Summer is here and you have been diligently doing your abs and toning up for swim suit season, but can’t quite get that stomach to lay flat… You may be doing more harm than good.  If you do ab exercises the wrong way you will actually strengthen the muscles in a way that pushes out rather than pulls in.

So, suck it in.  Literally.  When you do your ab routine make sure that you are pulling your abs towards the back of your spine.  Concentrate on that compression and strengthening the muscles with an inward motion.  Do each exercise slowly too.  You get more out of it and you can check yourself and make sure you feel yourself tightening in instead of pushing forward or out.

Also, contrary to Brittany Spears’ 500 abs a day routine, you really do need to let those babies rest.  They are just like any other muscle you train in your body- so give them every other day off to recover and build back after you break them down with your concentrated deliberately pulled in exercises.

If you don’t have time to do a full on ab routine every other day or so, you can still benefit from spending 5 minutes a couple times during the day pulling in your abs while you are sitting (in the car, on the subway, at your desk…). Just do small pulsing movements (slowly) and pull in your stomach, hold and release.  Sit back and enjoy a flatter stomach!