Basic Yogilates Exercises For Your Abs

Yogilates or Yogalates (an exercise combo of Yoga and Pilates moves) offers many health benefits. Aside from helping you achieve a calm state of mind, it can also increase your core strength and flexibility. And speaking of core strength, this form of exercise can help you achieve that envy-worthy stomach you have always wanted! Check out these three Yogilates moves that will make your abs look better than ever.

1.) Hammock

This exercise is great for toning your abdominal muscles as well as your arms, chest, shoulders and buttocks. Sit tall and bend your legs. Your feet should be positioned flat on the floor. Put your hands on the floor behind you at about a 45-degree angle and lean back. Keep your arms straight. Inhale as you slowly lift your hips up to the front of your body. Your knees and shoulders need to be aligned in one straight line.

As you lower your hips to the floor, straighten your legs out in front of you as you assume a sitting position. Now place your hands next to your thighs and lean forward. Pull your abs in toward your spine. Push down using your hands to lift your hips off the floor. Hold this position for a couple of seconds. Beginners may have a little rough time performing this exercise but keep practicing until you get comfortable with it.

2.) Double Leg Stretch

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This low-intensity exercise will help strengthen and tone your abs. It also engages the muscles in your lower back, legs and arms. To get into the starting position, you need to lie on your back, bend your legs (90-degree angle) and elevate your bent legs in the air. Your legs should be parallel with your body and your toes should point outwards. Lift your head and keep it just a bit higher than your chest. Extend your arms forward towards your legs.

Now inhale and stretch your legs out until they are completely straight at a 45-degree angle with your body, at the same time as you extend your arms back by your ears. You should be able to form a wide "U" shape with your body. Hold this position while pressing your ribs down toward the mat. Bring your legs and arms back to the starting position and repeat the move for 5 to 10 times.

3.) Side Twists

The side twist is great for working all abdominal muscles, particularly the oblique muscles. Lie on your back and extend your arms out at your sides. Bend your knees and position your feet flat on the floor. Lift your bent legs to form a right angle. Make sure you keep both legs together and your shoulders should press into the floor. Now twist and drop your legs to the left and down towards the floor. Bring your knees back to the center, twist and lower them to your right but do not bring them all the way to the floor. Return to the center and repeat 5 times per side. Move slowly and with control throughout the exercise.

Yoga for Women: How to Gain a Shapely Waist through Yoga

The size of the waist is an indication of overall fitness for many people. Most health experts agree that a smaller waist is healthier than a big one. The reasoning behind this is that increases in fat around the waist and abdominal region usually result in increased health risks such as diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure.
In evolutionary and biological terms, a small waist signifies youth and vitality. But doing endless workouts of crunches alone will not allow you to achieve that Venus-like waist of your dreams. You will need to supplement specific waist-orientated exercises with ones from various disciplines.

Muscles of the trunk (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Specifically you will need to work the inner girdle of muscles - commonly known as the core muscles - with slow abdominal exercises that work very deep into these muscle groups - and also incorporate some cardiovascular exercises that help your body shed fat.

While usually associated with building flexibility, some specific exercises from yoga-based workouts also target the underlying core muscles around the waist - and many can help with weight loss as well.

So, how can yoga help reshape your waist? In simple terms, by requiring you to move - and hold - your torso muscles as a unit. Rather than isolating your abdominal muscles as you do in crunches, yoga poses help to lengthen your overall torso, creating a feeling that is both centered and strong.

Think of your torso as a long vessel through which numerous muscles interact to keep you looking lean. Your transversus abdominis, the deepest abdominal muscle, works with the others to hold in your lower belly. Your erector spinae, the muscles that attach on your spine, straighten your posture and can make you feel (and appear) taller, while your rectus abdominis and obliques are the strong and flexible muscles that allow your limbs to move freely.

In holding most yoga poses, you are strengthening all of these muscles at once, without even thinking about it. This is one of the reasons I love yoga so much - it's a full-body workout, so that your whole body gets stronger as a unit, avoiding the imbalances that can often be caused by working muscles in isolation.

Here are a couple of great exercises for the abdominal and waist area to get you started:

Warrior III Pose / Airplane on blocks (Photo credit: TonyFelgueiras)

WARRIOR III POSE:

Start in the Mountain Pose with the heels slightly apart, big toes touching, legs straight, chest lifted, pelvis in a neutral position. Placing hands on hips, step back with your right foot so just your right toes touch the floor, keeping all of your body weight on your left foot.

Keep your right leg extended in a straight line as you start to lean forward from your hips. Balance the length of your body over your left leg until your torso is parallel to the floor. Keep your weight evenly distributed through inner and outer heel, with hips level. Begin with 5 breath cycles and progress to 15. As you get stronger, progress into the full pose by extending your arms up past your ears, so you are one long line from toes to fingertips.

Lift your torso up and return to the Mountain Pose; repeat on the other side.

PLANK POSE, INTO SIDE-PLANK POSE:

Plank! (Photo credit: lululemon athletica)

Begin on your hands and knees, hands directly under shoulders, knees under hips. Move feet back until the legs are straight and you're balancing on your toes, feet together. Keep the shoulders pulled back and down, arms straight. This is the Plank Pose.

Squeezing the ankles together, roll onto the outer edge of the left foot, keeping feet stacked, legs straight. Lift the right hand toward ceiling then look up at it. Let your abs support your body without bending or crunching. Then lower right hand to floor, rolling down toward the right, and return to the Plank Pose. Repeat on other side. Hold each pose for 5 breath cycles.

Improving Your Core With Pilates & Yoga

If you’re like me, you’re probably not a really big fan of sit ups and crunches.  They’re awkward, show mediocre results, and if your don’t do them properly, they can cause severe strain to your neck and back - something I can't risk, with my history of back problems.  But if you want strong, toned abs, you have to do crunches, right?  That used to be true, but now you have several options that don’t involve any stressful, painful crunches.  You can use Yoga, Pilates, or both to have sleek, toned abs, plus strong back muscles and a totally healthy overall physique.

Yoga (Photo credit: ScotiaProductions)

Yoga operates on several levels to help tone your abs, along with the rest of your body.  The basic concept of Yoga is to hold yourself in specific poses.  Holding these poses requires maintaining a correct posture.  Just being in a good posture can strengthen your abdominal muscles.  They are part of the core muscles that help you achieve and maintain proper posture.  Even though you can’t feel it, these muscles are constantly making tiny adjustments and getting a great workout. 

In Yoga, the poses are held for extended periods of time.  Slow even movements and long poses give your core muscles an even better workout and help develop stamina through muscle strength.  You’ll probably be able to notice a visible difference in your abs, but even if you can’t, you’ll know they’re stronger when you can maintain better balance for longer periods of time.

Another major part of Yoga is focused deep breathing that allows your body to relax as you hold the poses.  This deep breathing involves using your abdominal muscles instead of your shoulders to help inhale and exhale.  In addition to your abs helping you maintain balance, you also exercise them even more simply by breathing.

Pilates (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pilates is similar to your abs with the benefits it offers.  Pilates requires use of your abdominal muscles for proper posture and for breathing, just as Yoga does; however, instead of remaining stable, you move your arms and legs around while (usually) keeping the core stationary.  This is actually just as beneficial for your abs because you have to use them to keep your body still while your arms and legs are in motion.  Natural movement would have your torso move, but your abs and back muscles must work to keep it stable.

Even though Yoga and Pilates are constantly working your abdominal muscles throughout the workout, there are also specific exercises you can do to target these areas, especially in Pilates.  These will give you the extra boost you need for more drastic results, if desired.

Neither Yoga or Pilates can be learned overnight; however, once you begin to master one of both or these arts, you will get an abs workout like never before without even thinking about crunches.  And they're also a lot of fun!  

Click here to check out some fun resources to learn Yoga and Pilates in your own home.

And check back later this week for some fun Yoga and Pilates workouts!