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Workouts That Target Your Tummy

By: RockBox Fitness
Category: Fitness

A woman performs a plank

The tummy. Do we need to say more? 

No matter how far you are into your health and fitness journey, the tummy can be an incredibly challenging area to lean out and tone up. 

While most of your progress in this difficult area can be attributed to your diet, proper workouts will always provide an extra push. Tighten up your tummy area once and for all with these 4 workouts. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced options are available, so when you master the more basic functional movements, be sure to take it up a notch!

BURPEES 

Beginner: First-timer with the burpees? No worries. Try walking it out for a low-impact version of this classic, yet effective move. Bend your knees until your hands are on the floor. Walk your feet out until you are in a plank, push-up from plank or lower down to your knees, step your feet back up towards your hands and stand up. Add a mini-hop at the top if you are able to jump and repeat!

Intermediate: Burpees are a challenging move as is. If you hover in the intermediate range, try out a standard burpee with a pushup. The simple breakdown is to lower your hands to the floor, kick your feet back into a plank simultaneously, lower into a pushup, jump your feet back towards your hands, and jump vertically off the floor as you bring yourself back to standing. 

Advanced: Looking to take your burpees to the next level? Try doing 2 pushups at the bottom instead of 1 or introduce a tuck jump to replace the simple hop. There are countless ways to change up this traditional move for some added challenge and versatility — you just need to channel your inner fitness creativity!

PLANK 

Beginner: If the plank is a foreign exercise to you or something you have never been a fan of, it may be worth incorporating into your workout regime for its benefits to your mid-section. If you are a beginner, try to hold a standard plank from your elbows or your hands (whatever suits you best). If this is still too much, lower to your knees, keep your back straight, and engage your core.

Intermediate: Comfortable in your plank? Crank things up a bit by walking your plank out, moving from your hands to your elbows and back up to your hands. You can even do this from your knees if you aren’t quite ready for that level of intensity. 

Advanced: There are so many ways to take a plank to an advanced level. If you have a Bosu ball handy, place the ball side down on the ground, your hands on the outermost part of the flat surface, and hold your plank as long as you can! The same can be done with your hands positioned on either side of a medicine ball. Additionally, you can add a small, circular resistance band to your hands and/or feet to add more challenge to the basic exercise. 

A woman performs a push up

TREADMILL

Beginner: Trimming the tummy can be done in many ways. An effective way, no doubt, is to use a treadmill. If you are a beginner, simply walking and light running can be effective. 

Intermediate: If you have access to a treadmill and are looking for an intermediate level workout to target your midsection, try some basic level circuits where you run and walk, off and on. 20 – 30 seconds of sprinting, met with 40-60 seconds of walking (recovery) is a great way to do just that!

Advanced: Hard-core on the treadmill? Well, this workout may just be for you. Try any variation of a split circuit, where your high-intensity interval is that of sprinting and your low-intensity is a light jog. Add an incline in your high-intensity sections and feel the burn like never before! Your tummy will thank you! 

RUSSIAN TWISTS 

Beginner: A Russian twist is an amazing exercise to engage your abdominal muscles, challenge your obliques, and lean out your tummy. If you are new to this workout, take a seat on you behind as if you are about to head into a V-shape, cross your feet and leave them on the floor, and slightly take you back away from your legs. Group your hands together and twist, using your core, from one side to the other. 

Intermediate: The easiest way to move from a beginner Russian twist to an intermediate level of the exercise is to take your feet off of the ground. Hover your feet anywhere from a couple of inches to a foot off of the ground and continue to twist from side to side. 

Advanced: Looking for the ultimate Russian twist challenge? Check out the intermediate version of the exercise and add a weight (or many)! Hold on to a weight with your hands and twist from side to side, and if you are really up for a challenge, rest a small dumbbell on the top of your feet.

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