I have to admit it, the weakest part of my body was always my core strength. Therefor I used to overdo ab workouts even though I have never even liked them. They were always hard to do for me since my core strength wasn’t there to help me through the workout.
I kind of managed somehow since I was always active in my life and was in shape most of the time. I have strengthened my abs just enough to not have any physical problems and have enough core power to feel strong and balanced.
However throughout the years this situation got worse and worse and then I got under the spell of the idea that if one does enough exercise, there is no need for extra, specific abs and core workout. Tell you honestly, I was just relived that there is any kind of scientific study that gives me an excuse not to have to work on my abdominal muscles. So I didn’t research it too long, I jumped on the wagon and didn’t do anything for my mid section other than staying active, as I have mentioned that before and sticking to my regular workout routine, which has contained sometimes less sometimes more whole body exercises, which made me believe that my abs are taken care of.
Then things got even worse. I got blessed with three kids 🙂 After my third pregnancy my abdominal muscles didn’t ever get to where they were before the pregnancies. I have read a lot about it and realized that this condition is quite common after a woman had several pregnancies. I had an opening about a two and a half finger wide, which means that I could fit two and a little of my third finger, put next to each other in the opening between my abdominal muscles. That’s the way people measure how wide the opening is.
First that discovery didn’t change anything and I still wasn’t doing any abs strengthening exercises. Since I had that condition, I believed its better to leave it alone now, until my ab muscles close.
But they didn’t and sometimes the opening actually widened instead of getting better. I also had a pouchy look to my stomach, to my lower abdominals, giving the illusion that my tummy was poking out, when actually I just had weak ab muscles and the opening enabled a bulging, which didn’t cause any pain, discomfort or physical problems, I was happily doing long runs, 30-60 minutes whole body exercises, even worked out with heavy weights, and the bulging wasn’t really a bulging, it just felt like it 🙂
Then I have started to reconsider of the idea that one doesn’t have to do extra ab moves, if the person is active and what I have described above. I have slowly, a little even too slowly, after several years, started to realize that unless I do something about it, my situation is going to be worse and worse. One day I have decided to start to do ab workouts again and being the stubborn person I am I have jumped full hearted into working on flattening my stomach and work my core up to a power house.
Obviously that was a mistake. I wish I would have done more research on that subject. I don’t think its a common mistake to start to do lots of abdominal exercises but in my condition it was. I have worked out a lot and used heavy weights, then I have just started to do the same, incorporating ab workout routines every time I have worked out and even on days when I didn’t, I still challenged my mid section.
After about 5 months of doing that, I got injured with a hernia, right above the belly button. That was the peak of the mistreating of my stomach area for several years or maybe even decades. That was the unavoidable sign that I had to change something about that.
The hernia was minor, an easy fix, but it kept me thinking…
I have started to research everything about open abdominals and abs generally. I have read everything I cold about these two subjects and I have made a plan.
I had to learn how to live with open abdominals and how to make the condition better and I had to educate myself about how to strenghten the core generally. All of the research in these two subjects benefited me tremendously.
Finally I had hope, that I can turn the years of abuse around and build a power house, a foundation for my body in a healthy, most structured and scientific way.
However, I didnt go to far with my enthusiasm. I did some changes. I have learned what abs exercises to do and how to do popular abs exercises to actually narrow the opening in my abdominals and create a steel hard core. First I have only done the alternated,open abs workouts, then later, when I have felt strong enough and saw that I am ok, started to add common ab moves.
I still havent enjoyed them tremendously, but I didnt hate them anymore and expected great results from my plan. I have seen improvements right away and I should have stayed with my routine, but I didnt. As soon as I have gained my strengh and confidence back and flattened my belly more than ever before, I have fell into the old habit of ignoring the mid section. Here and there I still have incorporated ab workouts but not near enough.
Just recently, in the last year I have finally decided to do abs regularly, remebering all the smart things I have learned and experienced throughout the years. I did incorporate a minimal amount of abs in my workout days a couple times a week, max. it was more about, “Abs, checkmark” kind of feeling.
Now I am done with old habits and old believes and hopes that one day my tummy will magically flatten and strenghten itself. It won’t. Now don’t give me wrong, I am not complaining at all. I am in shape and proud of my body, I dont feel like my stomach is bulging out. (But is sure feels like it sometimes).
I just want to develop and maintain the strongest core I can possibly can, through regular, daily exercises. I calculated that about 10 minutes abs a day, 6 times a week will get me the famous results I am looking for, and this time it would be hard to change my mind about it.
I just needed some good abs workout routines.
So let me introduce to you my first, 5 Minutes Abs Challenge video, which hopefully will be one of many in the future to come. In this video I focus a lot on the obliques, creating a nice, welcoming frame for the lower and upper abdominal muscles.
As I said, I will do them for about 10 minutes a day, about 5 days a week. In the case of this video, since it’s 5 minutes long, I will do the routine twice, starting the video again, when it’s over.