do to tone your stomach as fast as possible is to do a few sets of crunches and sit ups each night! Hope I helped :) [ Karen's advice column | Ask Karen A Question ]
PinoyBoi answered Wednesday October 20 2004, 11:52 am: hey i would do some cruches and situps...also jumpropeing is good too...oh when you do situps..dont just go striaght up ..go side to side as well..you naw mean..oh and ma friend says do some jumping jacks..he dosnt know why..but he says just do them..yea...well peace out
mikeyblue81 answered Wednesday October 20 2004, 1:34 am: Unlike other muscle groups in the body, the abdomen (abs) has the ability to repair itself faster and therefor can be worked everyday. Most other muscle groups you need to rest at least a day to get improvement from them. Anyway, just something to keep in mind for your excercise routine.
On to the excercises (more than just sit-ups!):
1) Crunches: on your back in the normal situp position, raise your feet off the floor till your thighs are pointing straight up. With your hands behind your head, 'crunch' up till your elbows touch your knees. You should be able to do a fair number of these, but remember that the focus of this excercise is on the upper portion of your abs, so that's where you want to squeeze when you come up.
2) Rocky/alternating situps: on your back, put your feet out on the floor so that your legs make a 90 degree angle at the knee (normal situp position). With you hands behind your head, lift yourself up but twisting your torso so that your right elbow comes up to meet your left knee. While you're at the top there, switch to your left elbow meeting your right knee, and keeping that torso twisted position, lower yourself back down to how you started. Come back up like you just came down (left elbow meeting right knee), switch again, and lower down, again keeping the torso twisted will you get back to the start position. This is a great excercise since it works all parts of your abs including the muscles on the outer edges (the obliques) around your ribs and helps give a trim, chisled appearance.
3) Leg lifts: this one is a bit of a challenge if you don't have someone to assist you. If you can't find someone to help out, I'm sure you can find a creative alternative like a bed leg or tree or something else that won't move easily that you can hold on to. So, first you'll need your partner (or tree... whatever) to stand shoulder width apart. You then lay on the ground, head between thier feet, hands grasping thier ankles or calves for support. Then, keeping your body and legs straight, lift your legs up until your whole body is in an 'L' shape. Lower your legs until they are just a few inches off the ground and lift again. I like this excercise as it focuses on the lower region of your abs, but is a good ab workout overall as well.
My main philosophy with abs workouts is to do as many of each excercise as you can. But, if you're just starting out, I'd suggest taking things slow otherwise you'll be pretty sore and have a hard time getting around ;) A good starting set would be something like this:
30 rocky/atlernating situps
15 leg lifts
50 crunches
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