Mom Fitness

Kudos to my friend Tara Downie, the mother and trainer who contributes to my "Mom Fitness" pieces, she ran the Boston Marathon today. I am so psyched for her and hope you'll all join me in congratulating her. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate (at least in the blogger world) than to post her second installment to the BabyKeyes blog.

ABS-olutely Fabluous

The number one area that women wish they could tone is their abdominals. You can crunch for hours, but it’s necessary to change things up in your routine and give those muscles a wake up call! Try these three No Crunch moves. They are a great alternative to mat based ab exercise. So stand up and tone that tummy!

What you’ll need: One 3-5 lb hand weight

Move 1

The Figure 8.

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Hold weight in both hands in front of your body, elbows bent. With core tight, slowly bring the weight up to your head and down to your hips creating a figure 8 pattern. Keep the torso still. Try 10-12 rotations clockwise, then another 10-12 counter clockwise.

Move 2

Oblique Bends

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Hold weight in both hands just above your head, elbows bent. Hold core tight. Slowly bring weight down towards the left shoulder, elbow slides down to left hip. Now bring weight back up, then down towards the right shoulder, elbow slides down to the right hip. Keep the torso still. Once you have the hang of it, keep the weight moving side to side like a rainbow over your head. Do 20 side to sides.

Move 3

Standing Overhead crunch

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Hold weight in both hands in front of your body, elbows bent. With core tight, slowly bring the weight up over your head and pull it back down to the waist crunching forward and contracting the abs holding the contraction for a 2 second count. Continue the upward/crunching movement in a slow and controlled way for 15 reps.