How to tone the abdominal muscles

To tone your abs, it's worth changing your dietary strategy and focusing on core training with exercises that give the body greater stability and protect the back.

Flabby belly? Nobody likes it. Especially when the summer season invites you to show yourself off. But toning your abs isn’t easy. It’s necessary to change your dietary strategy and focus on training that involves the core. What is the core? Finding it is easy. Look down and imagine that you see a sort of corset (you know, like the ones used by women in the eighteenth century) around your belly, back included. Your core is capable of giving your body stability, improving posture, making movement more dynamic, and last but not least, protecting the spine. In reality it’s a corset that makes you strong even deep in the body’s interior – in your abdomen’s core. In addition to superficial muscles, there are deep ones; they are the ones that give you greater stability and tone.

Here are three exercises capable of stimulating the core that you can do in the morning, for example, before breakfast. To restore your physique, replace your lunch or dinner with Meal Shake mixed with milk or a plant-based drink made from soy, almonds, spelt and so on. Alternatively, opt for a Meal Smart. Both are high in protein and a source of fibre.

Wall lifts

a) For this exercise to be even more effective, respect the two phases of breathing. Standing with your back to the wall, position your legs as wide as your shoulders, slightly bent at the knees, and away from the wall. Your head, back and buttocks should be firmly against the wall. Flex your arms like a candelabra or goal posts, so that they form a 90-degree angle at elbow level and keep them firmly against the wall.
b) On exhaling, slide your arms up as far as you can. Don’t lose contact with the wall’s surface. Lower your arms on the inhale.

Sets: 2
Repetitions: 10
Pause: 1 minute between sets

Forward lunge

a) Again, respect your breathing. Get a couple of weights. If you don't have them, two small bottles of water are more than fine. Stand with your legs aligned with your pelvis, your back straight and your arms extended along your sides. Inhaling, step forward with your right leg and bend your knee. Stop when it has formed a 90-degree angle with the right thigh.
b) Exhaling, return to the start position and repeat on the opposite side. 

Sets: 2
Repetitions: 10
Pause: 1 minute between sets

The Pendulum

a) Don’t hold your breath, follow your breathing. Stand with your legs open as wide as your hips and your arms along your sides. Breathe in, lift your right leg by extending it back. Be sure not to stiffen the knee or rotate the pelvis. Arms extended down, gaze forward.
b) Return to start position on the exhale.

Set: 2
Repetitions: 10
Pause: 1 minute between sets