Screen shot 2014-08-12 at 7.30.50 AMPOST PREGNANCY WORKOUT

One of the best post pregnancy workouts is to never worry about your belly bulge left over from being pregnant.  Belly fat after pregnancy is normal.  What is not normal is allowing it to stay with you now that your baby is in the crib.

When I was 6 weeks post-pregnancy, I was below my pre-pregnancy weight, and my abs were back in flat stomach action for the first time in my life.  If you think you will never get your body back to the way it was before being pregnant, you should simply choose another thought.  The thought you should take on is getting your body into a shape that you only once dreamed about.

Getting back or getting into shape takes the right nutrition plan for your body type, 6 minutes of daily exercise activity, and a heavy consistent dose of TLC.  It doesn’t do anyone any good if you beat yourself up about having belly fat.  Let’s simply change our mind and begin working on getting a stomach you can be proud of.  I know a mother’s time is limited, but you can commit to 6 minutes a day no matter how busy or tired you are.  All we are talking about here is 6 measly minutes that can change your life.

There is no secret that your abs are lengthened during pregnancy, but they can regain their tautness through these simple abdominal stability exercises.  Do these exercises at home and you will begin to notice how you are regaining your abdominal strength.

PRAYER, CAT, CAMEL: These three exercises begin on all fours (hands and knees).  Prayer – Exhale as you sit back onto heels, lower your head, tuck chin and reach your arms out.  Cat – From all fours, inhale as you arch your back up and hollow out abdominals while head remains tucked.  Camel – Exhale and lower abdominal and reach chin towards ceiling. Tuck your chin and sit back into Prayer position.  Repeat Prayer, Cat and Camel 5 times as a routine.

PLANKS & SIDE PLANKS:  These are great for regaining abdominal strength.  Plank is a position that is the top of a push-up.  You can begin this exercise with your knees on the ground.  As you gain strength, you can perform plank with your knees off the ground.  Be sure that your belly button is pulling toward your spine as you execute each exercise hold.  Squeeze your glutes, you butt, tight! From the Plank position, lower onto your elbows and then shift your body weight onto one elbow and move into Side Plank (pictured above).  Start with a 10-second hold on each side and then progress to a 60-second hold.  Repeat this exercise 3-5 times a day.  If at any time you feel lower back pain, back off and do a 5-second hold, slowly graduating to 10-seconds, 20-seconds, etc.

Abdominals are stability muscles.  No need to do complicated sit-ups or crazy abdominal crunches day after day.  The movement of ab crunching is not how your core was meant to function, so why bother?  What we’re talking about here is enhancing simply movements that bring back the sexy that probably got you pregnant in the first place!  Are you ready to blow your husbands mind with your six-pack abs?  If you didn’t have a six-pack before, you’re on your way to getting one now.  All you have to do is commit to a routine and stick to it.  The more you do it, the more you’ll begin to see the results.  Why not start right now?  Can you spare a quick 6 minutes?