FitSugar

Get Lifted: Dumbbell Crunch

FitSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:00:00 PST

If you have tired of regular abdominal crunches, you might want to up the ante by adding some weight to the move. The Dumbbell Crunch variation makes a basic crunch more challenging and saves you time - you need to do less in order to achieve the same results.

Grab a set of dumbbells and

Lie on your back with a set of dumbbells nearby. Bend your knees and place your heels a few inches from your bum. Place a dumbbell in each hand.
Now bend your elbows and hold the dumbbells vertically, so the bottoms are on either side of your head. Engage your abs by drawing your navel toward your spine, and press your lower back into the floor.
When you're ready, keeping your belly pulled in, lift your upper body off the floor, so your shoulder blades are floating above the ground. Slowly lower back down, but don't let your shoulders or head touch down.
Do a total of 20 to 25 crunches, take a break, and do another set.

4 Reasons to Add an Exercise Ball to Your Home Gym

Leta Shy — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:58:44 PDT

The exercise ball may occupy a lot of room in your home gym, but it's one versatile piece of equipment. Find out how to get the most out of your exercise ball below.

A healthier seat: Ditch your normal seat on the couch and sit on an exercise ball instead. Using a ball to sit helps correct your posture, tones your abs, and encourages you to stretch, all of which sounds a lot better than the lower back pain that too much sitting on the couch can cause.

Routine shakeup: Adding an exercise ball to your normal mat routines can shake things up and challenge you. For example, you can plank using an exercise ball at your feet to make holding your pose that much harder, or sit or lay on your exercise ball while you execute arm exercises. Even just practicing your balance by kneeling on the exercise ball can help you tone and whittle. Need some ideas? Try these amazingly effective ab and butt workouts using the exercise ball:

Find out how to do the plank pike and the hamstring curl using an exercise ball with this advanced exercise ball workout video.
Skip boring crunches and do this ball pass ab exercise instead.
Challenge your core and balance with this single-leg squat, done against a wall using an exercise ball.
Lie on the ball and work your arms with this chest press move.

Read on for more reasons to use an exercise ball.

Know Your Basics: How to Do a Lunge

Leta Shy — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:07:30 PDT

Lunges are a quintessential exercise; you can do them anywhere and the effects can be seen in no time, in the form of shapely, toned legs and backside (just in time for bikini season!). If you're planning on incorporating lunges into your routine, however, make sure you're not doing more harm than good. Find out how to do lunges correctly below.

The basics: It's important to do lunges properly so you don't put unwanted strain on your joints. Here's how to perfect your form:

Keep your upper body straight, with your shoulders back and relaxed and chin up (pick a point to stare at in front of you so you don't keep looking down). Always engage your core.
Step forward with one leg, lowering your hips until both knees are bent at about a 90-degree angle. Make sure your front knee is directly above your ankle, not pushed out too far, and make sure your other knee doesn't touch the floor. Keep the weight in your heels as you push back up to the starting position.

Challenge your muscles: Now that you have the basics down, you can modify your lunge workouts in many different ways in order to work different muscles. For example, Crunch gym personal training manager Tim Rich recommends reverse lunges (stepping back instead of forward) as a good way to complement the forward movements in your daily life. "We always move forward," Tim says. "Moving in a reverse direction requires more skill and helps regain some balance and athleticism." Here are more recommended lunge variations to try:

Do a bicep curl with dumbbells while you lunge to work your upper body while you strengthen your legs.
Do this walking forward lunge workout to further challenge your balance.
Change it up with side lunges so you can work your lower body muscles in a different way than you normally do. Find out the correct way to do a side lunge here.

Injury prevention: Even though lunges are one of the best ways to work your lower body, some people tend to avoid lunges because it can put too much strain on the knees. If you feel pain, Tim recommends you take smaller steps as you lunge. "Reducing the range of motion will still develop good strength and alignment," Tim says. Slowly increase your lunge distance as your pain gets better. Some people also find that doing a reverse lunge instead of a forward lunge also helps reduce knee strain.

Do you like doing lunges?

7 Workouts to Help Achieve a Toned, Tight Tummy

Michele Foley — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:03:30 PDT

It's getting hot out there, which means many of you are busting out the bathing suits, crop tops, and waist-skimming bottoms. If you're not quite ready to bare your midriff, we've got just the thing for you! Here are seven ab-focused workouts that'll have your tummy tight and toned by the time Summer rolls around.

We are all about total-body workouts, but sometimes it's nice to give a little extra attention to the midsection. For those moments, turn to our comprehensive all-abs workout, where you'll find the best moves to tone your upper abs, obliques, and lower abs.
Pictures don't lie: Lady Gaga is definitely sporting a six-pack. To get results like Gaga's, follow this workout plan created by her trainer Harley Pasternak.
Just because it's quick doesn't mean it won't do wonders for your belly. All you need are four minutes to do our short, sweet, and complete ab video workout. It's the perfect way to spend a commercial break during your favorite show.
Yes, crunches are the go-to exercise for working your core, but they aren't so good for posture. Skip them altogether, while also giving your body a bigger challenge, by doing our favorite crunchless ab exercises.
Yoga not only relaxes the mind, but it also helps tone the tummy, something Jennifer Aniston knows all too well. In this short video, watch as celeb trainer Mandy Ingber takes us through three poses she uses to help sculpt Jen's midsection.
Another celeb with a set of drool-worthy abs is Minka Kelly (she was voted one of Esquire's sexiest, after all). Her trainer Gunnar Peterson shared one of the actress's fitness secrets with us: standing ab work! Grab a dumbbell and get set to follow along with this video workout highlighting Minka's ab routine.
Skip the Spanx and tone your way to a midsection you'll be dying to show off - even in that dreaded pooch area. To help work that lower ab section, Amy Dixon, group fitness manager at Equinox in Santa Monica, developed this workout to target the lower abdominal muscles. You'll work with a stability ball to challenge your core even more.

5 Ways to Spice Up Traditional Crunches

Lizzie Fuhr — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:09:58 PDT

If crunches are part of your regular fitness regimen, you may feel like this basic move could use fresh inspiration. If your ab routine is feeling a little dated, but you're not ready to give up crunches just yet, have no fear. Here are five easy ways to spice up everyday crunches.

Take a twist on the tradition: Crunches are even better when you mix up the movement to target different areas of your abs. Target obliques by doing a few sets of bicycle crunches or seated Russian twists.
Grab a partner: If you typically go it solo, find a friend and bring some new motivation to the exercise. Your partner can grab your feet and make sure you've got the right technique that will engage your core and tighten things up. Or, do crunches side by side for a little healthy competition!
Bring out the ball: It's been proven that crunches on the exercise ball are the most effective, making abs work at least 24 percent harder than being on the mat. You may have dropped crunches on the ball from your workouts, but there's no better time than now to hop on board and make them part of your routine. Work your upper abs by doing crunches on an exercise ball.

Keep reading for two more ways to freshen up your crunches.

Get the Bod: Minka Kelly's Abs

FitSugar — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 07:34:40 PDT

Voted one of the sexiest women in the world by Esquire, Minka Kelly works hard to keep her physique in tip top shape. Her Trainer Gunnar Peterson shared one of the actress's fitness secrets with us: standing ab work! Grab a dumbbell and learn some great moves for toning your middle - no crunches required.

Become a Crow Master: 5 Steps to Get You There

Jenny Sugar — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:21:52 PDT

No doubt about it, Crow pose is a challenge, but definitely one you can master. If conquering Crow is on your yoga agenda, here are some tips to get you balancing on your hands.

Another Round of Push-Ups
Arm balances like Crow are all about upper body strength. You can strengthen your arms and shoulders with all the vinyasas you do in class, but if you're itching to do Crow, do upper body work outside of yoga class. Push-ups are essential, so try all these variations. You can also use dumbbells or your own body weight and do these arm-strengthening moves. Not only will your upper body become stronger to hold yourself up in Crow, but you'll also feel confident baring your arms, just in time for tank top and bathing suit season.

Crunch Your Core
Aside from a toned upper body, a strong core is also a must. Practice these poses to target your tummy and back muscles. Skip the crunches, and work your core while strengthening your arms with the Up-Down Plank, one of my faves.

Continue reading for more tips on mastering Crow pose.

Win Award-Worthy Arms With This Upper-Body Sculpting Workout

Michele Foley — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:56:48 PST

With bikini season just around the corner, we can't help but find fit-body inspiration from the stars who dazzled on the red carpet this award season. To help get rid of that extra jiggle under our arms while also learning how to tone our tush, we turned to Crunch trainer Mitch Rice. With these three moves, you'll be waving confidently to your adoring fans and the paparazzi as if you were Cameron Diaz or Viola Davis!

See these bikini-ready exercises after the break!

10 Fitness Routines to Work Your Entire Body Fast

Leta Shy — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:59:45 PST

Even if you have all the time in the world to spend at the gym, who wants to? Get in and out and on with your day by doing workouts that will strengthen all your muscle groups in a short time and get the heart rate up as well. Here are 10 do-anywhere total-body workout ideas that will save you time.

Celebrity trainer Jeanette Jenkins developed a belly-fat-blasting workout sequence that is fast and effective. From oblique crunches to exercise-ball moves, this workout combines strength training and cardio for one effective circuit. See all the moves (and download the printable PDF) here.
If you've got 15 minutes, you must print out this 5-4-3-2-1 workout from a FitSugar reader. Combining five minutes of cardio, four minutes of lunges and mountain climbers, three minutes of arm work, two minutes of squats, and one minute in plank will work your entire body without any equipment.
You may not have the pressure of walking down a runway in your underwear, but there's that whole Summer beach thing to think about. Channel your inner lingerie model with this video: a 10-minute total-body workout from Victoria's Secret trainer Andrea Orbeck.
If you're in the mood for something that will exercise your body as well as your mind, try this (printable) total-body yoga sequence. The nine poses will keep you calm while strengthening and lengthening your muscles.
Adding a ball to your normal workout routine raises the difficulty and offers variation. Do these three exercise ball exercises for a total of three sets for a challenging, all-body workout.

Read on for five more fast ways to work your entire body.

Why You Should Love Deadlifts (and How to Do Them Correctly)

Leta Shy — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:05:18 PST

If the deadlift isn't part of your regular routine, it should be. While the move's name may conjure images of meaty bodybuilders, the exercise is an amazingly effective move for your lower body, especially your glutes, hamstrings, and quads. Not only that, it's great for your core muscles, too. "The act of keeping the core tight while the load is trying to pull you forward is extremely beneficial," says Tim Rich, a personal training manager at Crunch. Basically, the deadlift is a great exercise to get ready for bikini season.

Another reason to love deadlifts? It's the ultimate functional fitness move. "The deadlift is a must-have skill to keep your independence," Tim says. "Proper loading of the spinal column will keep you active and mobile in the later years. You will always have to pick things up for the rest of your life." Regularly doing deadlifts also does wonders for your posture, so if you spend a lot of time at a desk, you should be doing this move.

Ready to add deadlifts to your workout circuit? Read on for tips on how to do a deadlift correctly.