How do I tighten my abdominal muscles?

A six-pack is made visible by a low body fat percent; tight abdominal muscles come from a different method.  Your core muscles tighten when you can activate your entire core musculature.

The best exercises are ones that activate many core muscles. Popular exercises like sit-ups and crunches don’t make the grade, because they focus on single muscles and increases wear and tear on the spine. These best exercises are planks and side planks, because they activate your whole core.

If you are able to hold and plank or side plank for 1-minute or over I suggest adapting the exercise by lifting an arm (the plank) or leg (side plank). As you lift and arm or leg your focus is to keep centered hips.

What to look out for during the plank and arm raise

• Do your hips shift to the left or right?
• Do your hips rotate to the left or right?

What to look out for during the side plank and leg raise

• Do your hips drop?
• Do your shoulders roll forward?

If you happen to do any of these it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do these exercises. It means you’ll need to continue practicing until you can hold centered hips.

What does an arm or leg raise do?

• It makes your core work as a whole
• It creates hoop stress to challenge your core to hold tighter
• It challenges all the tissues of your core (muscles, tendons and fascia) to tighten.

Please watch the tutorial above to learn more about how to perform these exercises.