Active Cambridge

Seeing as it is the month of love. I thought it would be appropriate. There are three essential things to keep in mind while you are working any part of your abdominal area.

1) Diet: avoiding high amounts of caffeine, refined foods, alcohol, and processed foods. In other words, you want to avoid high amounts of CRAP. Eat too much crap and you're never going to have a well-defined mid-section.
2) Exercise: by strengthening your abdominal section you will create a stronger core, which will help with posture and give you that rippling six-pack you have always dreamed of.
Particular exercises you may want to consider will be listed below.
3) Cardio: you want to be sure to go for a run at least 3x a week. Without it, the fat burning process will not be as effective. Cardio exercises may include: running, biking, swimming, skipping, jogging, etc... anything that will increase your heart rate for a duration of time.

The exercises I will provide today are simple. The first thing you will want to do is warm-up; 5-8 minutes at least just to get the blood flowing.

During each exercise you will perform 15-25 reps per exercise. Each exercise will be done twice or more depending on your fitness level.

Exercise 1: ab roll-out
This exercise will help engage your core and attack not only your upper abdominal but your lower abdominal as well. All you will need is an ab roller and a mat to rest your knee's on. If you do not have an ab roller, place two 10lb plates on either end of a bar bell and engage in the same way. Remember only to go as far as you need too. You should not end up flat on your face!

Exercise 2: stability ball side crunch
Here you will need to sit on a stability ball. Rest the ball under the side of your hip (left or right it doesn't matter) and scissor your legs up against the wall. By using the wall, you will be able to focus more on the crunch rather than keeping your balance. Be sure to work both sides.

Exercise 3: fifer scissors
Lay flat on your back with your hands underneath your glutes (aka: your butt). Raise one leg straight in the air with the other horizontal to the floor. From here, you're simply going to switch your legs. It's exactly like a leg raise, but with a simple twist.
Depending on your fitness level, you can either count each switch as one rep or for every time the original leg returns to its starting position, count that as one rep.

After you've completed your exercises, hop on the treadmill for the next 15-20 minutes for your cardio portion. If you exercise later in the day, we want to work the resistance first so we burn the carbs and activate the fat burning stage before the treadmill. This way, while we are working on our cardio, we'll burn more fat than we will carbs and trim down those love handles.

Just be sure before you engage in any of these exercises, you speak with your Doctor