One, I don’t know who but ONE, might (if they were wishing to die a horrid death) say that my stomach resembles a deflated helium balloon. Wrinkly, loose, stretch-marked skin, cascading from my belly button. It’s the price I have had to pay for two beautiful baby boys.
And that’s ok.
BUT, if I had my way, my stomach would be tightly pulled. I’d have even the slightest hint of abs. I’d have some definition.
Truth be told, despite working out my entire 20s, I have never had even a hint of definition in my abs. I could easily be convinced that I don’t actually have any ab muscles, which would explain why I have had years of perfect eating and consistent, difficult exercise and yet…see nothing.
If you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll know that I have made 2017 my year of mini-goals. Little improvements each month to change my body, mind and business.
My mini-goal for January was to not drink a sip of alcohol. Check it off, because I did it. 31 days without a drop of alcohol so much as meeting my lips.
February and March were all about getting cardio back into my life with WALKING and running 3 days a week on the treadmill. AND I DID IT!!!! Yes, it wasn’t always easy, but I made myself do at least 15 minutes of walking on my treadmill at least 3 times a week. You know what happened? I ended up doing a heck of a lot more than just 3 times a week and often walked for 20-30 minutes at a time.
Things are looking up for this (admittedly lazy) work-at-home mom my friends!
So, in the vein of setting small physical goals and reaching them, I have set a mini-goal for APRIL to work out my abs every day. YES, abs are made in the kitchen (so they say). YES, you can overtrain one body part (people on twitter have told me). YES, my body history tells me that the likelihood of seeing so much as a hint of muscle is slim to none (the mirror don’t lie). NONETHELESS, I’m sticking to my goal of 30 painstaking days of ab work.
Each day, my ab workout will look like this:
Do you have a link for an example of each of those exercises? 🙂
Add the links right into the post:)
ADDED (that should say!)
Have you checked for Diastasis Recti? (separation of the transverse abdominal muscles) I have it very severely and am still figuring out how to correct it but I'll get there slowly but surely. I only mention this because if you did have it then crunches and other traditional ab exercises might actually do more harm than good. Just looking out for ya. 🙂 I'm sooo very far from getting my body back but here is hoping.
I have looked into AND had it checked out and, nope, I don't have it at all. Just, apparently, no ab muscle to speak of. It's my weak spot anyway, let alone having those muscles stretched to high heaven while pregnant twice in 2 years!
Thanks for looking out for me though, Ros:) You should come to UGI fit classes with me!!! in the evenings)
Sarah, how did your challenge work out?
I'm on the road to recovery too! I'm going to physio to correct my separation. It's been 4 weeks and I have gone down 3 inches at my waist! I can't wait until it is safe for me to really start exercising to lose all the weight. Then I'll be joining you in challenges like this! 🙂
I'm going to do a follow up post as soon as I'm done my period…lol! I don't want to measure or take pictures while I'm so bloated:)
I'm so glad you're going to physio! It must feel so good to be getting rid of this issue!
I am thinking of doing a squat challenge in April! So you can join that one!!!