Want to know the single most effective exercise you can do to flatten your belly?
Plank. I swear by it.
Side Plank
The above was my side plank yesterday morning. My form is usually a little better… it’s hard to plank and take a picture of yourself in the mirror! 🙂
Here’s my daily recipe for a bikini belly***:
- Regular plank – 2:30 mins
- Left-Side Plank – 1:30 mins
- Right-Side Plank – 1:30 mins
***In my opinion. Don’t sue me if it doesn’t make you look like Jackie Warner!***
The thing to remember when planking is to keep your butt down – don’t be sticking it in the air. Don’t sag it to the ground either though. You want to be in a perfect line. Your elbows should be directly in line with your shoulders (it will help keep them from hurting!). Keep your hands relaxed.
Same goes for the hips when side planking.
Keep them in line – no sticking them wayyy up or sagging wayyy down. Straight. Line. The elbow on the floor should be directly in line with your shoulder.
Don’t start with a 2:30 min plank if you are new to planking. Start with what you can do and work your way up.
Form is important here or you won’t be effective. 2 minutes with bad form is just a waste of 2 mins.
Growing up, Mom used to feed my sisters and me chicken fingers with a dip made of honey and mayo.
We didn’t like mustard.
This is my 7-year old mental state: Mayo + Honey = Delicacy. Cheese = Terrible.
I’ve mentioned before how picky I was. I didn’t even like CHEESE. Thankfully, I grew out of that.
Mom shares my passion for all things cheesy, so for Mother’s Day I got her her very own basket ‘o fancy cheese!
The nice ladies at Star Provisions, a specialty market in Atlanta, let me taste until I found just the right ones for the basket. It was hard work, but I sacrificed for Mom.
In the basket:
- Valdeon – Cow AND goat’s milk blue cheese from Spain. This spicy, buttery blue is wrapped in sycamore leaves. It is hands down then best blue I’ve ever tasted.
- Winnimere – Cow’s milk from Jasper Hill in Vermont (made seasonally – Nov-April). Washed with lambic-style beer and wrapped in strip of spruce bark cut, it has a fantastic woodsy taste.
- Wabash Cannonball – Goat’s milk cheese from Capriole Farm in Indiana. It has 3 layers of goodness, the last being a rind of gorgeous ash and mold.
- Little Martha – Salty cow’s milk from Flat Creek Lodge in Swainsboro, GA; named by Star Provisions after the Allman Brothers’ song.
- Potter’s Crackers – Hazelnut Graham
- Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Bar – Dark with Salt and Pepper
Did anyone else’s stomach just growl?
There are all TOTALLY different cheeses… but if I were forced to choose a favorite it would be the Cannonball. The layers added so much to the complexity. It’s like nothing I’ve had before.
Mom! Which is your fav?!
***
I’m running to a meeting, so the Mother’s Day Brunch review is coming tomorrow!
What do you find to be the most effective ab exercise? Do you plank?
What is your favorite cheese?
LOVE THE PLANK! Questions for ya though.. do you do 2:30 straight? If you do.. you are amazing. Right now I do one minute intervals for side and regular.. 2:30..sounds like an eternity.. but it would be something to work towards!
I do, but I started at 1 min and built up! Try just adding 15 seconds each week. You’ll be there in no time!
Wow, you can do it for 2:30? I’m very impressed!
You are my plank hero. And my eyes nearly popped out of my head at the sight of all that amazing cheese!
ohh planks are great 🙂 My favorite core exercise is diagonal standing wood chop with a cable pulley as it works my entire core.
Love the cheese basket idea!
Ohhh… I love those too. Wish We had that machine at my gym!
I do plank… but not for 2 and a half minutes!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m more of a minute, minute and a half type chick 😀
I do planks every once in a while but 2:30 min…go girl! I’m going to have to try this routine and hold the planks for that long, because I’d really like a flat belly. 🙂
And such a fun gift for your mom. Not only was it thoughtful but you got to try everything, now that’s fun gift shopping!
Yuup, pretty sure my tummy just growled! CHEESE is so delish!
It is so sweet of you to get your mom some too 🙂
Yay for planks!
I love doing planks! Probably more than I should. The other fav ab exercise I do is hanging leg raises, both front and sides. Once or twice a week I do them weighted. Makes me SORE like a muuuth.
That was so nice of you to “sacrifice” for your mother. 😉 Bet she loved her gift!
I absolutely hate crunches, so I’m so happy you said planks are your secret…I can at least handle planks…LOL! I love the idea of a cheese basket – very thoughtful!
I LOVE planks! Killer workouts for sure!!
And I would love to receive a basket of goat cheese..I would devour it!
I had the most amazing Mother’s Day! The cheese basket was beautiful and i do appreciate the sacrifice you made to try out all those cheeses so I would have just the right ones! The first thing I had to try was the dark chocolate with salt & pepper. Sooooo good! And great with a glass of red wine! I had some of the Wabash cannon ball tonight, because I love goat cheese. You better hurry home laura, before I eat it all! Thank you so much! Also, brunch @ Rosebud was Awesome! Another great pick! You’re definitely in the know with restaurants in Atlanta!
By the way, Laura can plank far better than I can!
I can’t believe you remember the mayo and honey dip! I forgot all about that one! you girls could never turn a dip down! Great way to get you to eat! Ha!
Thank you for a wonderful day with two of my daughters, we missed Allison, however she did send me an email with a song she recorded and it was so good!
I’m a very blessed Mom!
I love my Girls!
I just read through your comments – and I love the idea of starting at a minute and gradually adding 15 seconds! As I’m fairly confident, I could not hold a plank for over 2 minutes!