Other than some banging tunes, singer Dua Lipa has become synonymous with crop tops showing off her incredibly sculpted abs.
We really can’t blame her – if we had a six-pack like that, we would also be wearing bras as tops.
Now, she’s given us a hint as to how she got strong and also achieves her washboard stomach by posting a video of her doing an ab exercise on Instagram.
Surely if we nail this technique we’ll have abs like Lipa? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Take a look at the video and you’ll see that what Lipa’s doing is insanely hard…
So what if you don’t yet have the singer’s core strength, but want to work your way up to this fiendishly difficult exercise? Here are some techniques you can do to ease yourself in.
Plank variations
Kick the humble plank up a notch with different variations. This could mean plank rotations – where you travel from side plank, through normal, and then to the other side.
Another option is up and downs – going from a low plank on your elbows to a high plank on your hands and back again, keeping your hips as still as possible.
If you still want more planking, try hip dips – the exercise where you’re on your elbows and dip the hips from side to side with as much control as possible.
Crunches
Crunches are a classic ab exercise for a reason and are a good place to start if you’re a novice to ab-work.
Start on your back with your feet planted on the ground, put your hands by your temples and raise your shoulders and the top half of your torso off the ground.
Lower slowly, making sure your lower back is pressed to the mat at all times and you’re not straining your neck.
To make this harder, you can hold a weight to your chest, but make sure this doesn’t compromise your technique.
Like so many ab exercises, once you’ve mastered the basics you can progress – for example, by trying crisscross crunches. Lifting your legs and crunching side to side like this will work your obliques.
Rollouts
Using an ab wheel (which you can either buy online or find at your local gym) is a great way to strengthen your core and practice control.
Starting on your knees, roll your arms and body forward and back slowly and with control. The key here is to not collapse into the move – use your core to keep a flat back and to stop your bottom from sagging and loading into your lower back.
V-sits
V-sits are deceptive – they might look easy but are actually pretty challenging.
Balancing on your bottom, you need to roll your shoulders back, keep a flat back and extend your legs up and arms forward – making your body into a V-shape.
Holding this position with your core strong will really make you feel the burn.
The next step up from this is the jackknife. Lie flat on your back and using your core strength lift your torso and legs up into a V-sit, and back down again. Repeat this with as much control as you can for as long as you can handle.
Practising these techniques will help you strengthen your core and work your way up to smashing the tricky upside-down crunches that Lipa makes look so easy.
However, remember – if you want a defined six-pack like the singer, it’s not just about hitting the gym. The adage “abs are made in the kitchen” is totally true, and you’ll also have to focus on nutrition too to really get a washboard stomach.