Ab Exercises with Resistance Bands

Reducing Body Fat

The best way to melt away unwanted body fat is through a workout program that includes:

Cardiovascular exercises

Cardio exercises work the large muscles like your legs and develop a stronger heart and lungs. When you do your cardio workout you can monitor your heart rate to know if you're working hard enough, too hard, or just enough. This can be done by taking your pulse or with a monitor. Your heart rate equals how many times your heart beats in one minute. You can check with your health care provider to find out what your maximum heart rate should be, but the following formulas provide a rule of thumb to go by:

• For women: 226 - (your age) = your maximum heart rate
• For men:220 - (your age) = your maximum heart rate

Examples of cardiovascular exercises include:

• Walking
• Swimming
• Aerobics
• Jogging

Strength training

Strength training builds lean body mass and boosts not only your energy level but also your metabolism because muscle burns more calories than fat. Strength training can be done with:

• Dumbbells
• Resistance bands
• Your own body weight.

Flexibility exercises

In today's busy world, flexibility exercises are often overlooked. Don't do this. Staying flexible plays an important part in keeping muscles and joints strong and pliable and makes them less vulnerable to injury. This is why stretches should be done before you exercise as well as during the cool down period. Flexibility exercises can be as basic as completing a few stretches held in place for about 20 seconds.

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands serve more than one purpose. Their use is prescribed by therapists, you can find them being used in the gym for toning, and you can use them in your exercise routine at home. If you're not sure what a resistance band is, the best way to describe it is that it looks like a huge rubber band that comes in different colors indicating the about of tension and resistance they produce. Green is the easiest, yellow is medium and red is the most difficult. They can be purchased in kits that include accessories like anchors and exercise handles.

To effectively use resistance bands takes some practice. The ideal is to find the proper amount of resistance. Once you get the feel of it, the right amount of tension at the onset of the exercise will help you build strength at the beginning stage of your range of motion.

Ab Exercises with Resistance Bands

Resistance bands can be an effective tool for any strength training workout routine including targeting your midsection. In fact, ab exercises with resistance bands can help you get that well-defined six pack look, but before you start be sure to warm up and stretch to avoid injuries. Here are a couple of ab exercises to get you started:

Roll Down with a Twist

• Sit on the floor (keep your knees bent a little)
• Position the broad part of resistance band around balls of your feet
• Hold one end of the band in each hand (knees and feet stay together)
• Tighten your abs and sit up tall as you inhale
• Exhale as you pull in your stomach muscles and gradually roll down
• Lift your right arm up high and to the left twisting your torso (Keep your seat flat on the floor)
• Come back to center and gradually roll up to the starting position
• Repeat the exercise raising your left arm.

Completing 4 repetitions (both sides) equals one set.

Seated Crunch

This exercise will provide the same results as crunches, but this version puts less strain on your neck

• Sit in a straight-back chair with the resistance band circling your body and the chair
• Sit straight, feet flat on the floor (keep feet on the floor throughout the exercise)
• Hold in your stomach muscles
• Little by little bend forward to about a 45 degree angle (keep your back as straight as you can)
• Gradually return to starting position and repeat.