Ladies! Here are four simple ways to a trim tummy! These are real simple but effective exercises which you all can do in absolute safety.

The tummy depends on the tone of the abdominal muscles for its shape. The rectus abdominis lies on the surface, the obliques lie below the rectus, and the transversis lie the deepest. These three muscles hold the tummy in from in front.

The abdominal muscles act in concert with the muscles of the pelvic floor. Therefore when you exercise one set of muscles, the other set gets exercised too! Having a baby generally weakens the abdominal muscles as well as the muscles of the pelvic floor. This typically leads to post-delivery flab. Kegel exercises are recommended to control the waistline. However a number of people do not do them properly and so they do not get the expected results.

Now that we understand the underlying physiology, let’s get on with these four very simple, safe, and effective exercises.

Belly Respiration

That’s right! You breathe and you exercise. Be seated for this exercise. Use your diaphragm, the sheet of muscle between the thoracic cavity and the abdominal cavity, to take a nice comfortably deep breath! Force your diaphragm downwards. Do not use your chest, or your upper body to help in breathing. Breathe out after a moment. Use your abdominal muscles and your diaphragm and the muscles of the pelvic floor to force all the residual air out of your lungs. Find ways of doing this five to ten times a day.

Advanced Breath Exercise

This is an extension of your basic Belly Respiration. This exercise is performed lying on the floor. Keep your elbows pointed outwards while you hold the back of your legs. Now draw a breath using the basic Belly Respiration technique, but this time imagine that your belly button has to touch your spine.

Baby Curls

Lie flat on your back. Use your abdominal muscles to come up into a curved position, curling yourself forward. Take care not to use any other muscle as you do this crunch. Repeat this as many times as you can without discomfort. Stop whenever you feel discomfort. If you think that your muscles can’t take the stress, then go back to the breath exercises to build up your muscle tone first.

Elbow Lifts

Lateral lifts are performed sideways. These tone up the middle layer of abdominal muscles, the obliques. All you ladies will benefit from these lifts, even those of you who are carrying a baby until, of course, your belly becomes too heavy! Lie sideways on the floor. Now lift yourself off the floor with your elbow on the floor and your forearm lying along the floor. The important thing is that your body should be absolutely ramrod straight! Don’t let it sag in the middle! That’s it! That’s it! Hold it there for ten to fifteen seconds. Relax. Then roll over on to your other side. Repeat the exercise. Now do you see why this is called a Lateral Lift?

There’s no need to do dozens of sit-ups, these four exercises will get all you ladies into shape. Just remember two things: Don’t overdo it! Be regular in exercising! See you soon in those jeans that you thought you’d never be able to fit into again!

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