Alexandra’s Active Adventures: Yoga for Abs at Her Active Life

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Alexandra’s Active Adventures: Yoga for Abs

Posted February 11, 2008 at 06:00 PM by Alexandra Haller

Section: Her Fitness, Athletics, Training Programs, Her Health, Her Motivation, Special Features

Yoga for Abs An entire hour of yoga that focuses on my chiseled six-pack. That immediately intrigued me! Okay, I don’t already have a sculpted six-pack, but I do feel confident wearing shirts that show my stomach. The only way to keep that confidence is to keep up with toning exercises. This class promised that: “This ab-centric class is aimed at toning your middle parts while strengthening your back.” With the studio offering a free first class to newbies, I was ready to feel the burn. After all, how many variations on crunches can this gym girl do without curling up and over in boredom? I was ready for some new ideas.

I found this particular studio while bopping around the Internet. I would definitely go back, for the ambiance alone. Each room that I walked by was decorated with soft-colored shades and painted in light, calming hues. The woman who showed me around was quiet, yet affable. She never pressed me about a membership. I appreciated that.

I was the first one to arrive at class, which gave me time to observe everyone else as they found space to roll out their mats. Our class had two men. The rest of the 16 or so students were women between the ages of 20 and 40. From my experience, this is the makeup of most yoga classes.

Our teacher immediately instructed us into plank position on our forearms. For 60 seconds. There was no warm up. I’m guessing this was because the teacher and many of the students had just finished a NIA class. (Note to self: try that one day.)

I had always thought I could hold a decent plank. Well, apparently it’s much easier with incorrect form. I say this because twice the teacher pulled my hips up. Seems my lower back was sagging. When I became properly aligned in the posture, my abs began to shake and tremble. The first two moves of the class were one-minute planks. That was grueling. That set the tone.

As intense as the class proved to be, I never felt overwhelmed. Ana, our instructor, was helpful and very smiley. If she weren’t a yoga teacher, I could easily see her as a preschool teacher leading a session on curling your body around the monkey bars. She urged us to move loosely and without stiffness, and encouraged us to give ourselves a break if we were reaching our limits.
Plank Pose
For the duration of the hour, we repeatedly came back to the dreaded plank: on our forearms, on our palms, alternating between sides, on our sides while lowering and raising our hips. Then there were other gut-busting moves. We would begin in a seated position, knees up, feet planted hip-width apart. Then we would try to keep our backs straight as we leaned all the way to the floor. We’d end up flat on our backs with our legs out. It’s easy enough if you pull it off quickly, which of course wasn’t what we were told to do. Ana demanded we take a slow, agonizing 60 seconds to fully execute the shift from seated to lying down.

She continually asked us to hug our abs. This is not the gym, she’d say. We aren’t doing mindless crunches. We want to hug our abs, love them. She referred to our core as our shield. She let us know that this class wasn’t about the look of a six pack, but rather the strength of a shield. The shield that protects our organs. I loved the imagery, but by the end of class, my shield felt as tough as Swiss cheese.

When class finally ended I was drained. My abs were sore for the following three days. I was aware of them when I sneezed, when I twisted to look out my car’s back window and when I reached for the high shelf in my cupboard. That tells me the class rigorously targeted specific muscles---a measure of success in my book! I felt like the Pillsbury Doughboy and not because I’d squeal if someone poked my side, but because my sides felt like dough. I can’t be the only one who burns a body part so deeply that when I go to look at it, I expect that it will have morphed into a solid, hard muscle. Alas, I lift up my shirt and see the same belly I saw last week. Although, I’d be willing to bet with repeated classes, the six-pack would slowly begin to emerge. And there is nothing wrong with starting with dough anyways. It can be a building block, which we can choose to mold and shape to our expectations. In a sense our bodies are beautiful works in progress. The goal is to keep working and keep progressing.

If you are in the Ann Arbor, MI area, click here for a link to the studio. Keep in mind that as yoga continues to grow in popularity, you can probably find similar classes in about any city.