rate this

thank you for rating! Yoga with Weights: Targeting Your Abs with One-Legged Curls

Yoga with Weights is a hybrid of two powerful, time-tested exercise systems: yoga and bodybuilding.

Most people exercise their abdominal muscles because they want a flatter stomach and a trimmer figure. However, these muscles serve important functional purposes besides keeping you trim. They support your spine and back. Strong abs also help improve your posture. Do the following exercise to strengthen your abs.

One-Legged Curls

• Strap ankle weights to your ankles.
• Lie on your back in the starting position holding the handheld weights; inhale.
• Exhale, drawing your belly button down toward the floor, ironing out your lower back. As you do this move, curl one knee into your chest, pulling your head toward that knee.
• Inhale, coming down to rest.
• Exhale, changing legs.
• Do 3-6 sets, alternating legs.

Equipment needed: yoga mat, handheld weights (1-3 pounds per hand for women and 5 pounds per hand for men) and ankle weights (2-3 pounds for men and women)

Note: Other benefits from this Yoga with Weights practice include:

• stimulating metabolism
• helping with anti-aging factors
• building your endurance
• maintaining bone density
• increasing flexibility and
• achieving deeper balance, inner strength and peace of mind.

Sherri Baptiste is the author of Yoga with Weights for Dummies (Wiley Publishers) and daughter of the American yoga and physical culture pioneers Walt and Magaña Baptiste. She has been associated with yoga since she took her first baby steps or assumed her first lotus position, whichever came first. She is the founder of Baptiste Power of Yoga, a nationally recognized yoga method. A top expert in the field of health and wellness, she is an inspirational teacher who is at the forefront of yoga training and is nationally recognized in the United States and Canada. Sherri's way of teaching is accessible to everyone, and it offers depth, renewal, results and inspiration. Contact her at www.powerofyoga.com.