Kayla Itsines is a personal trainer who has amassed 12.2 million followers on Instagram . As she often posts short workout videos to motivate and teach her followers, many of them have plenty of fitness-related questions that they leave in the comments section of each post.
On Thursday, the fitness guru decided to answer one of the most common questions she gets asked about — performing abdominal exercises. Alongside an inspiring image of her pulling up her top and showing off her gym-honed ab muscles, the Instagram sensation explained why it’s impossible for people to only train their lower abdominal muscles.
In the snap, Kayla laid on the floor of the gym while taking a close-up shot of her mid-section. She wore a white sports bra and a hot pink top that she pulled up to show off more skin on her tummy. A pair of white gym shorts hung low on her hips, allowing viewers a nearly unobstructed glimpse of her rock-hard abdomen.
In the caption of the post, the trainer told her followers that when they perform ab exercises, the abdominal muscles work together, which makes it impossible for someone to target just one section of their abs. She emphasized that they cannot switch off their upper abdominal muscles and only work the lower abdominal muscles, just like they cannot spot reduce.
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Kayla ended the comment by telling her followers that if they want to be able to see their abdominals, they can achieve this through a great exercise routine and a healthy diet.
In two video clips following the tummy snap, Kayla demonstrated a few ab workouts that her followers could copy to improve their definition. The exercises included side planks, oblique crunches, hover planks, straight leg raises, and Russian twists. They could also perform normal crunches while positioning their legs in different ways, such as sticking them straight up in the air or bending them at the knees.
The post earned over 35,000 likes and dozens of comments in the first two hours of being posted. Kayla’s fans thanked her for the useful ab workout tips and expressed how impressed they were by her figure.
“Thanks for sharing, Kayla! Ready to hop back onto the BBG bandwagon,” one Instagram user commented, referring to Kayla’s exercise program, the Bikini Body Guides.
“It looks so effortless when you do it. I hope to be able to achieve it as well,” another follower wrote, adding a clapping hands emoji for emphasis.
