ttening the lower tummy is possible. Three main muscle groups are in your abdomen. The rectus abdominis muscle group helps you bring your chest and knees together. The oblique muscle group helps you rotate your torso, or trunk. The transversus abdominis is the deepest abdominal muscle, which draws the entire tummy inward. To tone the inferior, or lower portion of these muscles, do exercises that place the workload below the belly button line.
Rectus Abdominis
This is your "six pack" muscle. Frederic Delavier's book, "Women's Strength Training Anatomy," features a variety of ways to engage the lower rectus abdominis. Here, they are briefly explained from easiest to hardest. "Leg extensions on the floor" are performed by resting back on your elbows with your knees tucked up. Alternately straighten out one leg and bend the other. A similar exercise, "crunches on a bench," starts in a sitting position with hands curved around the bench beside your thighs. Lift both bent legs up and down with control. Modify by lifting one leg at a time. Progress to a "pelvic lift off the floor." Lie on your back with your arms by your sides and knees tucked. Curl your pelvis up off the floor and lower slowly down.
Obliquus Abdominis
The lower portion of this muscle group is toned by rotating the trunk side to side. "The corkscrew" exercise, described in detail in Brooke Siler's book, "The Pilates Body," is especially effective. Begin on your back with arms by your sides. Extend your legs straight up into the air and compress your tummy down. While keeping your hips on the floor, circle both legs in one direction 10 times and reverse. Because you are on your back, try side-to-side pelvic rotations. Bend the legs up to a 90-degree angle at the hip. Draw the bellybutton in to the spine and slowly lower your legs over to one side. Return to starting position and reverse the motion. This exercise is slow and deliberate. Focus your mind on the lower abdominal muscle contraction.
Transversus Abdominis
This muscle is key to an overall flat tummy. It is the deepest abdominal muscle group and is responsible for compressing the tummy inward. In Pilates, this muscle contraction is referred to as the tummy scoop. The action of this muscle is the same in every position. Choose either sitting tall, lying on your back or kneeling on all fours. Inhale and relax your tummy out; exhale and compress your bellybutton and entire abdomen in toward your spine. This muscle can be hard to "tune" in to. It might help to place your hands on your tummy and feel the tummy flatten down or inward.
Combined Exercise
If you are short on time, you might want to combine three exercises into one. Put together the tummy scoop, "pelvic lift off the floor and side-to-side pelvic rotations. The common denominator in flattening the lower abdominal muscles is to compress the abdomen while raising the legs. If you fail to compress the tummy inward while performing abdominal toning, you will tone it in a bulging shape instead of a flat shape."
References
- "Women's Strength Training Anatomy"; Frederic Delavier; 2003
- "The Pilates Body"; Brooke Siler; 2000
- "YMCA Pilates Instructor Manual"; YMCA of the USA; 2004
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