We just returned from a fun and active family vacation to the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky Ohio. During this trip, the most common phrases uttered from our friends were, “Check out Angie’s abs!” Upon returning home and uploading some of our pictures to Facebook for our friends and family to see, the comments began to roll in… “Holy Abs Angie!” “Great Abs Girl!”

Of course, the most frequently asked question has been, “How did Angie get those amazing abs?”

Contrary to what some people may think, it’s not a result of amazing genetics. Like me, Angie gets rather offended when that comment is ever brought up, because it down plays the effort that we put into transforming our physiques. We get fat just as easy as anyone else. There have certainly been times throughout our life where we proved the case.

Since Angie’s abs have been the topic of discussion I thought it would be appropriate to share some of the key factors in how Angie maintains a sexy six pack…

Not So Secret Abs Success Tips

When it comes to developing and maintaining a trim waistline, it’s all about lifestyle. There is not one single ingredient. Rather, it’s a combination of many ingredients that make the recipe complete.

Tip #1: Avoid Over Eating
I can count on my hands how many times I’ve seen Angie over eat during the 13 years that we’ve been together. She enjoys a treat nearly every day, but almost never over indulges.

One of the main reasons why Angie rarely over eats is because she wants to avoid the feelings of guilt that she would experience if she does over eat. It’s those feelings of guilt, which often times send many people into a downward spiral with their nutrition and cause them to “Throw in the towel.”

When it comes to nutrition, one of the greatest tools that Angie uses to ensure that she does not over eat, is a journal. She enjoys the process of recording what she its and she finds it incredibly helpful for staying on track and holding herself accountable.

Tip #2: Consistent Workouts
It’s no secret that one of the keys to Angie’s success has been her consistency with her workouts. As a busy mom, this has been extremely important to her. Consistently working out has a positive impact on her mood and overall well-being. It’s important for me to encourage her to be consistent with her workouts, because everyone in our house wins when Angie makes her health and fitness a top priority.

It would be misleading to say that one single workout program has been responsible for Angie’s flat tummy and six pack abs. Her physique is the result of a combination of many workout programs over the years, including Sizzlin’ Circuits, Core Plus More, 10-Minute Metabolism Booster, More Love Less Fat, and many more.

We recommend changing your workout program every 4-6 weeks. More than anything, we believe that this will keep your motivation high and continue to make fitness fun and exciting. Plus, it’s great to see how your body responds to different workout programs.

Tip #3: Values
This is a biggie! Angie and I both place our health as the top priority in our lives. We know that our health has a direct impact on every aspect of our life.

We also place a high value on our physical appearance. Vanity is certainly a powerful driving force. We love to look good. When we look good our confidence is through the roof. The more physically fit we are, the more we enjoy everything that life has to offer.

Tip #4: Have Fun
Not only do Angie and I enjoy our workouts, but we also enjoy living an active lifestyle. We love be active outdoors. We love chasing the kids around. Simply put, we love movement.

It’s important to participate in activities that you enjoy. Fitness should be fun. The more that you enjoy the activities that you do, the more likely your chances of sticking with the active lifestyle.

Tip #5: Stress Less
We understand the negative impact that stress can place on your body and how much more difficult it can make it for you to lose weight. Simplifying the fat loss process and doing the little things to relax our minds and body’s have played a tremendous role in slimming our waistline.

If you are stressing over every little detail, worrying about whether or not you are incorporating the best fat burning exercises to stimulate certain hormones, and performing those exercises in just the right manner to ensure that your body is in the perfect state to spot reduce your belly fat, and making sure that you hurry home and consume your post workout meal within 15 minutes and 42 seconds to avoid your body completely breaking itself down and making it impossible to lose weight or gain muscle… you are setting yourself up for disaster!

Burning fat does require hard work and dedication, but it does not have to be nearly as complicated as some fitness experts make it out to be. Do not stress over fat loss. Embrace the process and discover the joy in this journey.

There you have 5 tips that have helped Angie get those amazing abs and maintain them for many years.

Oh, and if you are not aware, Angie has had a c-section. So if you’ve been thinking that it’s impossible to get abs or a flat tummy after having a c-section, you better question your current belief system.

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body’s and life.

Their line up of body transforming programs includes, ROCK That Body, Sizzlin’ Circuits, Core Plus More, Fat Loss Quickie, and More Love Less Fat.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

One of the members from my local gym recently asked the question, “How often should I work my abs?“ I recorded a video, which reveals the answer to this question as well as some very key issues that you must be aware of when it comes to achieving great abs, plus, my Top 6 Abs Exercises!

Here’s some key points about working your abs…

The most important point to clear up is that it doesn’t matter how many abs exercises you do or how often you work them, if they are covered with a layer of fat, you’ll never see them.

The way to remove the fat around your belly is to create a caloric deficit by consuming fewer calories than you burn on a daily basis. It’s as simple as that. There’s no magic bullet.

It’s difficult for some people to grasp the idea that abs exercises really have very little to do with developing 6 pack abs. That’s why I recommend that abs exercises should only make up a small portion of your overall workout program. I’d rather see you doing more squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and presses.

The benefits of working your abs are not really noticed until your body fat percentage is low. If you have been working your abs they will pop out more and create deeper ridges, than if you weren’t working your abs. If you work your abs and build them up, you may actually begin to see them a little sooner as you drop your body fat percentage down… but the difference won’t be significant.

The key to this is to work your abs with greater resistance instead of cranking out 1000 reps of crunches or sit-ups. For the most part I recommend that you choose a resistance that allows you to perform 8-10 reps, and mix in a few sets of 15 reps.

In the video I demonstrated my 6 favorite abs exercises, most of which incorporate higher resistance and fewer reps…

Cable Crunches
Leg Raises
Stability Ball Sit-Ups
2 Dumbbell Twists
1 Dumbbell Twist
Planks

How Often Should You Work Your Abs?

My recommendation is twice per week. Here’s a routine that you could use…

After performing all three exercises you can now rest for 60 seconds and repeat for two more rounds. You can perform the above workout on Monday and the following one on Thursday…

Exercise Leg/Knee Raises 2 Dumbbell Twist Stability Ball Sit-Ups

Rest 0 0 60

I hope that this video and article helps bring you closer to achieving a flatter stomach and 6 pack abs if that’s what you desire.

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body’s and life.

Their line up of body transforming programs includes, ROCK That Body, Sizzlin’ Circuits, Fat Loss Quickie, and More Love Less Fat.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

It’s time to change up your abs workout program and add some variety to it. Today’s guest post from my colleague David Grisaffi, author of Firm and Flatten Your Abs, reveals many of the big reasons why you absolutely must break out of your boring ab training routine and it includes 5 great stability ball abs exercises. There may actually be a few that you’ve never seen performed before.

I have been following David’s abs workouts for the past six years and have incorporated many of the exercises into the programs that I have designed for my personal training clients.

Firm and Flatten Your Abs is unlike any abs workout program out there. It focuses on training your deep core muscles for a healthy, strong, and sexy midsection.

These exercises have helped my clients flatten their tummies, but the most common feedback that I have heard from them is that they no longer experience lower back pain. That’s the benefit of working much more than just your rectus abdomins muscle (6 pack).

Enjoy today’s guest post and the 5 exercises for your abs…

Multi Dimensional Ab Training

By David Grisaffi
Author of Firm and Flatten Your Abs

In some of my previous articles, I’ve written about why you need to change your ab programs frequently to avoid muscle adaptation, repetitive pattern overload injury, muscle imbalance and of course, boredom!. But those aren’t the only reasons you need exercise variety.

The functions of the abdominal and core muscles are so numerous, so varied and so complex, that entire textbooks have been written on functional anatomy and kinesiology without even scratching the surface.

What this means to you is that since there are more actions and functions of the abs and core than any other body part, there are more possible exercises you can do for abs and core than for any other body part.

With literally hundreds of ab and core exercises to choose from, the irony is that most people are STILL doing workouts that revolve around only a few exercises such as crunches, sit ups, leg raises and maybe some ab machines…

This is what I call “training in only one dimension“… and that can spell “trouble”

One dimensional training leads not just to progress plateaus and muscle adaptation, but also failure to engage all the functions of the core region, to strengthen thoroughly in every plane of movement, or to develop the proper neurological link to the muscle.

The end result is muscle weakness, muscle imbalances, injuries, a distended lower abdominal area and or and a not so impressive midsection.

The Firm And Flatten Your Abs program includes about 50 exercises which allow you to train every muscle in your core region in every “dimension.” These dimensions include:

Flexion
Extension
Stabilization
Rotation
Side flexion
Prone
Supine
Seated
Standing
Quadruped
Stable
Unstable

One way to enter a whole new “dimension” of abdominal training is to start using a Swiss ball – also known as a stability ball because a ball is an unstable surface. Training on an unstable surface flips the switch on your nervous system and activates stabilizing muscles that are weak in most people due to sitting at a desk all day long and or doing too much machine training.

Here are 5 of my favorites:

Here are the exercises and descriptions for the 5 abs exercises:

Prone Ball Roll

Place your breast bone or sternum on the apex of the Swiss ball and wrap your arms around the ball. Slowly roll side to side, holding your end position. As you gain more strength and stability you will be able to roll farther out and hold the position longer.

Supine Lateral Ball Roll

This exercise improves many things in your body at one time.

Lie on your back on a Swiss ball. Position your body so that your head is comfortably supported on the ball, as well as the area between your shoulder blades. Extend you hip upward until your knees , hips and shoulders are all in the same horizontal plane.

Place your tongue on the roof of you mouth just behind your front teeth, a position that can be found by swallowing.

Extend your arms outward and turn the hands so the palms are facing upwards. Place a dowel rod in you hands.

Begin to roll laterally. Throughout the exercise, hold the alignment of you body exactly as it was before moving, with the exception that you may move you feet in a small shuffle keep them in alignment with the body as you shift laterally.

Go only to the point that you can hold the alignment for the count of “one thousand and One”, then return to the opposite side, repeating the sequence.

Swiss Ball Side Flexion

The Side Sit requires simultaneous contraction of the internal and external Obliques, as well as the quadratus lumborum. This exercise is used to improve core strength and your back.

Place a Swiss ball under your hip and anchor one or both of your feet along the bottom of a wall.

Hold your top leg as straight as possible and in line with the torso, shoulders and head, then lie over the ball to stretch the oblique abdominal muscles. Beginners should place their arms at their sides. Progress to placing your arms across your chest as shown, and then to having your fingertips behind you ears.

From the bottom position, initiate the side flexion movement from the trunk.

Side bend the spine one level at a time until the shoulder and head come up.

On the way down, the spine should dies flex over the ball one segment at a time starting from the bottom up.

Prone Jack knife

The prone jack knife is used to strengthen hip flexors, abdominal muscles and the shoulder girdle.

In a push up position, place your feet on the ball

Hold your spine straight and maintain head and neck alignment

Draw your legs under your body over the duration of two seconds

Return to the start position over the duration of two seconds

Repeat the exercise for the prescribed number of repetitions

Forward Ball Roll

The Forward Ball Roll strengthens the abdominal, hip flexors and shoulder Extenders. This exercise is very good for everyone to improve stability in the spine and shoulder girdle.

From a kneeling position, place your forearms on the ball with your palms facing each other.

The goal is to maintain good spinal alignment as you roll forward. Good spinal alignment is indicated by not exaggerating any of your spinal curves.

Take a deep breath and draw the navel toward your spine just enough to slim your waistline slightly.

Begin rolling forward, moving from the hip and shoulder joints equally. The movement should terminate at the instant you feel you are going to lose spinal alignment. You will know you are losing spinal alignment if the curves in your spine increase and the stick falls off.

Just stop at the point at which you start to lose your ability to keep good form.

I realize if you’re not familiar with Swiss ball and core training, that some of these exercises may look unusual or even “weird” at first.

You might look at them and say, “David, it looks to me more like “rolling around on a beach ball than training.”

Yup… that’s what a lot of people said… until they tried them and their abs started showing for the first time!

By expanding your arsenal of ab and core exercises and working them in every capacity and function for which they were designed, you will…

And maybe best of all..

You can learn more about this concept of multi dimensional training and also see dozens of new core and ab exercises in the Firm And Flatten Your Abs Ebook:

About The Author

David Grisaffi majored in physical education and is a certified high performance exercise kinesiologist with the CHEK institute. David holds a total of 6 certifications, he is a high school wrestling and baseball coach as well as an independent trainer and strength coach, known especially for his work with professional boxers and golfers. David is the author of, Firm And Flatten Your Abs an online best seller which teaches you how to lose body fat and develop “six pack abs’ while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time.

I hope that you learned something new today from David’s guest post and that you are encouraged to try some new abs exercises. In the next few days I’ll share some more abs exercises with you that will train them in a way that they’ve never been trained before.

Until then, keep on ROCK’n!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

One of my favorite pieces of home workout equipment that we use to add variety to our workouts is the Valslide. In the video below I demonstrate a fun way that I put a twist on the Inchworm exercise using the Valslide. This is a great exercise to flatten your stomach…

The Valslide is also great for shaping, lifting, and sculpting a sexy backend. In the following video, Valerie Waters, the creator of the Valslide, demonstrates a variety of great butt exercises that you can perform to transform your butt…

What I really like about the exercises that Valerie performed in the video above is that they also target your core. You’re oblique muscles and transverse abdominals will really feel many of these exercises. It’s pretty much a total body workout when you incorporate the movements that Valerie demonstrated here.

We absolutely love the Valslide. It’s great for variety and it’s great for travel too. We don’t leave home without packing the Valslide.

The Valslide has also been great for our joints as well because there is no impact with the movements. Reverse lunges, mountain climbers, and a variety of other exercises can be performed in a smooth fluid motion, eliminating the impact that is experienced without the use of the Valslide.

Obviously, this remarkable piece of home equipment receives our two thumbs up

My friend Valerie Waters is a trainer to the stars and the Valslide has played a role is shaping the butts of celebrities, including the very fit and sexy Jennifer Garner of the movie Elektra and Rachel Nichols of the action movie G.I. Joe. Check them out in this short video clip…

And if you want to watch an outstanding video of Valerie and Rachel Nichols I highly recommend that you check out this Action Hero Babe interview. I really enjoyed this video and I guarantee you will too. It really gives some insight into what these female action hero stars are faced with when preparing for a very important role.

Action heroes have played a motivational role in transforming my physique over the years. I always feel like working out and eating well after watching a great action packed movie.

Now you can train like an Action Hero Babe with Valerie’s Action Hero Babe Training System! How cool is that!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

PS When you scoop up your set of Valslides be sure to try these exercises and let us know how they feel.