6 Pilates exercises for abs

Pilates in Doha can be a wonderful activity particularly for women, however there are few tips which might be handy for women trying to get in shape quickly.

1: Criss-Cross

Start by interlacing the fingers and placing hands behind the head. Imprint the lower back into the mat and lift the legs one at a time to tabletop. Inhale to prepare and curl up into a chest lift position to begin the exercise.

Exhale to twist the upper body towards the left, taking the right elbow towards the left knee and allow the right leg to straighten.

Inhale to bring the legs back to tabletop and the body through centre to our chest lift. Breathe out to twist to the other side.

As you twist, feel that you connect one armpit to the opposite hipbone. Avoid losing the height of your chest lift as you come through centre. To make this movement more difficult, keep the legs straight instead of having one bent. You’ll then perform the exercise with scissor legs, ensuring that you’re pointing your toes and not bending through the knee.

Perform 8 to 10 times each side, alternating.

2. Chest lift

Interlace the fingers and place hands behind the head. Imprint the lower back into the mat and lift the legs one at a time to tabletop. To ease into this, feel free to keep the legs bent with the feet flat on the floor. Inhale to prepare and as you exhale, begin to curl up with the head, neck and shoulders. 

You will feel the waist cinch in as you curl up but avoid pushing the abdominals out. Knees should stay directly stacked above the hips. Inhale at the top and breathe out to slowly relax the upper body down to the start position.

Repeat 8 to 10 times.

3. Toe taps

Start by lying on your back with your legs bent up and feet flat on the floor. Imprint your lower back into the mat by drawing your pubic bone towards your belly button and notice how your lower abs engage.

Lift the legs one at a time to a tabletop position. You’ll have the knees stacked directly above the hips with the shins parallel to the ceiling. Inhale to prepare and, as you exhale, begin to tap one toe towards the floor, moving from the thigh. Inhale to lift the leg back to the start position.

Alternate from side to side, ensuring the legs are back in tabletop before moving to the other side. Avoid arching from the back by keeping the waist cinched in and only go as far as you feel comfortable.

To make this movement harder, reach the arms up to the ceiling to lessen your support and tap the toe farther away.

Perform 10 to 12 on each side.

5. Single straight leg stretch

Start with the legs in tabletop and the head, neck and shoulders lifted, curled up into a chest lift. Extend one leg up towards the ceiling and place the hands behind the back of the leg. Extend the other leg along the mat until it just hovers off the floor.

As you inhale, allow the legs to come through centre. Exhale to scissor the legs switching sides. Feel the upper body curl up towards the leg rather than drawing the leg towards the body.

For a strong stretch through the back of the leg, grab closer towards the ankle without bending the knee.

To make the exercise more intense, interlace the fingers and place the hands behind the head, still staying lifted, and keep scissoring the legs.

Perform 8 to 10 times each side, alternating.

5. Assisted roll-up:

Start with the legs in tabletop and the hands holding the back of the thighs. Inhale at the bottom and exhale to curl up with the head, neck and shoulders and continue to roll up through the body until you are seated.

As you sit tall, inhale to lengthen the spine and ground the feet down on the mat. Exhale to tuck the tailbone under and begin to roll back down smoothly so you are lying on your back.

Focus on drawing the abdominals back towards the spine rather than pushing them out. If you feel that you get stuck on the way rolling up, push through the feet and feel them propel you to a seated position.

Repeat 6 to 8 times.

Source-http://www.womenshealthandfitness.com.au/fitness/workouts/1367-5-pilates-exercises-for-abs?showall=&limitstart=

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Active + Rest = Results

If you’ve been faithful to your gym routine for any length of time, you know the importance of scheduling rest days into your training week. But just because you’re taking a day off doesn’t grant you a license to become a Barcalounger blob. Sure, it’s important to have at least one full day off from all sorts of activity every week, but on your other day(s) off, consider doing some active rest.

Active rest might sound like an oxymoron, but this protocol is a great way to recover from a hard workout week while avoiding couch-potato status. The idea is to move your body with gentle activity — easy enough so you don’t break a sweat — for 30 to 60 minutes. This kind of activity will help stretch out tight areas, get some blood flowing to ease soreness and shake out the kinks from your joints. Though it won’t burn too many calories, active rest helps flush out toxins and facilitates muscle repair. It also acts as a cross-training technique, which helps reduce the incidence of overuse injuries such as tennis elbow, tendinitis and shinsplints. As a bonus, it can promote the reduction of stress hormone levels in the body, which in turn boosts fat burning and bolsters immune system response.

Active rest can be any activity you can think of, so long as it’s not too strenuous. Here are some great ideas for your active rest days that you can do solo or with friends and family.

Yoga

There are many kinds of yoga in Doha to choose from, but for active rest days, try a restorative or gentle-flow class that focuses on breathing and easy postures to help relax and oxygenate your muscles and reset your mind for the week to come. No classes near you? Google “YouTube Gentle (vinyasa) Yoga” and hundreds of options pop up that you can do in your living room.

Walking

This is a great activity for anyone of any fitness level. If you think walking is boring, find a new area to explore nearby — a park, beach or neighborhood — or sign up for a walking tour of your city. If you’re walking indoors, set your treadmill no faster than 3.0 on 0 percent incline and pop in a Scenic Trex DVD to transport you to a beachside jungle, lush rainforest or the California coastline.

Hiking

Hiking is another great way to change things up and enjoy nature while still moving your bod. Unsure where to start? Check out everytrail.com to find a nearby hike, its length and difficulty rating. Then pack a healthy lunch and take the whole family with you.

Water Sports

We’re not talking wakeboarding or kite surfing here — more like Doha paddleboarding or kayaking slow swimming. Remember, this is a recovery day! The water is also a great place to stretch out because your limbs are more buoyant. After you’re done with your active rest activity, spend another five to 10 minutes stretching tight muscles while in the water.

Biking

Set aside your inner Armstrong and opt for a leisurely ride around your neighborhood, local park or boardwalk. Alternately, set your stationary bike on a low resistance and pedal to some slow jams. Think sightseeing rather than Spinning. Check out the Spinning play-lists on Spotify for some music ideas.

- See more at: http://www.oxygenmag.com/article/active-rest-results-10190#sthash.MIoL8pVu.dpuf

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Best of the workouts for women

These back exercises will turn your flip side into more attractive parts and also lessen your back-pain improving posture.

Lacey Stone is the owner at Lacey Stone Fitness situated in New York City. She explains about women health pointing out “the back” of fitness candidate telling that a back that is toned is not an essential part to rock in a backless dress but that is one of the most important body parts as the back plays a role in doing almost everything like running, lugging groceries, therefore back should be strengthened in extremely important for one’s fitness preventing injury. This helps in gaining a good posture and a confident look irrespective of what you wear. Further that healthy muscles right from shoulders till hips help up or reduce back pain. The significant fact is that adults having chronic backaches feel lot of less pain after they complete a 16-week strength-training package.

Lacey Stone's workout package aims at the entire upper and all of lower back, the core, your hips as well as glutes. This should be done two to three times every week (that is a combination of three sets doing each exercise, working doing as much as 12 reps per set) for improving posture, preventing aches, killing pains and achieving a strong and defined rear view.

MOVE 1 (doing Pull-up, Doing 3 sets in 12 REPS)

You need to grab the pull-up bar of some assisted pull-up machine, palms to face forward, and you need to hang at arm's length keeping knees bent keep feet crossed behind. Squeeze shoulder blades both together and pulling the chest to the bar. Next slowly lower your back to start and that makes one rep.

MOVE 2 (doing Push-up-Position Row, Doing 3 sets in 12 REPS)

Go into the pushup position using your hands as hands rest on dumbbells and your feet are slightly more than your hip-width apart. You need to brace your abs as you are pulling one dumbbell towards your rib cage side. Then pause and lower the weight and repeat the same with your other arm. That makes one rep.

MOVE 3 is about “Super woman” (Doing 3 sets in 12 REPS)

Lay your face-down with your legs straight and keep arms overhead; draw the belly button toward the spine tightening your abs.  Contract your glutes, slowly raise your head keeping arms, chest and legs away from the floor. You need to hold this pose just for five seconds, then lower to do it again and that makes one rep. 

MOVE 4 Lat Pull-down (Doing 3 sets in 12 REPS) 

You need to sit at a lat-pull-down bench grabbing the bar keeping a shoulder-width keeping overhand grip. Keep your arms straight and your torso upright. Then pull the bar down to your chest squeezing your shoulder blades together without moving the torso. Pause a little and slowly return to start as that makes one rep. 

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Reasons why people can't gym!

Many of us think about losing a few kilos while we pretend to be busy working. But only a few lucky ones can actually do it. Sigh! Most of the health freaks get enrolled in a gym but quit mid-way. Reason? Well, there can be plenty. People across all age groups believe in remaining fit and fine these days, but due to many uncalled for reasons are not able to follow the hard-core gyming routine. Today, we list out those reasons which stop you from hitting the gym. So, beware of these, so that you can fit in those perfect pair of jeans you always dreamed of in high-school!

Here are some common reasons of why people can't gym:

Can't stop binging

One cannot control their constant craving for food. Result? Hands go straight to the nearby jar of munchies you keep under your desk. Yes, you manage to sneak out on those bingy food items and can't kill your eating habits. Food can be a reason why you cannot gym. Gyming means you have to control your intake on food. If you are a big foodie then this can be a big reason for skipping your exercise classes.

Excessive laziness

Laziness is one of the biggest barriers in losing those extra kilos. It can aslo be one of the reason why people avoid gym. Excessive laziness leads to putting on pounds of weight. So, stop being lazy and get into your gym gear. Start exercising to lead a healthy life.

Work stress

Going to gym and working out can be the best stress reliever. But, if there is immense work pressure then a person may refrain from hitting the gym. After a day of hard work and stress in office, you dont really want to run on that treadmill. Yes, quite true!

Lack of sleep

Lack of sleep decreases the energy levels in the body which makes it harder for a person to carry out a good work-out. Sleep deprivation is not good for health and makes less motivated. It also makes you less likely to grab your exercise gear and go to the gym. So one should get a proper sleep in order hit the gym and exercise.

Can I exercise?

First thing which comes to our mind when we think of gyming is whether we will be able to exercise or not. We also tend to think if we would be able to use the equipment's properly or not. These thoughts stop us from going to the fitness center, so push them backwards and put on your running shoes. Clock says, run dear run!
Get fit in style, try out the best gyms in doha !

Source-http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/fitness/reasons-why-people-cant-gym_1639066.html

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