• Home
  • Start Here
    • About
    • Top 10 Posts
  • Train Hard
    • Printables
    • Videos
    • New Move Monday
    • Shed & Share
  • Eat Well
    • Food Tips & Tricks
    • Recipes
  • Live Free
    • Challenges
    • Mindset
    • Spiritual
  • Your Second New Year
  • “Living + Active” Challenge
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Services
    • Coaching
    • Speaking
    • Essential Oils

Clare Smith

Training Body & Soul

New Move Monday: On the Edge Abs

April 16, 2012

Hey y’all! I’m back from Savannah, GA! I had a wonderful time visiting that city and would love to return! While there, I did the New Move Monday, so here you go. You can do this exercise inside or outside!

♥♥♥

Sit on the edge of a bench, sidewalk or ledge. Hold onto the edge and extend the legs out as you lean back.

Bring your knees to your chest and lean back into the center. Repeat!

To make it harder……

Start in the same position as above, but place the arms above your head.

Bring your arms around to the side and towards your knees (as seen above) and lean in as you “crunch”. (Breathe and do with control!) Repeat!

On either variation, you want to balance the whole time and avoid touching anything as you repeat.

Repetitions: Do 2-3 sets of 15-20 reps.

Linking with Women Living Well!

Share this:

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Filed Under: Abs and Lower Back, Featured, New Move Monday, Outside Tagged With: abs, exercise, New Move Monday, outside 9 Comments

About Clare

Comments

  1. KM Logan says

    April 18, 2012 at 8:04 am

    I’ll have to try this one. My tummy is trying to get back to normal after child-birth. I was thinking about you yesterday as I was doing pushups on my girls play structure in our back yard : )

    I’d love for you to link up at http://www.lessonsfromivy.com/2012/04/encouragement-in-trials-with-linky.html

    Reply
    • Clare@peak313 says

      April 18, 2012 at 1:13 pm

      Woo hoo! I love it!!

      Reply
  2. Beth Learn says

    June 15, 2012 at 11:05 am

    Your new move mondays are such a great idea! The exercise in this one used to be my fave, until I got diagnosed with a diastasis and had to eliminate anything that made my belly pooch out. I’ve also been avoiding full planks and all crunch-like motions for over a year and havent’ missed them at all! My abs are back together and stronger, despite three pregnancies! I can’t believe how much damage I did to myself and maybe others during my career in group fitness, using crunches as a crutch. Shudder! Anyway, I love what you are doing here, and I follow your facebook page. Fellow sister of Christ in the house! Woot! If you want to know more about current research on diastasis, just message me. I’d love to connect with you!

    Reply
  3. Susanne Reinhold says

    June 15, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    Hi, you have great form in this move. I don’t think I can do this. But I also don’t really want to do it. I quote: ‘ The National Institure for Occupational Safety and Health (1981) has set the action limit for low back compression at 3300N; repetetive loading above this level is linked with higher injury rates in workers, yet this is imposed on the spine with each repetition of the sit-up’. During the exercise in your photo, the same laod is placed on your spine. You might feel the nice burn in your abs but your spine takes the brunt of it. What you really need to work is your deep abdominals and the best abdominal exercise we should all be doing every day can be found here:

    http://www.alignedandwell.com/?p=821&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=223

    Keep up the spirit. We all need to teach women (and men and children) to exercise! But to exercise safely with maximum benefits.

    Reply
  4. Darlene says

    June 15, 2012 at 9:55 pm

    Hey,
    I love your photos! That’s a tough move for a lot of women to do, especially after they’ve had a baby. But, I’ll have to agree with Susanne on this one, I don’t know if they should be doing it. Not only will a move like that put a load on your spine, it’s also pulling apart your abdominal muscles, causing a rift and potentially leading to diastasis (which is really where most belly pooches are coming from). Try staying away from crunching moves and work on deep abdominals (like the Tuppler technique for example). I have a handout that I give my students with info on diastasis. Shoot me an email if you’d like a copy.
    Keep up the gret work!

    Reply
  5. Darlene says

    June 15, 2012 at 9:57 pm

    I love your photos! That’s a tough move for a lot of women to do, especially after they’ve had a baby. But, I’ll have to agree with Susanne on this one, I don’t know if they should be doing it. Not only will a move like that put a load on your spine, it’s also pulling apart your abdominal muscles, causing a rift and potentially leading to diastasis (which is really where most belly pooches are coming from). Try staying away from crunching moves and work on deep abdominals (like the Tuppler technique for example). I have a handout that I give my students with info on diastasis. Shoot me an email if you’d like a copy.
    Keep up the gret work!

    Reply
    • Darlene says

      June 15, 2012 at 9:57 pm

      sorry about submitting the comment twice, my computer hiccupped!

      Reply
  6. Cheryl says

    June 19, 2012 at 10:35 am

    Just got back from Savannah and Charleston, too, and it was so amazing and want to go back too! You are so strong! Being a STOTT pilates instructor I used to not only do, but teach this exercise a lot myself until I ran into a client with a diastasis – WOW! Changed my life and practice and lead me on a whole different path of thinking! Learned we have to be really careful about doing anything like these or crunches that might put pressure on the abdominals and actually push them out and weaken them, rather than pulling them in and strengthening them, and keeping the abs together to not cause a separation (diastasis). Had to start thinking a whole different way and modify everything I had learned in four years of studying to become STOTT certified as movements like these can exacerbate an existing problem, and create on that may not exist – tough lessons and rocked my boat, but I’m glad I did so I can now help others. Glad to share my research with you if you’d like – I know you are doing a great job out there, so keep up the good work encouraging women to get up and get going and care for these bodies the Lord’s given us! And I love your sub-title… encouraging women from the inside out – the only way to go in this world!

    Reply
  7. Alyssa McVey says

    June 21, 2012 at 2:16 am

    Wow, you look great! That’s awesome that you do workouts while on the road. That’s something I need to learn to do. I like your detailed and very visual posts. That helps a lot. I can’t do any crunch-like workouts, though, because I have diastasis and crunches will make it worse. I hope that through browsing I’ll find some ab workouts that I can do!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • YouTube

looking for something?

post archives

Instagram

I’ll keep this short because I want you to read I’ll keep this short because I want you to read the poem. We can bring our burdens many places nowadays- friends, Instagram, Facebook, text, to gym, to work, to sleep.. you get the point. But let’s make sure we bring our burdens first to Jesus. After the week.. month.. year.. many of us are having, there’s no better time to do this than now. #sweetunfailingrefuge

(I found this tucked in an old book at my family’s 100 year old farmhouse that we were selling this summer 🤍)
•My house was a mess with everyone being home to •My house was a mess with everyone being home today
• I only had ingredients for one batch of soup
• I don’t drink alcohol on Mondays
• Hubs had the sink totally apart in the middle of a project
• The kids were in and out of our deep conversation

Sometimes the quick stop to say hello turns into a therapy session with dinner and wine. Everything was stacked against me – so I thought- but the mayhem is often beauty and normalcy to the person’s life who is spinning. Sometimes “the plan” goes off track... but it’s not off track in God’s eyes.

Living life knowing that the minutes of your day are not yours but for God to use to encourage and be there for people who are hurting changes everything. It changes who you marry. It changes how you spend your money. It changes what you do with your time. Dinner portions may not be what you planned but God always finds enough to fill those who come to His table to be loved on and heard.

If I know one thing – it’s this. People are hurting right now. Some things are private and some are public. What would it look like if our homes became safe places for people to land? For our hearts to enter in the pain? For our embrace to provide the temporary relief needed? We can be people who talk about bringing the kingdom here on earth or we can be people who do what we can with the little we have to be the hands and feet of Jesus. 🤍
I’ve been on a “physical” comeback over the I’ve been on a “physical” comeback over the past few weeks. Between an insane December, Covid recovery, Ohio winters, and the mere fact I don’t have the bounce back that I used to (#thisis40) it’s been a slow go for me to get to feeling where I feel best physically. It’s been discouraging to say the least and I feel like I just turned a corner last week. 

While a lot truly was physical exhaustion, it was more of a mind game I was playing. I had to be my own #hypeman and tell myself to keep chipping away at the goal. I had to tell myself that the only way to the end was through it…no shortcuts. Just time and steady work. I often dismissed the small wins I had because I hadn’t hit the finish line. Well that thinking wasn’t helping me and one day had the “aha”that while I wasn’t yet at the goal, I was BETTER.

Each of us have something in our lives where it’s not what we want. We are on the path to achievement but it sure ain’t there yet. It can be with some of the obvious things such a health or financial goals but I see this often with people regarding relationships. The marriage, friendship, child or community in which we live falls just short of “perfection” and so we just settle instead of putting in consistent, hopeful work, which allows room for the Holy Spirit to work. 

I just want to encourage you to keep chipping away because while things may not be what you want, they can be better. In fact the way we reach what we want is not by snapping our fingers and it magically appearing but by a process or journey which involves ups and downs, straight stretches of boredom, and then finally a renewed energy as you see the end in sight.

What have you given up on achieving because it hasn’t come to fruition in the time you wanted? Remember… things can be BETTER. And that counts for something. 🤍
I was recently telling someone my journey or where I was recently telling someone my journey or where I am today in regards to what I do for a living... the crazy road I’ve travelled over the last 10 years to get me here. It’s changed a lot and if you’ve been here online with me, you have seen it! If you would have asked 18 year old Clare what she saw herself filling her days with at 40 years old, it would be about 5% of what I’m doing. Goodness...none of this was even around when I was 18!

I look back and see all the twists and turns. All these tiny moments and conversations. Many open and closed doors. Things that I thought were just random or not a big deal, but in hindsight, they were a huge deal. I appear to be a very type a “has her stuff together and a plan” type girl but the truth is, I am (was) taking everything day by day.

All I know is that everything I stepped into prepared me for the next thing. Many times I didn’t even know it! But I look back often and am like, “ohhh, God, I see what ya did there!” 

My encouragement to you is this- no matter what age you are- trust the path you are on. Let peace be your guide... not some assumed plan an “expert” or author told you. Sure- be wise with your time. Put in the work with diligence wherever your feet may have you, but be open to the nudges of where to go.

Maybe I’m crazy but living a life of faith in God is one of the most exciting and fulfilling things. I don’t know what He has for me in 5 years let alone 1...and for whatever reason, that thought alone gets me up and helps me live with a holy anticipation. I trust Him.  I live less with resistance to the unexpected now. God is indeed preparing you for what he has prepared for you. What a loving Father!
We all know this but it’s so easy to forget. Rem We all know this but it’s so easy to forget. Remember that seeds are buried and “in the dark” before anything springs forth. Our journeys in life can often feel like that. Do the daily work. Tend your “heart garden.” Time is on your side. And when it’s time...it’s time. 🤍

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians‬ ‭6:9‬
A few years ago I was the speaker for a women’s A few years ago I was the speaker for a women’s retreat in the Chicago area. I just finished a session & a lady ran up to me asking if she could ask me a few questions. She was early 50’s, striking in appearance… fit & confident. She started telling me that she resonated with my health/fitness message & wanted some encouragement on starting “this late in life”, but as we continued talking, her demeanor changed & tears started to fill her eyes.

She told me that was she was struggling with something that had been weighing on her since she was 18…the decision to have an abortion. The tears were streaming down her face, the clear guilt she carried from it weighing heavy on every part of her beautiful stature. Not many knew about it. Her current husband did not…many friends did not. She felt it was keeping her from this life she saw that was just within reach. The more she sat in silence, the heavier the chains felt. She needed to speak and I watched the tears fall like visible chains.

We chatted a little longer, prayed & hugged, & as I walked away I couldn’t help but think of many women I’ve encountered with this same story but I would’ve never known. Walking through life seemingly fine, yet carrying a deep wound inside, questioning every bit of her worth and ability to make a difference. Heartbreaking. 

If you relate to that woman, I want you to know that you are loved & seen. Your past, as hard as it has been, has formed & shaped you into the woman you are today, & a woman that God greatly desires to use. He wants your broken, fragile heart. He will bind it up and heal it. He will walk with you in the shadows. He will lead you beside still and soul-quenching waters. There may be many words you can attach to your situation but there is one more powerful than all that I want you to keep remembering…RESTORATION. Jesus is renewing and reviving something within you that will bring light to yourself & others.

For the rest of us who may not have this as a part of our story, let’s remember that we are walking amongst those who have & that we are to be healing arms, not ones of judgement & legalism...but ones of compassion & grace. 🤍 DM me if you need prayer!
This came up on my Facebook memories and I just fe This came up on my Facebook memories and I just feel it’s always applicable! There is always something in our lives that if we could just “get our hands on” would work to our favor. We dream about what it would be like if we got that thing/person etc. We think about the 2 tweaks that need to happen for it to occur. We pray about it. Perhaps obsess over it.. sound familiar?

But we also start to resent our current lives. We stop living in what God has fully given us. We live everywhere but the here and now and alongside that dream of yours comes a side dish of anxiety and sadness. So then we get our hands in it, perhaps without God’s “OK” and then we see a mess unfold. We’ve all been there. If only we had waited. 

This is the grind of living in reality. We are pulled from living what is before us into living into a dream we have deep within. Here’s the cool thing. We don’t have to choose.. reality or dream. It’s not an either/or but both/and. We can live fully here while also giving energy to our hopes. The difference is how tightly we hold into those things and how much they get elevated in our hearts.

If you are here this morning I just want to encourage you that you aren’t alone! I truly believe with everything I am, that God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) I believe in His sovereign timing. I believe that the work He started in you (and everyone else in your life) will be completed. (Phil1:6) Keep praying, stay faithful to where you are now, walk in the “peace path” and hold onto Jesus. He will lead you. 🙏🏻
My daughter’s 6th grade class worked this week o My daughter’s 6th grade class worked this week on “words for the year” and this is what she was given to create and talk about. I had to laugh when she brought it home as she explained that we do not always have control over our things in life but we can control how we respond. I was like, girl, can you say that louder for the people in the back?! 👏🏻 

I know many of us have health or financial goals for the New Year regarding self-control but I believe 2 areas we often forget are our emotions and words. There is no better time for us to look introspectively and see if the things we say and do (and “like”) are from a position of wisdom and pause or one of an emotional whirlwind. 💨 

There is no doubt that this is a practiced skill. We have to come to the day knowing that our ability to “control self” will be a challenge but that we can make headway. I love this verse in Proverbs as it gives such a great visual.

"Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." Proverbs 25:28

We are EMPOWERED because we are HIMpowered. We truly can live with self-control because we have the Holy Spirit!
Follow on Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • YouTube

© 2021 · Clare Smith · Design by Heart & Arrow

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.