2 babies! wow! That's a lot of ab muscle stretching! But they are totaly worth it!

Very often, as C-sections are rushed, the doctors don't sow the muscles back together properly which results in weak ab muscles.

But that is not to say that it is impossible to get your abs strong. In fact, you can get them there with time and some proper exercise.

You have to start by strengthening your transversus abdominals. This is the most inner layer of your abs that wrap around like a belt. The exercise that I would advise you to do is like this:

Lie down on your back with your knees bent at 90 degrees and feet flat on the floor. Take a deep breath in and out and then as you empty your belly of air pull your belly button down towards the ground and hold for 5 counts. Then release and repeat again. Do this 20 times in the morning and 20 times at night. Over time you will notice that your abs will begin to strengthen. Then you can start moving to other exercises for your abs such as leg lifts and crunches. Good luck and keep me posted!

Hi, I'm 42, 5 feet 10 ins and I weigh 145lbs. It is impossible for me to gain weight. I eat 8 times per day. I love meat, I do eat carbs which include rice and whole wheat pasta. I would like to get to 150lbs but I want it to be muscle not fat. How can I gain weight and what type of workout should I be doing to maintain the muscle once I've gained it. Thanks

OK, start doing some things and you WILL gain weight. And stop shooting yourself in the foot- eating 8 times a day will "rev-up" your metabolism. That is the last thing you want.

Eat like a snake- think big, infrequent meals. Sumo wrestlers eat 2 times a day, with one snack. Japanese boxers eat 5 or more meals a day.

I know you want to gain muscle and not fat, but the illustration above is to give an example.

I gained tons of weight and believe me I am a hard gainer, when I started eating much larger, less frequent meals.

Speaking of gaining muscle, be generous with your monounsaturated and healthy saturated fats. They help gain weight, without fattening spikes in blood sugar and insulin. Think avocados, virgin olive oil, raw nuts and seeds, and plenty of organic butter. Never trim the fat off your meat or take the skin off your poultry.

Lastly the gym is where you DEMAND your body gains weight- train very hard, very heavy, emphasize compound movements like squats, deadlifts, bent over rows, high pulls, and even snatches and cleans if someone can show you good form. Heavy kettlebells are great too- again only if you get some good form coaching.

Do not overtrain. Less is more. Go balls-to-the-wall for 2-3 hours per week. That's it.

Other then that, do what really makes you grow- sleep as much as you can without getting fired or dumped, get to bed early, and eat like a king.

Adding a good enzyme supplement to your meals will help your body absorb and use all that god food you throw down your gullet. A friendly germ (probiotic) wouldn't hurt the gastro-intestinal tract, either.

-best of gains to you, - Anthony, a fellow hard-gainer www.anthonydipasquale.com

Unfortunately I can't afford a trainer at the time so I ask you to please tell me what I need to do for my body frame which I'll describe. I have a pear shaped body, at 5'4" tall and currently at 171 lbs. I want to get down to 130 lbs. For the past month my eating habits have change for the much better. I have been following numerous blogs online for healthy eating for tips and have been eating very healthy. Early on I made the mistake of eating too few calories for the amount that I have been working out (6 times a week with 1 day off). I have also recently fixed another mistake I had been making by adding strength training to my regimen, when I was only doing cardio before. I guess what I am asking is if you know of any specific strength training or cardio I should be doing for my body type/frame. Or if I seem to be on the right track? Thank you.

You are on the right track! Congrats on picking up some great healthy habits! Since you have a pear body then this is what I would recommend for you. Lots of light weights for the legs including squats, lunges, hamstring curls and a little heavier weights on the top. So shoulder presses, bicep curls, lat pulldowns, etc. If I were you I would also probably incorporate some cardio right after training my legs or even in between, 2 or 3 min bursts.

In case you haven't tried The Pear Body Workout , you have to!

Good luck girl and keep me posted.

Sounds like you are beating yourself up!

You are right - all that cardio is probably depleting all your blood sugar and as a result you end up over consuming food since you are starving. You need to do less cardio and make sure the rest of your nutrition is ok. What is your diet like? Are you eating too many fatty foods? Are you eating right before bed? What are your portions like? Rule of thumb: you should be consuming about 2000-2500 calories a day if you are exercising an hour a day.

Second point: What is the intensity you are working out at? On a scale of 1-10 are you working out at 5? If you are healthy with no health conditions I would recommend you workout at 7-8 for weight loss. Also are you doing your weights before or after? I'd advise you to start with a 15 min warmup on any cardio followed by 30 minutes of weights (move quickly) and finally finish with 30 minutes of cardio.

Do that 3x a week with 45-50 minute cardio sessions another 3 days a week and you should see tremendous results!

Four kids totally make it worth it. The good news is that you can flatten your stomach by training your core.

One of my best clients Demi was also a mother of 4. She was 50 years old and was quite petite and slim. Her goal was to wear a bikini that she bought for her upcoming vacation.

We started to train her abs for about 30 minutes, 3x a week. The exercises involved all of her muscle fibers, we tried to hit them from all angles. With time we did a lot of super sets (meaning doing 2 ab exercises in a row) which then led to 3 ab exercises in a row.

Demi was feeling the burn and I could tell she was in pain but she was so determined and kept going.

Within a couple of months she started to notice her upper squares peaking through.

She was happy, really happy but wanted more. She wanted to target her lower abs.

So we switched the workout. We started to focus on her lower abs by doing lots of leg lifts, twisties and some other lower ab exercises.

Now she trains her abs for 5-10 minutes 3x a week and is still able to maintain the same tone.

I have no doubt that you can do the same. Demi is the perfect example to go by, if she was able to do it after 4 kids, you will be able to too!

Focus on training your abs from all angles but especially your lower abs. The legs weigh more than the upper portion of your body resulting in more resistance for your abs which leads to better results.

Make sure that each workout is different and that you are always pushing for an extra 2 or 3 reps. Don't stop at 20 because you reached your goal reps, if you can do more then push for 30.

To see some of the exercises that I use with my clients I highly recommend you try my ab workouts there is a couple of them in the workout section.But you can do it for sure, just be consistent and always challenge yourself.

We hate cellulite! But thankfully there are ways to minimize it.

Personally I don't believe that stretching helps since all your are doing is stretching out the muscle while the cellulite still remains there.

I asked Anthony DiPasquale, Personal Trainer and Nutritionist, what he believes to be the best way to target cellulite and he said this:

Cellulite is a female more than a male problem, due to differences between the collagen, connective tissue and skin thickness between the sexes. We know what it looks like- dimply, uneven, “cottage cheese”- looking skin, usually on the lower butt, and often also on the upper thighs, sometimes all the way down to the knees.

What women want to know is how to get rid of it, rather than physiologic explanations for it! I have experience, as do practitioners that I know, getting rid of cellulite. It CAN be done.

I remember one client who I trained in the gym. She had never lifted weights before, and was pretty sedentary when we started. After 3 weeks of heavy weight training, she reported that she was able to once again wear tight white pants, because her cellulite was gone! It does not have to take long to see great results in your body, when you work hard.

If others have done it, in the space of weeks or sometimes months, then you can too! So here we go . .

Every health practitioner I have studied, female or male, who has written of their experience with cellulite agrees on a few points;

I understand! Trust me! Motivation is the ultimate driver in all success. This goes as far as work, career, life and especially weight loss. Having little motivation can dictate the direction of your moods, how you feel and how you behave. It’s almost like a bad drug, you almost can’t get rid of it.

The key to getting out of this slump is realizing that being unmotivated is doing nothing for you. You have to realize that negativity is firmly attached to being unmotivated and negativity loves to feed itself with more negativity. Negative thoughts keep are what keeps us discouraged which ultimately leads to the continuous cycle of motivation. There is no magic answer unfortunately. You just have to say one word and that is STOP! Tell yourself that you want to stop feeling the way you do and focus on what you would like. Really! What is the outcome of feeling unmotivated? Absolutely nothing!!! Tomorrow you will feel just as bad as you feel today. Unless you make the change today! So do it now and say STOP! Don’t think about it! Just say it and make the commitment. Then go to the gym for 5 days in a row keeping all negative thoughts out of your mind and think about how great you feel. With each workout, focus on the amazing feeling you get. And no you are not imagining it, it does feel great! =) Just for 5 days, make this commitment and I guarantee you will feel different.

Congrats on the workouts, I know that Jillian's workouts are not easy!

I can understand your frustration but you have to start by evaluation your entire lifestyle. Most importantly you have to look at your nutrition first. Are you eating a clean healthy diet? Are you avoiding fried foods and junk food? Are you eating late at night? Are you eating sugars? If you are nodding your head to any of these questions then you probably have to look at your food intake more closely. I am only suggesting this because you have specified that you are exercising which means you are expanding calories out. Since you are expanding calories out then you must be taking an excess calories in which is balancing you out and keeping you 25lbs overweight.

Once you have identified where your diet can be improved you can make those changes and as you continue to exercise you will drop those 25lbs

1. 1. To never plateau
2. 2. To not get bored
3. 3. To constantly challenge your body and push past limits
4. 4. To get you to learn new exercises
5. 5. To keep getting results

Any faster weight loss than this is considered unhealthy.
You can get to your goal by eating a healthy diet consisting of mainly vegetables, lean fish, chicken, fruits and cutting out unnecessary calories such as sugars and fried food.
You should also be exercising at least 30 minutes daily. Do any activity such as speed walking, a class at your gym or one of our workouts. Make sure to always challenge yourself in order to get best results.

• 1 cup of long cooking oats
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp of peanut butter (preferably natural)
• handful of raisins
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup of milk

• current fitness level
• goal
• availability to exercise

1. Squat - Works your legs, glutes and abs. Great for toning the lower body.
2. Row - Works your back and arms. Great for toning the upper body as well as improving your posture.
3. Reverse abs - Works the entire abdominal wall. Great for keeping your tummy flat and your posture straight.
4. Lunges - Works the legs, glutes and abs. Excellent exercise for toning the lower body.
5. Shoulder press - Works your shoulders. Great for framing the full body and toning the arms.