Dara Torres
Four-time Olympic swimming champion from the United States. She took part in five Olympics and won 12 medals (four gold, four silver and four bronze).
The workout consists of two parts: exercises for the lower and upper abs. In both blocks, the entire rectus abdominis muscle is worked, it’s just that in the first the emphasis is on its lower part, and in the second - on the upper and oblique muscles.
Lower abs exercises:
- Leg swings - 30 seconds.
- Leg raises - 30 seconds.
- Scissors - 30 seconds.
- From side to side - 30 seconds.
- Leg circles - 30 seconds.
- Butterfly - 30 seconds.
Upper abs exercises:
- Plank static or with swinging/twisting the pelvis - 60 seconds.
- Pelvic twists - 30 seconds.
- Side plank static or with your hip touching the floor - 45 seconds in each direction.
If you have weak abdominal muscles, reduce the time you perform each exercise. For example, from 30 seconds to 20 or 15. Try not to lower your feet to the floor in the lower abdominal block - this will provide more load.
Lower abs exercises
Swing your legs
Lie on your back, straighten your legs, place your hands under your buttocks. To make the exercise more difficult, do a crunch—lift your shoulder blades off the floor.
Raise your straight legs 10–15 centimeters from the floor and alternately move them up and down with a small amplitude.
Leg raise
Raise your straight legs low from the floor and lower them back. But do not place them on the surface: your legs should remain suspended throughout the exercise.
Scissors
Cross your legs over each other without lifting them high.
From side to side
Connect your legs and move them from side to side. The amplitude of movement should be small.
Circles
Make small circles with your feet. First make a circle in one direction, then in the other. Don't put your feet on the floor.
Butterfly
Describe circles with your feet in different directions. The right leg describes a circle to the right, the left leg to the left, and then vice versa. It's like you're drawing a butterfly in the air.
Training complex: basic exercises to dry out the stomach
Training during cutting is based on the principle: a large number of repetitions, but less time for training. You need to exercise quickly and intensively. This will help speed up metabolism and promote good fat loss.
Thus, if you normally perform 10–12 repetitions of an exercise, then during drying you need to reduce the working weight and work for 20, and sometimes more, repetitions. You should train for no more than 40 minutes, and rest periods between approaches should be eliminated as much as possible.
Cardio for cutting
Aerobic exercise, or otherwise known as cardio training, has proven to be one of the most effective ways to get rid of excess fat in the abdominal area.
Aerobic exercise includes:
- running outside or on a treadmill
- riding a bicycle or exercise bike
- using an elliptical trainer
- jumping rope
- swimming
- outdoor games (football, volleyball, basketball, etc.)
- walking up the stairs
- some types of wrestling
It is extremely important to take into account that cardio training is good for reducing not only the amount of fat in the body, but also reduces the volume of muscle tissue. To keep this loss to a minimum, you should properly organize cardio training.
- Exhausting types of aerobic exercise such as games and wrestling should be abandoned during this period.
- Keep your cardio workouts low-intensity but long-lasting, for example long-distance running at a gentle pace is fine. You need to do cardio for about 30–50 minutes.
- Alternate cardio exercises with strength training. However, it is not advisable to do this in one day.
Run
Jogging is one of the most popular, simple and easily accessible forms of cardio exercise. However, there is a fairly significant difference between running on the street and on a treadmill.
Jogging is one of the easiest and most effective ways to dry out your belly.
On a treadmill, the muscles do not work in a very natural way and at first running on it may not be very comfortable. However, this is a way to run comfortably at any time of the day - no rain, no wind, no snow, you can turn on the air conditioning and so on. Doctors come to the general opinion that it is more beneficial for joints and general health to run over rough terrain in clean air, somewhere a little far from the city or at least from the roadway.
Running technique
Sprinting is not suitable for the drying period: as we said earlier, cardio loads should be less intense, but longer, so initially you need to choose a medium or slow running pace.
It seems that running is something very simple and understandable to everyone, however, it has its own secrets and nuances. For example, such a familiar thing to us as foot placement plays an important role. Most people, when walking and running, place their feet first on the heel, then on the toe. Professional athletes more often use toe running, or land on the middle of the foot; they practically do not stand on the heel. Why? The fact is that when running, the impact on the surface is stronger and sharper than during normal walking, and in order to maintain the health of joints, bones and internal organs, it is extremely undesirable to stand on your heel.
Now directly about the technology:
- The gaze is directed forward, the neck is relaxed.
- The shoulders are laid back and down, the back is straight, the shoulder blades tend towards each other.
- Keep your elbows at a right angle, and press your hands to your body.
- The straighter the body, the slower we run: to speed up the pace, you need to lean forward slightly.
- Help yourself with your hands, making short swings in time with the movement.
- The knees are slightly bent during landing - this protects the knee joint from impact.
- You don’t need to move your leg too far forward; step under the center of gravity of the body.
- Breathe evenly through your nose.
It is important to ensure correct body position while jogging; lack of composure can cause injury.
The best option for drying is 1-2 runs per week. Jogging can start from 20 minutes per workout, during which you alternate between running at an average pace and walking, guided by your inner feelings. Gradually, the amount of running without rest should increase. On average, a run can be 40-50 minutes of running without a break.
Exercise bike
Riding an exercise bike almost completely imitates walking on a bicycle.
An exercise bike simulates cycling and is great for drying out your belly. A modern simulator allows you to adjust the load from minimal for beginners to heavy for experienced athletes, adjust the seat position to your height and track all the main indicators - speed, heart rate, distance, etc. The popularity of the exercise bike is also due to the ability to exercise at any time with maximum comfort, regardless of external factors.
Technique:
- Try not to arch your back at the lower back - this is often the sin of beginners. The back should be slightly rounded, relaxed, and the shoulders can be leaned forward.
- Do not put weight on your arms: they should be relaxed, and the load should be distributed throughout the body.
- Be sure to adjust the seat according to your height so that you are comfortable.
- The gaze should be directed straight ahead.
- Watch your breathing: you need to breathe through your nose.
- Before exercising on the simulator, you need to warm up for 5-10 minutes to warm up your muscles.
- After your workout, cool down—light stretching is fine. Don't suddenly stop training. The heartbeat should gradually return to its normal rhythm.
To dry, you do not need to set a high load; the pedals should rotate without strong resistance. In this case, we are focusing on a long, but not exhausting ride - from half an hour.
You should also pay attention to the heart rate indicator. You need to calculate the upper limit of the heart rate and its average value that is comfortable for exercise. So, when training on an exercise bike, the target heart rate zone should be 60%-75% of the maximum frequency.
Ab crunches
One of the simplest exercises for pumping up the rectus abdominis muscles is crunches.
To dry your stomach, in addition to doing cardio 1-2 times a week, you need to pump up your abdominal muscles. There are a huge number of exercises for this, but we will look at the simplest and most effective ones. You can perform these exercises for girls at home.
The first exercise that you should include in your training is abdominal crunches, familiar to us from school.
- We take the starting position lying on our back.
- We bend our legs at the knees, feet firmly on the floor. If you find it difficult to keep your feet off the floor during exercise, you can slide them under a sofa, bed, or ask someone to hold them.
- We place our palms behind our heads.
- The lower back is pressed to the floor.
- We take a deep breath, inhaling not only through the chest, but also through the stomach, and with an exhalation, we lift the body up, lifting the shoulder blades off the floor. The lower back still remains on the floor. At the top point we exhale as much as possible and tense our abdominal muscles.
- As you inhale, gently return your shoulder blades to the mat.
- It is important not to put pressure on your head with your hands, but to rise using your abdominal muscles.
We repeat this exercise 25-30 times for 3-4 sets with minimal rest between sets.
Ab crunch exercise technique.
Leg raises
This group includes exercises that allow you to work your lower abs. They can be performed lying down or hanging on a horizontal bar, crossbar, special rings and sleeves for the horizontal bar, and uneven bars.
An exercise that can be done at home: lying leg raises.
The exercise with raising the body is quite simple; a more complex option is lifting the legs.
- We lie down on our backs.
- The legs are connected and extended.
- The arms are extended along the body, palms facing down.
- As you exhale, lift your legs off the floor and lift them to a perpendicular position with the floor.
- Slightly lift your buttocks off the mat using your abdominal muscles: try not to help yourself by resting your hands on the floor.
- You don’t need to throw your legs back too much; try to keep them perpendicular to the floor at all times.
- As you inhale, slowly lower your legs down.
Number of repetitions 12-15, 4 sets.
Lying leg raise exercise technique.
To complicate the exercise, you can raise your legs while lying down.
A more complex variation of the lying leg raise is the bent over leg raise.
Hanging Leg Raise
If lying leg raises seem like a fairly simple exercise for you, move on to hanging leg raises.
It is worth noting that there is no difference between hanging on the horizontal bar, uneven bars, rings or sleeves for working the abdominal muscles; they are equally involved in any option. Comfort for the hands and body should be taken into account here. Sleeves or bars provide soft support for the forearm; on the horizontal bar you hang by your hands, which can be quite difficult.
- We fix our hands on the projectile. We keep our legs together.
- We lift the legs slowly using the abdominal muscles until they are parallel to the floor.
- It is important not to sway or dangle; the body should be rigid and collected. Only the press works, everything else is fixed.
At the beginner level, the best option is to raise your legs with your knees bent.
A more difficult option is to reach the crossbar with your feet.
If hanging leg raises are not particularly difficult for you, try complicating the exercise by raising your legs above head level.
We also perform this exercise 12–15 times in 4 approaches.
Bent-overs with dumbbells are a great exercise to work out the lateral abdominal muscles.
In order to dry out and not gain extra centimeters in the waist area, it is important to perform this exercise with light weights (from 1 to 3 kg).
One of the most effective exercises for pumping up the lateral abdominal muscles is bending.
In addition to the rectus abdominal muscles, which we worked with the exercises above, it is also necessary to pump the serratus and oblique muscles.
In addition to the rectus abdominis muscles, the lateral muscles, namely the internal and external oblique and serratus muscles, should be worked out separately.
A good exercise for this is side bends.
- Feet shoulder-width apart, stomach tucked, back straight.
- We take dumbbells in our hands.
- Exhaling, we lean to the side, while it is important to monitor the body so that it does not fall forward or backward.
- Lower the dumbbell to about mid-thigh or slightly lower.
- Inhaling, we return to the starting position.
- As you exhale, bend in the other direction.
We perform 15–20 bends in each direction for 3–4 approaches.
Video - side bends with dumbbells
Video example of the correct execution of the exercise - bending to the side with dumbbells:
Upper abs exercise
Forearm plank
Stand in a plank position on your forearms, with your palms facing each other. The body is elongated in one line, the pelvis is slightly raised to prevent deflection in the lower back.
To make the exercise more difficult, you can swing forward a little and then return to the starting position. At the end point, the shoulders should be above the elbows.
Another option for complication is pelvic movements. Tighten it and return it back.
Do the plank for two minutes. Beginners can start with a shorter time - from 30 to 60 seconds.
Pelvic twists
In the plank position, rotate your pelvis to the right side, lower it and touch the floor with your thigh. Get back into plank position and do the exercise on the other side. Perform for 30 seconds.
Side plank
Stand in a side plank on your forearm: turn your body to the right side, extend your left arm to the ceiling. The body, pelvis and legs should be in the same plane - do not push the pelvis back. To make the exercise more difficult, lower yourself until your thigh touches the floor and rise back up.
Perform 45 seconds in each direction.
Recommendations for training and losing weight
Diet
To dry out your stomach and sides and eliminate excess fat in the abdominal area, it is not enough just to exercise; it is also important to eat right. After all, if you constantly burn excess weight and eat high-calorie foods, its reserves will be replenished and the desired effect will not be achieved. To quickly lose belly fat, it is important to eat right and consume as little fat as possible. Also drink plenty of water, this will speed up the metabolic process in your body. It is important to eat as little carbohydrate-containing food as possible (light diet);
Healthy food recipe
Proper nutrition during the process of drying the belly means the following: every day you get 30-45% kcal from protein, 10-15% fat, and 40-50% carbohydrates. It is important not to eat fatty foods before bed, and the amount of carbohydrates should be limited altogether. If your weight reaches 90 kilograms or more, consume about 2500 kilocalories per day (this is approximately 270 g of protein), 250 g of carbohydrates and 40 g of fat.
Meal time
To lose weight in your tummy, you need to eat regularly. If you don’t eat for a long time, the substance cortisol is formed in the human body, this is a stress hormone that forces the body to debug the fat layer.
We recommend the article - if you don’t eat after 18-00, can you lose weight?
Food quality
The food consumed during the drying process in the abdomen and waist area should be of high quality and natural. Do not eat fast carbohydrates, which are found in white bread, chocolates, ice cream and cookies. Half of all food can be replaced with a protein mixture.
Please note: If you begin to feel hungry and realize that this food is not enough, you can increase your carbohydrate diet, but you should take such food only before the workout itself.
What can't you eat?
Various semi-finished and instant products, alcoholic drinks and desserts, sausages, sausages and other heavy dishes, including any types of sausage, and pate should be excluded from the diet altogether. Eat cottage cheese, egg whites, fruits, vegetables and fish (low-fat varieties, such as cod).
Nutritional supplements
They will help maintain an increased metabolism during drying, which will burn deposits much faster, given the low calorie content of the food consumed. This could be, for example, carniton. The substance not only helps burn fat, it also promotes muscle development and increases the level of the male hormone testosterone in the body. Caffeine also promotes the breakdown of fats in the body. Drink several cups of green tea per day.
Video
Seafood and fish
You need to eat fish all the time. The fact is that fish oil contains Omega-3 minerals that help you lose excess weight. They also contain linseed oil. Omega-3s also protect a person from heart failure; they are able to destroy cholesterol plaques that can block a blood vessel. Also, these acids improve metabolic processes in the brain, which has a beneficial effect on memory, improved lipid metabolism, and the accumulation of muscle mass. Yes, drying your abs and getting distinct abs is not an easy task, you will have to make an effort, you will need to spend a lot of physical and mental strength. But the result in the form of an ideal figure is worth it, get started now!
