Diet & Fitness 

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Flatter tummy, slimmer thighs

Continue the cardiovascular training as you need to be lean to show off your abdominal muscles. As far as weight training goes, the key to strong abs is to ensure you always have perfect technique. Speak to a gym instructor who can go through your programme with you and check you are doing your exercises properly. Also important is to keep the abdominals pulled in firmly no matter what you're doing and think 'navel to spine'. This way, even when you are not doing abdominal exercises, you are still working these muscles.

To target the abs specifically, you don't need to train them everyday. Aim to do stomach exercises three to four times a week. Perform crunches and leg raises slowly - focus on your breathing - exhaling as you come up and pulling the navel to the spine and then inhaling as you lower. Once you've mastered crunches on the floor, you might want to invest in a 'fit ball', which promotes core stability. Exercises using the ball are unlimited. You can also train your thighs with it, performing hamstring curls, side leg raises and squats, to name a few.

Another great way to get toned thighs is to try karate or kickboxing. Performing a karate kick slowly and with control will tone and strengthen the thighs and bottom. Most gyms now run kickboxing classes or khai-bo. Alternatively, look out for BodyCombat classes, which are martial arts moves performed to music, offering a hard but fun workout that will certainly make you sweat.

Why not chat to other iVillagers about exercise on the Shaping Up message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions happening now on the board:

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