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5 ways you're doing ab exercises wrong

The goal: flat, rock-hard abs—or at least a little firming around the middle. These fixes for common mistakes will have you working out smarter, not harder.

1. You’re overworking your neck.

When doing crunches and situps, instead of tensing your neck and pulling your head forward (towards your chest), you should be focusing on working your midsection. “Gaze up, rather than straight ahead,” says Mandy Ingber, a celebrity fitness instructor who counts Jennifer Aniston and Brooke Shields among her clients, and the author of Yogalosophy. To hone your form, start by lying on your back and breathing deeply. This will help you feel the natural expansion from inhaling, and the contraction from exhaling. Focus on those muscles, and make smaller, slower movements to really feel your abdominals engage.

Related: The 9 Workout Mistakes Women Make Most

2. Distracting yourself from the pain of planks.

"Planks require a lot of focus in order to maintain proper form, because it recruits and activates so many muscles in the body," says Tracy Carlinsky, owner of Brooklyn Bodyburn. While it’s tempting to amuse yourself with random thoughts, like what you’re making for dinner, the latest celeb gossip, or pretty much anything else but the move you’re holding, your form can break down—minimizing the benefits of such a grueling move—when you’re not paying attention. Why let your hard work go to waste?

3. Getting out of line.

Speaking of alignment, that’s what can make or break your plank: Invision you’re forming a straight line from your shoulders to your heels.”A common error people make is dropping the hips too low and allowing the lower back to sag, placing unnecessary stress on the back and joints. Maintain a long, neutral spine by squeezing the glutes (to release the hips), squeezing the heels and knees together (to active the inner thighs and transversus abdominis), tucking the tailbone, and engaging the core by pulling the belly button inward towards the spine,” says Carlinsky. Likewise, you don’t want to push your hips too high in a plank. “This puts greater stress on the lower back and shoulders,” she says.

Related: 4 Everyday Activities That Burn Major Calories

4. Passing over the squats routine.

If you’re not varying your workout to cover all the muscles that make up your core, that’s a big mistake. One ab-firing move that’s often overlooked is the classic squat: “The squat promotes overall muscle growth across your entire body by working multiple muscles at one time,” says Carlinsky. “Your core has to work hard in order to prevent injury, and maintain balance with an upright posture.” Try integrating them into your routine, one squat at a time, then adding more reps with each workout. (Baby steps!)

5. Forgetting to breathe.

"I like to remind people that breathing is a belly exercise, and the expansion and contraction of full belly breathing (similar to a baby’s breath) actually engages the abdominals," says Ingber. "And laughter is the best abdominal exercise out there!" In general, forms of exercise that require coordinated movement—think yoga and dance—call on your core for its stabilizing force, and you’ll get the most out of it if you pair solid movements with deep, intentional breaths.

More from Redbookmag.com:


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By Jennifer Conrad
(All Photos: Redbook)