Hi! Welcome to Brides Made Fit podcast. I’m your host Jennifer DiDonato. This is episode number 13. And in case you don’t know Brides Made Fit, it is Metro Detroit’s only in-home personal training service for brides to be, but we are also your source for health and fitness information and exercise demos for your fitness program. So the podcast is made for everyone. So thanks for joining us.
And today, we are going to focus on our core or our abdominals, but one thing that I want to focus on today is stability. We’re going to do isometric abdominals. And, isometric movements are basically the holding and the controlling of the flex movement. So, let’s say you’re doing a bicep curl, and I’m holding it—I might get this well on, hold on this, this is isometric. That’s what that means. So we’re going to incorporate that and apply it to our core, all of our abdominal muscles.
So the first movement I want to show you, it’s fairly simpler, you’re going to sit up with your shoulders back, sit on the floor, have your knees together and I want you to just prop your knees out and I want you to hold this for as long as you can. Now, you may feel like you’re getting a little bit tired in the hip flexors. A lot of times, people say, “Oh I feel it working in my legs.” But really, the only reason why you are feeling it there is because you’re obviously not used to this movement if you have not been doing it and your hip flexors are making up for the weakness in your core. So it’s pretty much pick up the slack but we want to condition your body to have the core be in control.
So while you are holding this movement, I want you to bring your hands up, I want you to bring down the side, back up to the middle and right down the side. Think of this as a V-sit. This is called a V-sit. Think of this is as a V-sit Christmas tree. So you’re making this Christmas tree even though it’s not Christmas yet. So, doing this, give me 5 on each side and rest for 1 minute in between. So it’s going to be one, one, one, and this is two and two and two. You’re going to feel it working in your abdominals and you may feel it in your hip flexes as well.
But now, also to incorporate into your core program is called a plank halt. We’re just going to flip on over to our stomach and you’re going to get on your elbows like this. Your forearms are going to be paralleled to each other. Palms facing each other, but you can put in the fist. I want you to get up on your toes and I want you to hold. Now on my previous podcast, when we were talking about push ups, I really stress the fact that you want to keep your back straight and this is crucial in this movement. You want to press your abdominals, your belly button to your spine. You want to feel like that and just want to just press it. You want to keep your abs tight and your back straight. Make sure you are not dipping it downward or sticking the butt up. Keep it nice and straight. Hold this for 30 seconds. If you are newbie and you don’t think you can’t do it, hold it for 15 and then rest for 1 minute in between and repeat two more times.
Now, another muscle that is incorporated in our core is our obliques as well. So I want you to get on your side. This is kind of a side flank. So you’re going to put one foot on the top of the other, get on your elbow just like on the flanks and bring it up like this. Now, there is a twist to this one, this is called thread the needle. So if you like kneading, you’re going to love this one. You’re going to bring it underneath and back up, underneath, see how I’m dipping or scooping my hand right under my torso. This one works your shoulders as well but you really feel it right here, do with me right now and feel that. Isn’t that crazy? It’s like muscles you didn’t know you had. But, this is an awesome movement—all these movements because you don’t need any equipment and this is the best way. When your body is working against gravity, it’s the best way to do it.
So, do about 10 on that side, 10 on the other, and if you are unable to so it right away off the back like that, you can also be on your knees during this one as well. So going on the knees will help a little bit more, take a little bit of stress off your shoulders.
So, do these exercises. Let me know what you think. I have comment section at the bottom on this podcast on my blog at bridesmadefitblog.com. Let me know what you think about these exercises. Like I said, do three sets, rest for a minute in between each of them and let me know how it feels and how your abs feel. And you can also reach me at 888-MADEFIT if you are in the Metro Detroit area and you want me to stop by and train you one-on-one or get a boot camp together, we can do that and I have so much fun to have fun. So, contact me on that one and also email me at jenny@bridesmadefit.com. And, you can find this podcast and all the previous ones we did and this one on iTunes, keyword “Brides Made Fit” and also on YouTube as well. And, you can subscribe on my blog right there for the iTunes ones. So thanks so much for joining us and we’ll see you next week from Brides Made Fit podcast.
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