Healthy Hollywood: Get Movin’ Monday – Post-Baby Ab Rehab For Tina Fey!

Tina Fey welcomed her second daughter, Penelope Athena, in August. Just like other new moms, the “30 Rock” star is more than likely hoping to get her abs back in shape.

Tummy-toners are a must, unless you are one of the lucky few to bounce right back after giving birth.

“Pilates is the perfect postnatal workout,” reveals celebrity fitness guru, Kristin McGee, who is also Tina’s longtime yoga teacher. Kristin adds, “It’s low impact yet delivers great results. It targets all the areas that expand (abdomen, hips and thighs) when a woman gets pregnant and tightens them back up.”

Besides strengthening the deep core muscles, Pilates also helps correct body imbalances, which is a frequent complaint of new moms, who often carry their babies on one side.

Kristin shares with Healthy Hollywood her 3 favorite moves for getting post-baby abs back into shape.

To tone the deep core muscles do ROLLING LIKE A BALL:
Sit on the mat and bend your knees into your chest holding on to the front of your ankles. Lift your feet up off the floor and round your forehead towards your knees creating a little ball shape with your body. Then rock back to just your shoulders and rock back up to sit without touching your feet to the floor. Hover for a second using your lower abs and balance; then rock back again. Repeat rolling back and forth 5 to 8 times. Control the movement with your abdominals and don’t use momentum. This will help get rid of the lower belly pooch!

To trim the entire midsection do THE SAW:
Sit up tall with your legs straight out in front of you (a little wider than hip width apart). Raise your arms up to shoulder height, turn to your right then reach forward from your waist and imagine you are sawing off your right pinky toe with your left pinky finger. Twist and saw 2 times as you scoop in your lower abdominals, lift back up to sit and turn to the left to repeat the sawing motion on the left side. Continue lifting, twisting and sawing for 3 to 5 repetitions (do each side to count for 1 rep). Try and look at your back hand when you saw and really use your obliques (waist) and lower abs to initiate the movement.

To tone and trim the hips, outer thighs, inner thighs, buttocks, waist and lower abs do THE CLAM:
Lie on your left side propped up on your left elbow, bend your knees up to a 90-degree angle so the right knee is stacked on top of the left knee. Open the right knee to the ceiling but keep the feet together. Squeeze the back of your hips and thighs and open the knee as much as you can without disrupting the rest of the body. Close the knee back and resist with the inner thighs on the way. Open and close for 30 repetitions. Stay lifted out of your left side using your left obliques and make sure your shoulders stay down and back.

For more tips, check out Kristin McGee’s weight loss Pilates DVD, which is available at www.kristinmcgee.com.