10-Minute Workout: Belly-Dance Away Ab Flab
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Fitness

10-Minute Workout: Belly-Dance Away Ab Flab

Tired of crunching your way to better abs? Try this 10-minute abs workout for a sexy change of pace.

By Jocelyn Anderson; Photos by Chris Fanning

Belly Dancing for Fitness

Belly dancers aren't just wiggling and jiggling their hips; they're getting an ab workout that sculpts almost every single muscle in their core -- even the hard-to-target, deep transverse abdominals, says Rania Androniki Bossonis, author of Belly Dancing for Fitness (Fair Winds Press, 2004). Do this 10-minute routine once a day and you'll shimmy your way to a sexy stomach.

Print the Workout Booklet: 10-Minute Workout: Belly-Dance Away Ab Flab  >>
 

Rib Slide

Minutes 0:00 - 1:30

Stand with hands on hips and feet together.

Targets: Tectus Abdominus and Obliques

  • Stand with hands on hips and feet together.
  • Move just your ribs to the left, then back through the center of your torso and to the right.
  • Continue moving from side to side.

Hip Circle

Minutes 1:30 - 3:00

Standing with feet hip-width apart and arms slightly lifted at sides, shift your hips to the right, as if you were hula-hooping.

Targets: Obliques and Glutes

  • Standing with feet hip-width apart and arms slightly lifted at sides, shift your hips to the right, as if you were hula-hooping.
  • Then move them in a circular motion to the front, left, and back.
  • Repeat in the opposite direction.
  • Continue alternating.

Horizontal Figure Eight

Minutes 3:00 - 4:30

Stand with arms out to sides and feet hip-width apart.

Targets: Lower Portion of Rectus Abdominus

  • Stand with arms out to sides and feet hip-width apart.
  • Lean right hip diagonally forward.
  • Shift it to the right side, then around to the back and center.
  • Repeat with the left hip and continue alternating, as if your hips were drawing a figure eight on the floor.

Vertical Figure Eight

Minutes 4:30 - 6:00

Lift right hip and heel and lean to the right.

Targets: Lower Portion of Rectus Abdominus and Obliques

  • Lift right hip and heel and lean to the right.
  • Drop hip and heel, returning hips to center.
  • Repeat to left side.
  • Now combine both sides into a smooth motion.
  • Imagine you're drawing a figure eight on the wall in front of you with your belly button.

Camel

Minutes 6:00 - 8:00

Press chest forward while drawing shoulders and arms at your sides and arching your spine.

Targets: Rectus Abdominus

  • Press chest forward while drawing shoulders and arms at your sides and arching your spine.
  • Reverse this motion by pulling abs in, tucking pelvis, and bringing shoulders forward.
  • Continue alternating to create a rippling S with spine.

Belly Roll

Minutes 8:00 - 10:00

Stand with arms out to sides and a few inches behind you.

Targets: Rectus Abdominus (not shown)

  • Lift right hip and heel and lean to the right.
  • Inhale and expand your rib cage, then pull in the lower portion of your abdominals.
  • Reverse the motion by relaxing and expanding your lower belly as you draw in your upper belly.
  • Alternate between the two movements, creating an undulating wave with your abdominals.

Print the Workout Booklet: 10-Minute Workout: Belly-Dance Away Ab Flab  >>
 

Originally published in Fitness magazine, September 2005.

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