20 Minute Yoga Makeover - Flat Abs

Sara Ivanhoe
Year Released: 2004

Categories: Abs/Core , Yoga


In this 20 minute video, instructor Sara Ivanhoe leads a challenging yoga practice aimed at strengthening your core abdominal muscles. She begins with standing side bends, adding a twist with a knee lift. Next comes some additional seated stretches with forward bends, twists, and spine rolls. Sara then moves to an all-fours position and leads some particularly challenging work moving from down dog to plank pose with one leg pulled in towards your chest. This is followed by some additional seated twists, including a twisting boat pose. Lying on your back, you'll then perform Pilates-like abs moves such as criss-cross, bicycle, and stretches with both bent and straight legs. You'll also perform a half sit up with the legs both bent and stright as well as side knee drops with the legs both bent and straight.

Although the box for this video says that it is "designed for all abilities," this is a tough, challening practice which is likely to feel overwhelming for beginners. The practice is best suited to those with some level of prior yoga experience as well as some pre-existing core strength. Overall, if you like Sara, have done yoga before, and want to focus more on your core, this might be a good video for you.

Instructor Comments:
Sara's personality is very similar to her Crunch and Dummies videos: she is very down-to-earth, although some might find her language to be somewhat patronizing.

Beth C (aka toaster)

11/28/2004