The Hip Raise
Benefits: It targets the muscles of your rear, end and it can help you make your belly flatter. If your glutes are week (they are in most women) the top of your pelvis tilts forward. And this causes stress on your lower back and it makes your stomach to stick out even if you have no fat on your body.
How to do it: Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor (Like picture A). Now lift your self up by, squeeze your glutes, and raise your hips so your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees (picture B). Hold for about 3 to 5 seconds, squeezing the entire time, then go back to start position and repeat.
Benefit: Holding a weight on just one side of the body increases the demand placed on your core to keep your body stable. This makes the hips and abs work harder, the balance gets improved and the best of all is that you burn a lot of calories.
How to do it: Hold a dumbbell in your right hand by your shoulder, with the arm bent. (pic A). Take a step forward with your right leg and lower your body until your knee is at least bent to 90 degrees and your left knee should almost touch the floor (pic B). Then push yourself back to the start position. That is one rep, do your reps and then switch over and do it with your left leg.
Swiss Ball L Raise
Benefits: This is for you upper back, by working these key muscles, you'll improve your posture, shape the back of your shoulders.
How to do it: Lie facedown on top of a pilates ball so your back is flat and your chest is off the ball. Let your arms hang straight down from your shoulders (A). Keeping your elbows flared out, lift your upper arms as high as you can by bending your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together. Your upper arms should be perpendicular to your torso (B). Without changing your elbow position, rotate your forearms up and back as far as you can (C). Pause, then reverse the movement. If you can do more than 12 repetitions, use dumbbells
