The Ultimate Workout for Summer Abs: Awesome Abs without The Crunches

Looking for the ultimate workout to sculpt summer abs? Start now on these crunch-free moves designed to tone your midriff and you'll be flaunting a flat belly in no time
By Amanda Vogel Best Health Magazine, May 2010

The fastest way to a flatter stomach isn’t doing hundreds of crunches. Rather, the key is to train a deep abdominal muscle that wraps around your midsection called the transversus abdominis (TA). Think of it as a sort of internal Spanx shapewear, smoothing your belly from the inside out. Your TA acts as a natural girdle, and it needs proper training to make your lower abs in particular look and feel flatter and sleeker. “However you train your ab muscles is how they develop,” explains Linda LaRue, creator of the Crunchless Abs DVD series and a celebrity trainer in Los Angeles. LaRue says that doing standard crunches incorrectly can cause you to build your ab muscles outward. The trick to a flatter belly is “pulling your abs up and in as you work them from all angles.”

Before you get started
To get the most from these exercises (and your workout in general), follow these simple pointers from LaRue: 

• Check your posture. Whether standing, lying or sitting, align your ears with shoulders and hips. Next, pull shoulders down and slightly lift breastbone. Feel for equal muscle balance between your front and back.

• Contract your pelvic floor. To help activate the TA, do a soft “Kegel” during each move by gently pulling your pelvic floor muscles—the ones you use to hold back urine when you need the bathroom—upward. (Bonus: Kegels help prevent or lessen incontinence.)

What you'll need
• Equipment: A mat or bath towel, a hand towel and a one- to two-kilogram (three- to five-pound) dumbbell (optional).

• Warm-up: March in place or walk briskly for about three minutes.

• Repetitions: Begin with two sets of each exercise, working up to three sets as your abs get stronger. Perform each for the suggested reps or time (or less if you can’t hold good form). You should be able to do two sets of three moves in about six minutes (about eight to 10 minutes including warm-up). 

• How often: Do this routine three times a week. For a well-rounded program, add cardio and weights, and stretch after every workout.

1. Standing cross core
Works: deep abs, sides of abs, back, thighs and butt, as well as shoulders when done with dumbbell

A. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand, arm slightly bent and held straight out to your right side. (This exercise can also be done without the dumbbell.) Place left hand on left hip and stand with feet hip width apart, shoulders relaxed, abs tight and pelvic floor pulled upward. Do a squat (as if you are about to sit into a low chair) and at the same time cross your right arm diagonally across your body until your right hand is in front of your left knee. 

B. (Shown) As you return to standing, raise your right arm back across your body until you are reaching your right arm to your right side and up, with hand just above ear level and elbow slightly bent. With right arm still extended to your right side, also twist your torso right, looking slightly upward and to the right. Keep your feet flat on floor and pointing straight ahead. 

C. Return to starting position; repeat. Do 10 reps; switch sides.

2. Crouching Tiger
Works: deep abs, inner thighs and arms

A. Get onto your hands and knees with your knees aligned under hips and hands in line with your shoulders. Place a small rolled-up towel between your knees; squeeze the towel to hold it in place. Curl your toes under. 

B. (Shown) Maintaining a long spine, draw your abs up and in, and pull up your pelvic floor. Avoid holding your breath. With elbows slightly bent and still squeezing the towel between your knees, lift your knees about two inches off the floor.

C. Hold for 15 to 20 seconds. Return your knees to the floor. Repeat.

3. Core Clock
Works: deep abs and back

A. Lie face up with legs bent, feet on floor but heels lifted, and arms stretching to ceiling. Hold each end of a hand towel, pulling it taut. 

B. Slowly rotate your torso so that both knees point toward your right side (with toes still on floor) as your extended arms reach just slightly toward your left side. Then move knees to left, with arms slightly right. Alternate 10 times total, then follow the instructions below if you feel strong enough (otherwise, repeat this move for another 10 reps). 

C. (Shown) Continue same sequence as above but with feet off the floor, legs bent to 90 degrees and knees over hips. Alternate sides 10 times total. If you feel as if you’re falling toward the side, you are twisting too much; lessen your range of motion.

Skinny Margarita: Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Most margarita recipes use highly caloric, sugary orange flavored liquors, such as curocao, triple sec or grand marnier that will bust your diet. Here's a great recipe that is 0g carbs and only 112 calories versus a regular margarita, which has 740 calories!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fresh limejuice
• ½ cup club soda
• 2 packets Splenda
• 1 shot patron silver
• lime wedge
• ½ tsp orange extract

Mix together the orange extract, Splenda packets, and club soda. Put crushed ice into a shaker and pour this liquid over the ice. Add in 1 shot tequila, lemon and limejuice. Shake thoroughly, then pour into a glass. Calories: 112 per serving. Carbohydrates: 0g.

Nutrition Tip: Healthy Plate Portions

When assembling your dinner plate, try this visual: 1/2 your plate should be veggies, 1/4 should be whole grain, and 1/4 should be protein. And, a healthy plate size is 9 inches--not 12!

For more yummy & healthy nutrition tips & recipes, join my FREE Make Healthy A Lifestyle emag@http://www.LindaLaRue.com/members!

Instant Breakfast Portion Control

I love this simple Mid-Week Makeover for an INSTANT BREAKFAST PORTION CONTROL from David Zinczenko, author of Eat This, Not That and Editor-in-Chief of Men's Health: Eat ur cereal from a coffee cup. (Plus, it’s easier to slurp the milk!)

M Café Kale with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Lately, I’ve fallen in LOVE with M Café’s Kale with Spicy Peanut Dressing. (I honestly can’t get enough of it.) Besides being delish, kale is also one of those super foods. Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties, and is considered to have anti-inflammatory properties. Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxnthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Because of its high vitamin K content, patients taking anti-coagulants such as warfarin are encouraged to avoid this food since it increases the vitamin K concentration in the blood, which is what the drugs are often attempting to lower.

Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties. Sulforaphane, which is formed when cruciferates are chopped or chewed, triggers the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer-causing chemicals, inhibits chemically-induced breast cancers in animal studies, induces colon cancer cells to commit suicide. Here’s the recipe below & I hope you enjoy:

Ingredients
1 large bunch kale

¼ cup peanuts, chopped for garnish
¼ red onion, halved and sliced for garnish
Spicy Peanut Dressing*
½ cup peanut butter
1 ½ T honey

2 T low sodium soy sauce
2 T brown rice vinegar

½ tsp. garlic, minced
½ tsp. ginger, minced

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. salt

1 ½ oz hot water

DIRECTIONS
1. Remove the kale from the stems. 
Add a pinch of Salt to a pot of boiling water, then blanch the Kale for 3 min. 
Remove the Kale from the boiling water and shock it in a container of ice water. 
Finally, squeeze the excess water out of the cooled Kale.
2. To make Spicy Peanut Dressing: Place all dressing ingredients into a blender. Blend until mixture turns into a smooth consistency.
3. Drizzle the dressing on top of the Kale and mix the kale and dressing together until kale is evenly coated. Garnish with sliced red onions and chopped peanuts.
*Makes enough to dress 2 large bunches of kale. Stores well refrigerated for up to 6 weeks.
Serving Size: ½ cup.

*For more healthy, yummy recipes, join my FREE digital magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle @http://www.LindaLaRue.com/members.

Fat American Kids: Lose The Bedroom TVs

Eating habits, physical activity, access to parks, ethnicity, poverty, and TV watching all play a role in our national epidemic. The percentage of American children who are overweight or obese has been growing for decades, and now our kids--nearly one in three has a body mass index that's greater than normal. And the problem continues to grow, according to a study published Tuesday, March 8, 2010 in The Journal of Health Affairs.

Using data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, the study showed marked regional differences. The five states with the highest rates of overweight and obese kids are all in the Southeast — top-ranked Mississippi (44.4%), Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Minnesota and Utah were tied with the lowest rates (23.1%).

But when researchers further divvied up state-level numbers by race and socioeconomic status as well as things such as TV-watching behavior and access to parks, they found even greater disparities.

The likelihood of being overweight or obese was greater if a child has a TV in his bedroom or watches more than two hours a day (41% greater odds) or if he lives in a neighborhood without a park or recreation center (21% greater odds).

Define & Focus Your Intentions with a Vision Board: It REALLY Works!

Recently, I had dinner with one of my sista's Stacy Small. We were both yapping about the recession, how it’s been affecting our businesses, and what we’ve been doing to market ourselves. Stacy mentioned that every December for the past few years, she’s been making a Vision Board. She said her Vision Board really helped her define, focus, and successfully achieve her goals. (I do something similar each December, as I pick 3-4 business goals I want to achieve for the coming year. I write them down along with bullet deal points. AND, did you know even Oprah makes a Vision Board?)

I like the Vision Board concept, because you have words and pictures, thereby creating more sensory stimulation and focused visualization. Below is a simple definition of a Vision Board, and how to make a vision board.

A vision board is a collage of images, pictures, and written affirmations of the intentions and desires you wish to achieve. It helps your focus through visualization, thus, activating the Universal Law of Attraction, or “likes attract likes”. This means the more you focus and think about something, the more likely it is to materialize and happen in your life. Vision Boards are also called Dream Boards, Treasure Maps, or Vision Maps. I think a Vision Board is a healthy self-care tool.

How to Make Your Vision Board
1. Take a couple days to percolate and meditate in a quiet place about what personal and professional goals you’d like to manifest and successfully achieve in 2009. I usually choose no more than 3-4 as this keeps me focused and not overwhelmed. Before I go to bed at night, I also ask myself what are my goals?

2. After you are clear about your 3-4 goals, you’ll need a few things including a poster board, a glue stick (sticks are best as you to easily move or remove picture), pictures from old magazines (use your old ones, get them from friends, hair salons, doctor’s offices, and the library), photographs, and/or printed from the internet.

3. Go through the images and begin to cut out photos, words, and phrases that intuitively resonate with your new goals. Then, lay them out on the board—but do not glue them yet. Leave a space in the middle to place a favorite photo of yourself. (If you have gained weight, and one of your goals is weight loss, post a photo of yourself when you were at your ideal, comfortable weight.)

4. Try to be specific about the photos and words. For example: if you want to make more money in your job use green dollar signs around your job picture. If you want a new car then, place a photo of the car with color you want too.

5. When you feel comfortable with the photos and words, glue them to your board.

6. Hang your new Vision Board in a place where you can see it often.

I hope you have fun while getting clear about your intentions and goals this year—especially losing weight and getting fit. I have my written goals next to my desk, sitting in the hands of my Buddha statue. I intend to place my poster board above and to the side of the Buddha. In this challenging economy we can all use a little extra help and support. Namaste to my sista’ Stacy for sharing her good karma marketing biz with me…and now you. Let me know your results by emailing me at info@LindaLaRue.com;)!