Reducing your waist size doesn't just provide cosmetic benefits. According to Harvard Health Publications, visceral fat, the fat that lies deep in your abdomen, is linked with an increased risk of metabolic problems, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Losing fat from your abdominal area happens through increased aerobic activity and calorie reduction. However, you can tone and trim you waistline through specific exercises that strengthen your underlying abdominal muscle.
Types of Abdominal Exercises
To effectively tone and tighten your waistline and promote firmer, flatter abdominal muscles, perform exercises that focus on all of the major muscle groups in your abdomen. These major muscle groups include your upper and lower rectus abdominis, the long muscle fibers running vertically on each side of the front of your abdomen, and your obliques, the muscles located on the sides of your waist. According to personal trainer and fitness coach Paul Collins in his book, "Awesome Abs," most abdominal exercises work all of these muscles to varying degrees. Certain exercises, such as the plank, place a greater emphasis on the rectus abdominis while others, such as side crunches, focus primarily on your obliques.
Upper Rectus Abdominis Exercises
Exercises that focus on building strength in your upper rectus abdominis include the traditional crunch, abdominal curls, the plank pose commonly performed in most Pilates and Yoga workouts and specific abdominal exercises using a fitness or stability ball. Using a fitness ball is a way to increase the effectiveness of traditional abdominal exercises such as the crunch. To maintain stability on the ball, you have to fully engage all of your abdominal muscles when you perform these exercises, providing a more intense workout.
Lower Rectus Abdominis Exercises
You work your lower rectus abdominis when you perform exercises such as the reverse curl, reverse crunch and hip lift. Pilates exercises are a beneficial way to focus on developing strength in the lower rectus abdominis. Specific Pilates exercises for the lower rectus abdominis include the cycling exercise, the lower ab crunch and the Hundred.
Oblique Exercises
You have both internal and external oblique muscles. The external obliques are on the sides of your rectus abdominis. The internal obliques are located beneath the external obliques. Tightening these muscles can promote a trimmer, firmer waistline. Exercises such as the oblique twist, the criss-cross, lateral side raises and oblique crunches performed on the fitness ball can tone your oblique muscles. The yoga and Pilates pose known as the side plank is another effective exercise for strengthening your entire abdominal area, including your obliques and the rectus abdominis.
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