Sandra performs lying side bends at Chin Leung’s gym.

If you are intent on playing mas or going to the beach, the area on your body that would probably cause the most concern would be the abdominal area. However, what is considered as great abs varies from person to person. For example, there are some men who are actually turned off by seeing a woman with a defined six-pack. They want their women to have toned, trim looking abs, but not necessarily a six-pack. Most women, on the other hand, love to see a man with that hard, chiseled six-pack look.

Whether you prefer a six-pack or just toned, trim abs, the point is you are hardly going to be attracted to a man or woman sporting a fat belly—though some people may argue that once the owner of the belly also has a fat bank account, they might be more inclined to tolerate the extra tyres.

Factors that influence trim looking abs
Everyone has a six-pack; it’s just that some people carry more body fat, which makes that six-pack look like it is still in the case. Based on this principle; it would seem logical that if you want your abs to show, you have first got to drop your overall body fat percentage. To drop overall body fat, some factors must be taken into consideration: diet and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to burn fat and specific ab exercises.

• Diet: It is a fact that once you start being more selective in your carbohydrate intake, you automatically begin to drop overall body fat. However, remember I said be selective in your choice of carbs; I did not say you must eliminate all carbs from your diet. That would be a dangerous practice. To help you identify good carbs from bad carbs, you must research and understand the Glycemic Index.

• HIIT: Conventional aerobic training is just not as effective as HIIT, when it comes to burning body fat. As a matter of fact, with HIIT you can burn nine times more body fat and in a shorter period of time than you would with normal aerobic training. The HIIT system is simple. Let’s use running as an example. After an initial eight-minute warm-up, sprint for about twenty seconds so that you are close to about 90 per cent of your maximum heart rate (anaerobic zone) and then come back down to a slow jog for about two minutes (recovery phase) before repeating the procedure several times; depending on your level of fitness. The benefit of HIIT lies in the after burn, which you experience during post-workout. However, HIIT should not be performed every day and you should first have a strong aerobic base before starting HIIT.

• Specific ab exercises: I have found, in my years of training clients, that the most effective abdominal exercises are: hanging knee and leg raises, Swiss ball abdominals, lying side bends and inverted sit-ups. Your abdominals should always be kept toned, tight and trim with the methods I have outlined above.
Keep Training.