A sagging tummy is no fun. Getting rid of the belly fat that covers the abdominal muscles and getting “six-pack” muscles requires a combination of reducing caloric intake, eating clean foods, doing aerobic exercise, and then performing stomach exercises, in that order.
In this article, we’ll lay out 8 saggy belly tightening exercises to tighten up loose skin, strengthen and tone your stomach and core muscles and reach your deep ab muscles. Try to maintain proper form in all exercises.
1. Lying Knee Tucks
Description
Lying knee tucks target your lower abs and hip flexors. This is a multiphase exercise featuring four movements performed to a counting beat.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Lie on the floor with your legs straight and your head raised off the floor. Place both hands under your butt to straighten your lumbar spine, and lift both legs so that your feet are about 6 inches off the floor with your knees slightly bent.
- Keeping your feet together, bring both knees to your chest for count one, and then straighten your legs for count two.
- Repeat this movement for counts three and four to complete one rep.
2. Medicine Ball Core Twist
Description
The medicine ball core twist is a fundamental resistance exercise that builds abdominal core and upper body strength with a simple movement.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart holding a large medicine ball with your arms extended in front of you.
- Twisting your torso, rotate as far to the left as possible keeping the stability ball at chest level.
- Reverse direction, rotating your torso to the right, bringing the ball in a smooth line at chest level.
3. Bicycle Crunches
Description
The bicycle crunch is an advanced variation of the lever crunch. targets your upper abs and your obliques, strengthening and toning these muscles.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Lie on the floor with your fingers at your ears, your elbows flared outward and your legs bent to form a 90° angle with your feet in the air.
- Begin to lift your shoulders and upper torso off the floor as you raise your right elbow diagonally. At the same time, bring your left knee forward toward your elbow and extend your right leg diagonally forward until you’re right elbow and left knee meet.
- Lower, and then repeat on the other side. Continue for the recommended rep count.
4. V-Up
Description
The V-Up is a challenging abdominal exercise. It targets both the upper and lower rectus abdominis while also strengthening the lower back muscles and tightening the quadriceps.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Lie face up on the floor with your legs straight and your arms extended behind your head.
- Simultaneously raise your arms and legs so that your fingertips and nearly touching your feet, while maintaining a flat back.
- Lower back to the starting position and then repeat for the recommended rep count. Be sure to keep your arms and legs straight and avoid using a jerking motion as you raise or lower your arms and legs.
5. Abdominal Kick
Description
The abdominal kick is quite an intense exercise that strengthens and stabilizes your abs if you leave the lower abdominals. Be sure to perform the exercise at a steady, controlled pace.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Lie face up on the floor with your legs straight and your head raised off the floor.
- Draw your right knee toward your chest, and straighten your left leg, raising it 45° from the floor. Place your left hand inside your right ankle and your right hand on your bent knee.
- Switch your legs two times, switching your hand placement simultaneously.
- Switch your legs two more times, keeping your hands in their proper placement. Continue alternating sides for the recommended rep count.
6. Double Leg Lift
Description
The double leg lift is a challenging movement that hits the hard-to-reach inner core muscles. It strengthens and stabilizes the muscles of both the internal and external abdominals.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Lie face up on the floor with your legs together and your arms down at your sides. Lift your legs so that they form a 30° angle with the floor and point your toes.
- Pull in your abdominals and lower your legs to the floor.
- Keep your back flat, your abdominals tight, and lift your legs back up. Continue lifting and lowering your legs for the recommended rep count.
7. Metronome
Description
The metronome exercise is a great way to engage your core muscles in a twisting motion. It focuses on the obliques as well as the transfers abdominis.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Lie face up on the floor with your arms extended out from your sides to provide a good base of support. Keeping your legs together, lift them towards the ceiling so that your legs and torso form a 90° angle,
- Lower your legs to the right, twisting your torso and allowing your hips to turn while keeping your upper torso stationary. Control the motion so that your feet tap the floor.
- Reverse the movement, bringing the legs back to the starting position.
- Repeat on the other side. Continue alternating sides to complete your rep count.
8. Mountain Climber
Description
The mountain climber exercise is an explosive movement that develops upper body strength while also providing an intense cardio workout. It delivers a core-centric focus and burns calories to help you get rid of that loose belly fat.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Began in a high plank position with your hands and shoulder width apart, your arms on the floor, your feet together, and your back straight.
- Bring your right knee in toward your chest. Rest your left foot on the floor.
- Jump to switch your feet in the air bringing your left foot in and your right foot back.
- Continue alternating your feet as fast as you can safely go for the recommended rep count.
How do you get rid of loose skin?
The best way to get rid of loose skin is with a combination of exercises such as those described in this article, cardiovascular workouts to burn calories and stored body fat, good nutrition, firming creams, and supplements.
Can you spot reduce belly fat?
No, you definitely cannot spot reduce body fat. That means that doing abdominal exercises will not remove fat from your stomach. The only way to do that is to burn calories from all over your body. This is achieved through a combination of eating less and doing more cardiovascular exercise.
Conclusion
In this article, we have highlighted eight very effective exercises to target sagging tummy muscles. In addition to these movements, you should also perform regular cardio exercise three to four times per week, consume a nutrient-dense diet that features plenty of lean protein, and cut back your daily caloric intake so that you are consuming fewer calories than you are burning every day.
