Are you tired of doing the same situps and crunches for the sake of ab exercise? Abs exercises are an important part of every workout routine, anyway. Strengthening your core will not only help you get those enviable, Instagram worthy six pack abs, but it will also help increase your overall performance in the gym – even during workouts and activities that do not specifically target the core. If you are curious about the best ab workouts for women that not only result in a trim waist (goodbye muffin top), but also strengthen the muscles underneath, keep reading.
Other than simply looking good, doing ab exercises has many more benefits for our bodies than we may realize. Here are some
Back pain is not something only experienced by older adults. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, many people start complaining about back aches as early as 30 years old (13).
If you are lucky not to have any back pains yet, ab exercises are a great preventative measure against this. A strong core helps keep your belly from protruding too far to the front which not only alters your center of gravity (which can mess with your balance) but also puts too much pressure on your lower back to support you. Too much pressure on the lower back messes with the lower back’s discs and facet joints, flexible points which with time can lead to weakness, pain and potential rupture.
If you already have back pain, research shows that strengthening your core is the best way to reduce this pain. A study done on 120 subjects (between the ages of 20 to 60) all with varying levels of back pain revealed that core exercises were in fact more effective in reducing this pain, compared to physical therapy (5).
An earlier study done on 30 middle-aged men and women found that just eight weeks of core stabilization exercise not only increased the endurance of both core and back muscles, but it also significantly reduced low back pain (6).
Other than improving self confidence and helping you look taller, good posture can help reduce lower back pain as well as tension in your neck and shoulders. A study published in The Journal of Physical Therapy Science in 2015 found that exercising your deep abdominal muscles helps improve your posture, leading researchers to suggest the use of such exercises for any athletes or patients who might need postural adjustments (11).
Read More: Flat Stomach 30 Day Ab Challenge To Tone And Strengthen Your Abs And Overall Body
We use our core, spine and low back muscles a lot during the day. From simple tasks such as sitting or standing, twisting to look behind, tying our shoes to bending over in the garden, picking up a package/baby, getting up from a chair, mopping the floor, etc.
If you have weak or painful back and core muscles, such tasks can be a chore. However, a strong core makes such tasks second nature so that you do not have to think twice about them.
According to a study published in 2015, combining core exercises with diaphragmatic breathing exercises will not only improve your posture, but also your pulmonary function and abdominal fitness (10).
Want to lift heavier, run for longer, or simply workout longer and with more intensity? Work on your core. Most of the time while working out, regardless of the exercise, you will hear your trainer telling you to brace your core – this is because you really do use your core to do almost all exercises, from weight lifting to running (8, 4, 15, 1).
Now that you have a better understanding of why exercising your core should be a top priority for you, here are some simple ab workouts that can easily be done at home. These exercises not only require minimal space, but can be done with or without weight, making them easily accessible to everyone.
Planks are a great and versatile workout that not only targets your core, but also other upper body muscles like the pectorals, biceps, triceps, deltoids, and more. Planks come in many variations such as the basic (high) plank, elbow plank, side plank, plank crawl outs, knee planks, etc. For many beginners, the elbow plank is the easiest to do as they build both their upper and core strength.
Here is how to do it:
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Like planks, mountain climbers work more than just your abs. They also target the muscles in your shoulders, arms, under the armpits, chest, and even your legs.
As the name suggests, glute bridges are primarily meant to work your butt. However, like many compound exercises, this workout doesn’t just target your butt. It also works your abs, hip flexors, quads, and the hamstrings.
Hip lifts are one of the best lower ab workouts for women who struggle with reducing the size of the FUPA. Other than the lower abs, hip lifts also target the muscles in the hips, glutes, and hamstring.
Like hip lifts, v-ups are also one of the best lower ab workouts for women. V-ups are also compound exercises that target the quads, hips and other muscles in your lower body.
Like mountain climbers, bear crawls target almost every muscle in your body. Aside from your abs, they also work the chest, glutes, shoulders, back, quads and hamstrings.
Read More: How To Get A Smaller Waist: Tips For Burning Belly Fat And Toning Abs
Of the ab workouts of this list, the dead bug is perhaps the only workout that just targets the abs.
It might seem like an odd option for ab workouts but kickboxing is not only a great cardio and full body workout, but research shows that kickboxers have incredibly strong core muscles.
In a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers took 20 kickboxers aged between the ages of 18 and 32, all weighing anywhere between 75 to 92 kilograms and evaluated their sports and fitness levels. Other than finding out how agile, fast,and strong they were, researchers also found that their core strength was also quite impressive (17).
This exercise targets the muscles in your core, glutes, calves, hamstrings, and shoulders.
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All of the above mentioned exercises are very effective in helping women get a stronger core and trimmer waist. Just be sure to remain consistent, and watch your calorie intake as well as your diet. Remember that 90 percent of abs are made in the kitchen – not the gym.
Unfortunately, unless a person had a pretty flat tummy and some small ab definition before (and works to get them more defined) there is absolutely no way for you to get abs in just two weeks. In recent years, the ‘2 week ab challenge’ has grown in popularity making many women everywhere think that getting abs is as simple as doing ab workouts everyday for 14 days.
Not only are such challenges not good for you, but they will not give you abs. Some important points to note are that
To get rid of the fat, we must watch our calorie intake – by eating at a calorie deficit, eat a more healthy, well balanced diet, and then exercise. Remember that any effort you put into your workout routine will be lost if you do not fix your eating habits.
The best thing about ab workouts is that almost all of them can be done at home with not only minimal space, but also little to no equipment as well. Any of the above-mentioned workouts can easily be done at home for that sexy midriff as well as a strong core. If you’d like to add some intensity to them – and make your muscle work even more – invest in some simple free weights, or improvise with things in the house if you cannot spare the money for free weights.
When it comes to doing ab workouts, or just exercise in general, a lot of older adults tend to shy away from them due to multiple reasons such as cost, fear of embarrassment or falling, lack of support from family and friends, health problems such as disabilities, chronic illnesses and joint pain, a lack of the know how to approach many exercises, and many more reasons (12, 2, 14).
For women over 50 looking to start doing some ab exercises, the first and most important step to take would be speaking to your doctor so you can find workouts that may not aggravate any underlying health conditions that you may have.
If you are in good health and your joints are okay, some of the best workouts that you can do to strengthen your core include planks, glute bridges, and alternating leg and arm raises (aka bird-dog).
If your joints cannot handle being on the floor, you can modify your routine and simply do some standing ab exercises. Some great standing core exercises include:
As mentioned above, there is no magical exercise that will help you get abs fast. Abs, like all other types of muscle take time, dedication and above all, care to grow and sustain. That’s what you need to do, if you are looking for longterm, sustainable, and actually effective ways to get abs.
There is no one specific ab workout that works better than all others. All ab workouts are equally important
The best ab workouts are the ones that you actually do and stay consistent with. Whether you choose ab specific workouts or compound exercises that target more than one muscle, the most important thing is to remain dedicated and watch your diet – doing this will have you seeing results in no time.
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