Does Yoga Target the Lower Stomach?

The lower stomach is a problem area for most adults. While some yoga poses do target each of the four abdominal muscles, you should know that performing the same set of yoga poses day after day will not remove stubborn belly fat, as the concept of spot reduction is, unfortunately, an exercise urban legend. For best results, eat a healthy diet and add targeted yoga poses to an exercise plan that includes aerobic activity to accelerate weight loss and improve overall fitness.

Poses Targeting the Rectus Abdominis Muscle
The rectus abdominis is a large muscle that extends from the pubic bone to the sternum. It is the muscle most commonly associated with "six-pack" abs, and it offers stabilization and support for the spine, as well as assisting in upper-body movement. Several yoga poses target the rectus abdominis muscle. According to the "Yoga Journal," Paripurna Navasana, or the Boat pose, helps to strengthen the entire muscle, toning without compromising flexibility. To focus specifically on the lower portion of the rectus abdominis muscle, choose Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, known as the Raised Stretched-Out Foot pose, which not only helps you tone your abdominal muscles, but also strengthens your lower back, improves posture and helps to prevent hip and low-back injuries.

Toning the Obliques
Together, the internal and external obliques play a role in spine stabilization and also allow your upper body and pelvis to rotate from side to side. Rotational yoga poses, such as the Revolved Triangle pose and the Revolved Abdomen pose, are beneficial for strengthening the internal and external obliques. These poses also help to restore and maintain normal spinal rotation, according to "Yoga Journal." To prevent back injury, check with your physician before attempting rotational poses if you have a spinal disc injury or history of low-back pain. (See Reference 4)

The Transverse Abdominis
The fourth and final abdominal muscle is the transverse abdominis. Unlike the others, this muscle is not involved in movement; rather, it maintains internal abdominal pressure and assists in breathing. According to the "Yoga Journal," the best way to strengthen the transverse abdominis is through breathing exercises, such as the Skull Shining Breath, which alternates short, powerful exhalations with longer inhalations. This exercise is beneficial for targeting the transverse abdominis muscle because strong exhalations are the product of muscular contractions in the lower abdomen.

Emphasize Strength
In today’s society, a flat stomach is the fitness gold standard for women. According to the "Yoga Journal," however, these six-pack abs often come at a cost, because the repetitive movements associated with traditional ab exercises, as well as the high number of repetitions that must be performed to achieve a flat stomach, can inhibit range of motion and decrease flexibility. While this doesn’t mean you can ignore the unhealthy abdominal fat that often plagues waistlines, the goal of targeted yoga practice should be strengthening the abdominal muscles rather than aspiring to achieve a perfectly flat midsection.

6 Standing AB Exercises

Why should you be doing standing abdominal exercises? By changing the position in which you perform an exercise, you change the way your body moves and how the muscles are activated. You can also avoid the neck pain many people experience during floor-based abdominal exercises. Plus, by moving your abdominal workout from the floor to standing, you may be able to avoid unnecessary stresses on the joints and create a more dynamic workout.

Trunk or core exercises should be treated like other muscle groups; which means using proper form and resting 48 hours in between muscle-specific workouts. By training your core every other day, you will be giving your muscle fibers enough time to rebuild and clear out any lactic acid that may have accumulated. Oblique exercises consist of twisting and rotational movements, transverse abdominal exercises support the spine such as planks or core bridges, and rectus abdominis exercises such as crunches or hip flexion movements.

You shouldn’t have to feel neck pain to get a great abdominal workout. Gradually strengthen your neck by performing the following standing abdominal exercises and, over time, add one floor-based exercise such as crunches or leg raises.

Begin by completing each movement for 10 seconds; gradually increase by 10 seconds each round. The only equipment you’ll need is a medicine ball with handles or a weight plate for appropriate exercises.

RIBBONS

Start at the right hip and move diagonally over your head to the opposite hip.

TWISTS

Hold the weight in front of you and squeeze the glutes to avoid hip movement.

OVERHEAD LEAN

Extend the arms overhead while slowly leaning the upper body to the right and then to then left.


ONE-HANDED TOSS

Begin in a standing athletic position. Toss the medicine ball from the right hand to the left hand while contracting the abdominals.


RUGBY PASS

Hold the ball in two hands as if you are going to “pass” the ball laterally to someone. Brace your core and pass the ball from the right hip across the body; return to the starting position


SIDE DIPS

Hold the ball in one hand and stand up tall. Place the other hand on your head to help keep your shoulders back. Slowly lean to the side while keeping your torso squared and neck aligned with your spine.

How to Calculate and Use Your Training Heart Rate

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that your pulse reach 55 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate when you exercise. Here's how to calculate and use your training heart rate.

Things You'll Need

• Heart Rate Monitors
• Pulse/heart Monitors
• Stopwatches

Calculate Your Training Heart Rate Range
Subtract your age from 220. (Example for a 28-year-old: 220 - 28 = 192.)

Multiply the result by 0.55 to determine 55 percent of your estimated maximum heart rate. (For a 28-year-old: 192 x 0.55 = 105.6, or approximately 106 beats per minute.) This is the low end of your training range, or the slowest your heart should beat when you exercise.

Multiply the result from step 1 by 0.90 to calculate 90 percent of your estimated maximum heart rate. (For a 28-year-old: 192 x 0.90 = 172.8, or approximately 173 beats per minute.) This is the high end of your training range, or the fastest that your heart should beat when you exercise.

Use your answers from steps 2 and 3 to determine your training heart rate range. (A 28-year-old's training range is 106 to 173 beats per minute.)

Monitor Your Training Heart Rate When Exercising
Stop exercising, and use your index and middle fingers together to count the number of beats at your wrist or neck for 15 seconds. (Your thumb has a light pulse, which might confuse the count if you use it instead of your fingers.)

Multiply this number by four. This is your beats per minute.
Compare your beats per minute to the low and high ends of your training heart range. Is your heart rate within your training range? Do you need to exercise harder? Do you need to slow down?

Strength Training for Pear-Shaped Body Types

According to MayoClinic.com, pears -- those who carry extra weight around the hips and thighs -- are less likely to develop diabetes, heart disease or other metabolic disorders than apples, who carry extra weight around the waist. While that's good news, it won't change your jean size or how you look at the beach. To some extent, your body type is your body type, and it's better to just learn to love it. However, tightening muscles in your lower body while building your upper body can make you appear more balanced.

Upper-Body Workout
Pears aren't just big on the bottom; they're narrow on top. Exercises such as flyes, pushups and bench presses build the pectoralis major muscles in your chest and the anterior, or front, deltoids in your shoulders. To make your shoulders appear broader, also work your lateral deltoids with overhead presses or lateral raises. Keep in mind that working these muscles without equally working your posterior, or back, deltoids will cause your shoulders to round, which defeats the purpose. Counter this with reverse flyes or bent-over rows with your elbows out and make sure to stretch your pecs tight by lifting your straight arms out to the side and pressing them back.

Hip Abduction
Sometimes called "outer -thigh" exercises, hip abductions actually work higher gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscles that can give your hips a tighter appearance. These exercises will place resistance on your outer-leg area by pressing or lifting your leg away from your body. You can do this with abduction machines at your gym, a cable machine with the pulley set low. You can also lie on your side, using only your body weight or adding resistance with a band or dumbbell placed against your outer thigh. To counterbalance abductions, you must also do adductions, which means squeezing your legs together against resistance.

Buttocks and Thighs
You can save time by working your thighs and the rear end of your pear body -- the gluteus maximus -- at the same time. Leg presses, squats and lunges all work the quadriceps at the front of your thighs, the hamstrings at the back and your gluteus maximus. You can also work these muscles separately with leg extensions for your quads, leg curls for your hamstrings and simple butt squeezes. For an added challenge, try a back-lying hip extension. This is a combination of lifting into a bridge position while simultaneously lifting one straight leg until it is approximately parallel to the opposite thigh. This exercise provides the added benefit of working your core.

Abs
Some people associate their pear shape with weak "lower abs" and concentrate on exercises like leg raises. In reality, there is no such thing as lower abs. Your rectus abdominis runs down the middle of your torso, starting just under your ribs, and it's all one muscle. Leg raises and similar exercises actually work primarily on your hip flexors. That doesn't mean you can't tighten your tummy, you just have to work on the entire muscle at one time with exercises like situps, crunches and planks -- front and back. Gradually increase the challenge for your situps and crunches by moving from a flat surface to a stability ball and then to a declined bench. Also try reverse crunches that involve curling your pelvis up. You can do these on a mat, a decline bench with your legs facing down or in a captain's chair. The captain's chair is best if you have any lower-back issues.

How to Start Weight Training for Women

Weight training helps you looked toned and taut while ensuring that your metabolism stays fired up and that you can perform daily activities with ease. It'll also help you maintain bone health, enhance your mood, ward off chronic disease and combat pain. Women do not need to fear bulking up as a result of weight training and should instead embrace weights as an essential part of any healthy exercise program. Consider hiring a certified personal trainer for even a few sessions to help you learn proper form and design a program tailored to your needs. If you prefer not to hire a trainer, learn what you need to do to get started on your own.

Equipment Considerations
When you first start training, do only body-weight exercises. This will help you hone your form and prevent you from overdoing it in the first few weeks. Once you can easily do 12 repetitions of body-weight exercises, move on to weight machines, which allow you to use more resistance, but learn a specific movement correctly without cheating. Over time, incorporate free weights, such as dumbbells, kettlebells and barbells in your weight-training routine. Free weights provide more versatility and help you engage stabilizing muscles that you might miss if you stick to machines alone.

Designing a Program
A comprehensive strength-training program addresses all the major muscle groups, including the hips, abdominals, back, chest, legs, arms and shoulders. When starting out, train two or three days per week; do not train on consecutive days, though, as your muscles need at least 48 hours to recover between strength workouts. In your first workouts, plan to perform just one set of 10 to 15 repetitions of each body-weight exercise. When you add resistance in the form of machines, and then again with free weights, you'll start with one set of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise in your program. Over the course of a few weeks, you can add another set or two as well as increase the weight. The last two to three repetitions in each set should feel challenging to complete with good form.

Exercises to Include
Fill your first workout sessions with body-weight exercises such as squats, pushups -- modified against a wall or on your knees -- triceps dips, spinal balances, lunges and crunches. After you feel comfortable doing multiple repetitions of these exercises, move on to machine exercises such as the lat pull-down, seated chest press, leg press machine, leg curl machine, military press machine, cable biceps curls and triceps cable press downs. After four to six weeks of training on machines, begin to add in free-weight exercises. For example, use a kettlebell to perform a three-point row for the back; use a light barbell for bench presses to target the chest; hold a weight plate at your chest as you perform squats and hold dumbbells for biceps curls and triceps kickbacks. Overtime and as you learn new exercises, you can shift your entire routine to one that includes just free weights.

Change Is Key
Before you get too comfortable with one weight-training routine, change it. Beginners see gains relatively quickly, explains the American Council on Exercise. As training becomes part of your weekly routine, though, those gains slow down. To keep from plateauing altogether, change your workouts every four to six weeks. This change could be as simple as performing the exercises in a different order, increasing the weight by 5 or 10 percent and decreasing the repetitions performed, or adding in a few entirely new moves.