If you want the ABsolute best woman to teach you how to get great abs, here she is—my old (and dear) friend Debbie Lee.  Debbie is the Director of Marketing at the Gainesville Health & Fitness Center (which has been ranked many times as one of the top health clubs in the world).  Debbie is also a  Group Exercise Instructor in Gainesville and has the best abs in town to prove it.  At 48 years old she even puts some college students at the University of Florida to shame!

When I asked Debbie to come up with three of her favorite AB exercises for my blog, she chose these because they can be performed at both a beginner and an advanced level.  These exercises call for a variety of different movements that allow you to strengthen your entire abdominal region.    And, since they’re a little different from the traditional crunches that you probably have been doing, these exercises will help keep you from getting bored.

If you have back pain or any other orthopedic problem, you may need to modify these exercises by bending your knees.  If you feel any pain while doing these exercises, stop immediately and consult your local exercise specialist or physician. 

1. KILLER CROSS CRUNCH:  This move requires a tremendous amount of control.  Do this exercise (and the other ones) very slowly to optimize your results.  Lie on your back with your legs straight and wide.  Put your left arm over your head and keep it “glued” to your ear until you reach for your foot.  Curl straight up without bending your knees or moving your legs.  Rotate your torso and reach for your opposite foot. Slowly lower your torso with your arm positioned by your ear again.  Repeat on the same side for 10-12 repetitions.  Repeat on the opposite side. 

Advanced Option:  The exercise is exactly the same, except you cross your feet at the ankles with your knees wide (like sitting Indian Style).

2.      SIDE PLANK:  Lie on your right side with legs extended and right forearm on the ground, with your elbow positioned under your shoulder.  Extend your left arm to the ceiling.  Raise your left hip towards the ceiling as high as you can then slowly lower back to the starting position.   Do 10-12 reps on each side.  If this is too difficult for you, modify the move by bending your knees.   

Advanced Option:  Get in your starting position.  Raise your top leg, then slowly tap your foot on the floor to the front and to the back while keeping your hips stationary.  

3.      CAN CAN:  This is called the CAN CAN because you CAN DO THIS!!  It’s not called the CAN’T CAN’T so try this even though it looks hard.  Sit on the ground with your knees bent and lean back placing forearms and hands flat on the ground.  Keeping legs together let your knees drop down to the right, towards the ground.  While in this rotated position, straighten your legs, pause, bend your knees then rotate back to center.  Alternate between your left and right sides for 8 reps.   

Advanced Option:  You CAN straighten your arms with your fingers pointing back to make this a lot harder.  But we really don’t feel the advanced option is necessary.

Take this Challenge:  Do these exercises with me every other day for 2 weeks.   Post a comment to let me know how much stronger you feel! 

Get Strong and Smile,

Molly

I want you to do something for ONE DAY.  I want you to focus on just two things:  smiling and your posture.  That’s it…end of article.

Seriously, I want you to focus on this all day.  Not for just a moment…all day.  You’re probably saying to yourself that you smile every day and you always stand up straight so why bother taking this challenge?  If this is true, that’s fantastic.  But if you’re like most people, it’s simply not the way we go through our day.  Look at the people you see on your way to work—whether you’re on a bus, in your car or on a train.  LOOK at them.  Most people look like they are dreading their day.  They aren’t smiling.  They aren’t laughing.  They don’t look happy.

Let’s start with the smile—an easy, happy smile.  You already know that it takes more muscles to smile than it does to frown (well, this has never actually been proven, but I believe it and it sound good).  But that’s not why I want you to smile today.  Smiling (like yawning) is contagious.  When you smile at people, they will usually smile back.  I find it interesting when I smile at someone; many times it seems as if I completely catch her (or him) off guard.  A small percentage of people will start looking at the ground and walking faster—like you’re scaring them.  The good news is that most people will happily smile back. 

What you may not realize is that you can change an entire person’s day with your smile.  It’s free and it’s powerful…so do it.  And guess what?  Smiling will make YOU feel better!  If you smile, even when you don’t feel like it, your mood will elevate.  Even though you may know you’re “faking” the smile, your body doesn’t know it.  So smile…you and everyone around you will have a happier day.

The second thing I want you to think about today is your posture.  It is so easy to not pay attention to the way you stand (which is how your present yourself).  Have you ever noticed what you do when you walk through a department store or any other place that has a lot of mirrors?   You immediately straighten up when you catch a glimpse of yourself.  This is because most of us have poor posture.  Why?  Because it’s so much easier to slouch than it is to stand up straight.

When you focus on good posture, you will look taller (duh), look thinner (awesome) and you’ll look more confident.  And there’s nothing sexier than a confident woman.

So, take the challenge today:   STAND UP STRAIGHT and SMILE—show the world your sexy self!  Then, turn one day into a week.  One week into a month.  One month into a year.   It’s NOT hard to do.

And for all my dog lover friends, you know that dogs smile…I miss my Samantha.  She smiled at me every single day of her life.  And guess what happened?  I smiled right back at her–every single day.

Be confident and share your smile,

Molly

Sometimes if something sounds too good to be true, it simply is too good to be true.  Then again, sometimes you stumble across great things with no strings attached.  Well, almost no strings…

Let me introduce you to Wexer.  Wexer stands for “World of Exercise” and is aptly named since it’s a virtual health club with instructors and members from all over the world.  Their vision is to raise the level of health and well-being on a global scale, by increasing the number of people who exercise regularly. 

Getting Started

To sign up, just fill in your basic information along with your current fitness levels and future goals.  Wexer then helps you select the exercise routines that would be the best for you.  Every class has 3 levels to choose from—Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.  You can choose from the following classes:

• Strength—Body Toning, Strength Training, Neck & Shoulders
• Cardio—Aerobics, Kick-n-Circuit
• Pilates
• Yoga
• Dance
• Back and Posture
• Fit for Work
• Stretching

What I LOVE about this site is that many of the exercise videos are only 5 minutes!  That’s right—you can squeeze in some strength moves before checking your emails when you get home from work.  If you only have15 minutes until your kids come screaming in the door, then use that time wisely!  As you know, 15 minutes of exercise is much better than simply doing nothing. 

Have Computer—Will Travel

If you happen to travel a lot for work, you’re always a click away from your favorite workouts.  No more excuses about not finding time to exercise on the road.  And, if you’re a social creature, you can connect with other Wexer members from all around the world.

So what’s the catch?   Word has it that Wexer plans to start charging for their virtual gym soon.  But, if you join now, you’ll be grandfathered in as a member—for free!

So give Wexer a try.  You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.

Get Fit and Be Confident,