Kourtney Kardashian Shared Your New Favorite Abs Workout Without Crunches
When you're looking for great fitness inspiration, Kourtney Kardashian never disappoints. The reality TV star recently shared a 10-minute arm workout that's ultra-effective, and now, she shared a link on her IG Story to the latest workout on her website, Poosh—aka "the modern guide to living your best life," as Kardashian appropriately dubs it. This new workout is all about achieving great abs without doing crunches. So, if you kind of hate crunches or simply want to switch things up in your current routine, listen up!
This awesome abs workout was put together by Courtney Virden, fitness trainer, pelvic floor expert, and wellness expert. Women across the globe follow Virden online, as her virtual courses are known to help overall health and fitness, including correcting pelvic floor dysfunction, posture, and more. According to the Poosh post, this particular workout is designed to tone your abs and help make you look, well, simply spectacular. Read on to learn more, and next, check out The 6 Best Exercises for Strong and Toned Arms in 2022, Trainer Says.
Contrary to what you may believe, crunches aren't critical to achieving the abs of your dreams
When it comes to working your abs, Virden explains that contrary to what most people have learned to be true, crunches aren't critical to include in your routine. (She herself hasn't performed crunches in 20 years!) Instead, she shares 3 effective exercises you can do alone or incorporate into your current workout that will help you to achieve that six-pack you are aiming for, or keep the one you have super toned. After all, with bathing suit season only a few months away, every devoted fitness enthusiast knows that exercising the abs is exceptionally crucial this time of year.
Virden notes these exercises—which she demonstrates in a YouTube video—are designed to strengthen your ab muscles, tone your body, flatten your stomach, and help enhance your posture. What's not to love about that? The moves will draw in your ab muscles to provide your spine with extra support. At the same time, you will make your body stronger. The best part is, you can do these moves right at home if you have a stability ball on hand!
Virden does stress in her Poosh article, "While crunches are fundamental in aiding your six-pack muscles, they can cause a lot of strain on your back and can lead to disk damage." Just give the moves your all, and be sure to do them correctly.
First up, do the "Cannonball Drop"
This first routine—dubbed the "Cannonball Drop"—begins with a stability ball. You'll want to roll it forward while using your hands to "walk" across the floor, until which time both knees are in the center of the stability ball. Your hands should be directly beneath your shoulders.
Next, pull your knees in close to your chest, then lower and relax your head. You will lower one hip onto the ball, then lift your hips upward, and then lower onto the other hip. The entire time you should keep both knees pulled close to your chest. "This is a challenging exercise, and you can do little drops until you are strong enough to fully drop your hip onto the ball," Virden says.
Related: The #1 Best Abs Workout You've Never Tried, Says Top Trainer
The second ab exercise is called "Plank Knee to Chest with Optional Push-Up"
Begin this next move with the stability ball in front of you. You'll want to roll forward by walking both hands across the floor. Get to the point when your knees are in the center of the ball, and your hands are beneath your shoulders once again. Virden notes that if you'd like a more advanced move here, you can continue until both feet reach the ball, but the further forward you are, the less stable you will be. Next, lift one of your legs off the ball, and pull your knee close to your shoulder. A push-up can be incorporated here, if you're game for an extra challenge. While your knee is as close to your shoulder as it can be, you should essentially be at the bottom end of a push-up.
All reps should be performed on one side, then you can alternate or change legs, if necessary. Virden says, "Note: if this exercise is too challenging with the instability of the ball, you can also do it with your feet on a stationary object and then advance to the ball when you are ready."
Related: Khloe Kardashian Reveals Her Exact Butt and Abs Workout
Ab exercise number three in this series is called "Feet on Wall Twist"
For the last exercise in this series, get started in a sitting position on the top front section of your stability ball. Your feet should be on a wall, with a bit bigger than a hip-distance between them. Sit up nice and straight, then tilt your pelvis slightly. Your lower abs should be pulled in, while your lower back should have support from the stability ball. Next, move the ball forward and backward with the help of your muscles located below your shoulder blades. Keep your abs straight, and be sure you are not bending and straightening your knees. The movement here should be done only using your waist.
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