My Home workout plan for Abs

  My Home Workout Plan for Abs

Introduction: Looking to shape and tone your abs without leaving the comfort of your own home? Post-pandemic period has actually made us lazier than ever and I have already mentioned few of my tricks of overcoming that with your body in my other home workout plans that I followed for Back and biceps, Shoulder and Traps, Legs, Chest and shoulders, with or without equipment to name a few incase you were wondering. This article is going to be the last one in the home workout series to achieve your fitness goals.

The key is to focus on exercises that target all areas of your abs, including your upper and lower abs, as well as your obliques. Look out for my YouTube Video on abs workout at first if you want more demonstration on any of these items. The best part is that you don't even need a lot of space or preparation for doing any of those and can start right after reading this on your bed! Let's begin the ending of this category through some simple yet effective home workout plan that you can follow:

1. Plank: 

-Start by putting your hands/ elbows and knees on a flat surface.
- Keep your shoulders up over your wrists and make sure to keep your wrists parallel with the front side.
- Walk your knees back a few inches and tuck your toes under to lift your legs up off the ground.
- Squeeze your quads and reach your heels towards the back to form a straight position like an elevated pencil.
- Make sure your shoulders are over your wrists and that you're looking a few inches in front of your fingers to keep your head and neck elongated.
- Hold this position for as long as possible (minimum 30 seconds).

2. Side plank: 

-From the normal plank position, pull your core in toward your spine and combine your legs together as you bring the left foot to touch the right and vice versa.
- Turn into the right outer edge of the right foot, keeping the left foot on top.
- Press down through your right hand/ elbow, keeping it directly underneath your right shoulder, and slowly bring the left hand on the other side extending it as if you're touching the ceiling.
- Pull the abs in towards the spine and right hip away from the floor.
- Hold the position for as long as you can before coming through normal plank and switching sides.

3. Extended Arm Plank Bird Dog:

- Get to the same normal plank position.
- Engage core and lift right arm and left leg off (vice versa) the mat at the same time, keeping hips as straight as possible.
- Slowly return to start and continue like this for at least 10 reps.

4. Shoulder Tap:

- From a plan position, touch left shoulder with right hand (and Vice versa), then place palm back on the floor keeping hips level.
- After repeating on the other side (that's one rep), continue repeating the same up to 10 or more reps.

5. Mountain Climbers:

- Again from the plank position, keeping your back straight, lower your hips and engage your core, abs, glutes and hamstrings. 
- Bring your right knee under your chest towards your right elbow, return to the initial position and bring your left leg under your chest toward your left elbow.
- Repeat this at a steady pace by alternating your legs.

6. Plank to toe touch: 

- From the plank position, engage your lower abs and lift hips to pull body towards your legs by reaching right hand back to touch left ankle/ toe.
- Slowly return to initial position, repeat on the other side and remember that your heels will stay high the whole time.
- Continue the reps for 10 or more times.

7. Russian Twist/ Seated Rotation:

- Sit on a flat surface and lean upper body back until abs are engaged.
- Lift your legs, tilt your upper body backward to a 45-degree angle.
- Bend your legs at 90 degrees and slightly bend your arms. You can keep your hands tied with fingers or to make it challenging, try grabbing a weight/ water bottle anything with elbows wide.
- Rotate torso to right side keeping your hands/ weight in front of your chest tapping those on the floor.
- Move back through center and twist to the right, repeating the cycle for 10 or more time.

8. Bicycle Crunch:

- Lie on a surface with hands behind head and elbows bent out to the sides. Lift your left shoulder blade off the ground by using your abs and bringing your right knee to meet your left elbow.
- At this position, your left leg will be straight. lowering it as close to the floor as possible without resting it on the ground.
- Return to the initial position and complete 10 reps or more.

9. Windshield wipers:

- Lie on your back with your arms straight at your sides like a "T" with your body. Bend your legs and lift them just a little bit above the ground.
- From this position, slowly lower your legs to the left, hovering a few inches off the floor, using abs to control the movement.
- Reverse the movement of your legs just when your knees get close to the floor, moving them back though center and right side of the body.
- Repeat this for 10 or more reps.

10. Reverse crunch with towel:

- Here comes my trademark Towel workout! But don't worry I've made it a little challenging for myself and you can carry this on with or without towel for your convenience.
- Start by lying on back with holding the towel or if you don't have any, put them at your sides and legs a little off the ground at a 45-degree angle.
- Keeping your toes pointed forward, engage your core, push down the ground with arms and pull your knees into chest until hips lift off the ground.
- Slowly return to the initial position and complete reps accordingly.
- You can modify the reps by rotating your core at the right and left to hit your obliques.

11. Scissor Kicks:

- Lie on your back with your legs a little off the ground at 45-degree angle. Let your arms rest down at your sides or under your butt whichever suits.
- Squeeze your core and lift one leg up as you lower the other leg towards the floor like as you're cutting something with your legs like scissors.
- Switch legs and repeat with reps accordingly.

12. The L-stand:

- This is the last item here, quite challenging and different from the others and also one of my favorites.
- Sit on a flat surface with an "L" shape initially and keeping both your hands at your side.
- You can close your fists for convenience and now, with all your strengths at your hands and core, slowly push the ground downwards.
- If you do it correctly, you'll be able to lift your body altogether and remain in this position for as long as you can. Your body balance is very crucial and important and it needs a lot of practice. This item can be performed better if you have a push up bar to hold you even upper.
- Perform this rep for 10 or more times.

Conclusion: So, that's it. It is finally the last article on my home workout series. You can perform all these abs workout on a single day or divide those part by part according to your convenience. Follow my YouTube Home workout Video for abs for extended demonstration. I'll periodically keep updating the contents to enrich your knowledge and enlighten your future path towards fitness right from your home!  If you haven't read my previous articles on home workout yet, find those below:

1. My Home Workout Journey so far

2. Home workout Plan for Chest and Triceps with and without equipment

3. My Home workout plan for Shoulder and Traps

4. My Home Workout Plan for Back and Biceps

5. My Home Workout Plan for legs

6. My Home Workout Plan for Abs

#Homeworkoutplan #Absworkout #Coreexercises #Obliqueexercises

#Upperabsworkout #Lowerabsworkout #Abdominalmuscles #Fitnessathome

#Bodyweightexercises #Plank #crunches #Fitnessroutineathome #Strengtheningabs

#Toned core

I hope all these articles have made your life easier towards your fitness goals now. Keep firm at your goals and move ahead step by step even from your bed. Enjoy these time while seeing the improvements in the mirror. Till then, KEEP CRUNCHING! 

My Love Story and friendship with Dove birds

 My Love Story and Friendship with Dove birds

Introduction: There's a saying that Birds of a feather flock together, which means people of the same tastes and interests will always be found together. But in my case, I didn't really find any real lover like that; those who I thought would be of my kind eventually ended up being traitors, little did I know that I would find peace in birds more than humans 😓. I remember playing a game with my friends where someone asked, "Which animal resembles you the most?" and every time I would speak about birds. The reason was simple, they are signs of beauty & freedom, could show you a different overall perspective of life, be loyal with proper care, ask very little in return (little food, water, maintenance and care) and be truthful to your love and  friendship. 

Therefore, instead of looking for love in life, I started to look for friendship and Alhamdulillah I've been blessed with some genuine friends for life including some friendly birds! This title is all about my pure friendship with Birds, how I took care of them, gained trust, became their friends in small time with a bitter twist and climax at the end, stay tuned!

How it all started: It all started almost a year ago, when my brother caught the sight of a strangely beautiful bird, unable to fly, stuck right in front of our veranda. We tried to save this pigeon-looking creature together while it was trying to fly with failed attempts. So, we took it inside home, fed it some food and water and put inside a cage so that it couldn't get hurt. My father is knowledgeable in this field and he instantly said it's a Male Australian Dove (also known as ring-necked dove). I'll write about the identification of their types, gender, food and other things some other day. 

Fertility: I've done my research and found out that they are few of the most productive species which can lay a pair of eggs in every month. They have some distinct rings at the back of their head and can make very lovely repeated sounds. So, after a week, when it got comfortable with us, we thought of pairing it with a female, from a nearby bird-shop. Quite surprisingly, just within 3 weeks, my eyes filled with joy like babies, looking at their first two eggs! Every member of my family got excited and started taking care of the mother bird individually. There are some pro-tips that I'll be sharing below.

At the same time, I consulted with the birds' salesman again regarding the extra healthcare needed for them, additional food for regaining their energy. I'm sharing the image of the medicine that I provided and you can look at the labelled directions for usage. Birds need some Grit (brick powder and egg shells for calcium) which bring back their old forms and excitement and playful attitude. So days went on and we waited for few days for them to hatch (usually it takes 14-21 days). Quite unfortunately, nothing happened and the same incident continued for another 3 times when my heart broke and I lost hope of seeing any babies soon.

A new day: Months went by and I was travelling here and there, moving on with my life when suddenly, just after returning from a trip, my eyes got stuck at two pinkish structures on the pot, moving subtly while the mother bird was trying to feed them through mouth. It was the most heavenly and eye-soothing view for me in ages! 😍 I started counting days when I'd see them as grown ups, flying just like their parents. It takes at least 20 days for the babies to learn to eat by themselves. I just kept on staring at them everyday as a growing habit and just like the blink of eyes, they grew bigger and brighter! It was high time I bought another cage for them so that their parent could have some privacy 👀

Birth of my friend: Days passed by and they kept on laying more eggs but nothing happened again. I wasn't really expecting anything more as I was already happy and satisfied. Suddenly, I heard another familiar soft screeches coming out of the cage and it wasn't surprising this time, it's another baby bird! Unfortunately, the other egg didn't hatch this time and the new-born baby didn't look much healthy and bright. I was a little concerned but thought the mother would take care of it anyways. Some more days went on again and almost after a month, I didn't see any improvement on the health of that baby bird and it wasn't even trying to eat itself as well. I was worried and started to bring it out regularly, keep it to myself for a certain time and inject food and water through a syringe. Just within a week, it learnt how to have food and I was tension-free once again. I thought of taming it and bringing it to me every alternate day and take care of it accordingly.

Those simply were the best days of my life with birds as I could see it grow right in front of my eyes and learn to fly step by step. It was unsure for most of the time but with me, I could see its confidence rising through anything while it tried to flip its wings once in a while and sit on my shoulders. I kept it with me every afternoon, while taking online classes and most of my students would enjoy its company. It happened for straight 4 months and I kept on looking after it and traveling to different places. Every time I got back, I saw all other birds moving away from me except this one. It was really close to my heart, one single piece.

Climax: The reason why I'm using 'was' is that, while writing and thinking about this article even yesterday (22nd February, 2023), I was playing with the dove and for the first time, I saw it completely calm and wasn't moving much. I noticed a tiny wound on its wings, washed it through a sanitizer and thought it might be from the steel cage. I took in in my hand, gave some water, it drank that quite peacefully after which, it tilted its head sidewise looking at me for the last time. Yes, I was predicting that something was not right but trying heart and soul not to believe what was happening in front of my eyes in the blink of an eye. I tired my best to put air and water through the injection, the CPC method but nothing worked. The article which was supposed to be a friendly gesture towards birds turned out to be a sad reality I've always wanted to avoid. I tried taking the picture of it for the last time while my hands were shivering, to convey my unconditional love that I realized for the first time yesterday. I didn't want to end this article this way, but maybe that's what fate has written anyway.

Conclusion: It's a new day and I'm moving on with my life. Just 4-5 days ago, I made an introduction video for Native Camp, my online teaching platform with my bird, Dovey before which it didn't have any name. Most of my students would ask for it after joining classes and I enjoyed every bit of it. Life sometimes throws sweet surprises like this as friends in life and we often forget how blessed we are time to time. You might have heard of cuddle therapy that we can't execute with birds (the hormones that release by cuddling anyone) but sometimes eye therapy might work too, where you just sit and relax to see them growing and enjoying with you. So, if you have/ had a friend like this in your life, know that someday, everyone has to leave. But before that someday comes in your life, make sure you enjoy every moment with them to the fullest so that the good memories stay with you. Don't be sad because it's over but be happy because it happened. 🐦

#Birds Dove #AustralianDove #Ringneckeddove #Baazigar #Pigeon #BirdLove #DoveBirdsFootage #DoveEggs #DoveBabies #Dovesounds #Dovesinging #Dovechirping #Dovebirdwhite #Dovebird

Right now, we have 2 pigeons, 3 Doves. We used to pet some Baazigars too before. Will share about those some other day with hopefully a happier and productive story, till then, don't lose anyone rather KEEP LOVING!

My IELTS preparation online to get 7+ every time!

 My IELTS preparation online to get 7+ every time in 2 weeks!

Introduction: It's 14th February, the year of 2023, post-pandemic period in most of the countries and maybe few of you are planning to go abroad while some of us are still struggling to get a permanent or temporary ticket there somewhere for study or residence 😫 Happy Valentine's Day btw 💝 I actually have attempted for IELTS exam (academic) for the first time back in 2020 with a very little to no knowledge about the format, yet I was able to earn a Band score of 7.5. My preparation was fully based on online, was taken with 14-15 day practice; thanks to my good base in English as a subject since childhood! I took the exam for the second time in 2022 with the same score of 7.5! 

I will talk about my IELTS preparation in brief here, with some useful tips and resources for now. If you have sound basics and need to get a score of more than 7 in less than a month, try following few of my suggestions and also have a look at my YouTube Channel for further insights. If you're not yet confident and have more time in hand for practice, my tips will guide you there too! Stay connected till the last 👇 (don't follow my writing style in general here, as I'm writing very simply so that you don't have any confusions :3.). See the picture below to have some idea about IELTS band score.

- What is IELTS and why is it important?

IELTS stands for the International English Language Testing System. It is designed to help you work, study or migrate to countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, USA etc where English is the native language. Your Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking skills will be tested and graded on a scale of 1-9. The exam is jointly owned by the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press and Assessment right now. I won't waste any more of your time as I think you already know much about the definitions and reasons and reading this article here for just the tips. So, instead of getting into the theoretical and conventional parts, I'll mainly focus on the good mindset, confidence build-ups etc. So, let's go! 🏃

My IELTS Preparation online: 

This article primarily will talk about my individual preparation, techniques I followed during that time and some common tips that helped me earn a score of 7.5 overall twice in a row. That doesn't imply you'll automatically get good marks too by just blindly imitating them. So, before following my guidance, please also asses your strengths and weaknesses, understand the scoring systems and dig deeper while you read my suggestion below:

IELTS Listening Test: Quite surprisingly, I got 8.5 in both of my tests even after not being 100% sure if I'd get good marks in this particular portion. If you've been planning for a long time, I'd suggest you to watch movies, series, news or anything in English until your exam (native accents and headphones are recommended for better practice). For short time, do the same efficiently with online practices (I'll provide some links at the end with my bonus tips for extra marks). 

Remember that you'll have 30 minutes to cover 40 questions in this part (both academic and general). The first 2 recordings will talk about everyday-context situations and experiences, will be the easiest and have direct answers. So, the time is enough if you use it wisely with occasional pauses for taking breath. The last 2 recordings, however, focus on educational/ training context and will be tougher with indirect answers/ synonyms. I didn't waste my time when the speaker was reading the instructions, rather focused on the questions in these times and memorized most of them in mind so that I could find the closest answers quickly while listening to them. Also, nothing is repeated in this full section. So, keep your complete focus while listening and move on. One more thing, recordings 1 and 3 will be conversations between two or more speakers while 2 and 4 will be monologues.

You will need to answer questions connected to the recordings ranging from multiple choice to matching information, headings, features and sentence endings, as well as sentence, summary, note, table, diagram or flow-chart completion. I will write a detailed article on separate parts individually if needed by anyone later on.

Bonus tips: The speeches follow a predictable pattern. The more practice you do, the more you understand that pattern. Master the skill of answering the questions while continuing the listening (multi-tasking). Having a rich vocabulary would also help you find/predict relevant answers even if you missed an answer. All the answers come in order. So, always look out for the next 1-2 questions as well to understand if you've missed an answer already and focus on the next one. Try highlighting the key-texts in the questions while reading them so that you can find out answers quickly while listening. 

IELTS Reading Test: Welcome to the hardest part (according to the most candidates) of the exam! With the previous experience, some online researches and thoughtful study, I was able to earn 8 here (previously 7). Both the academic and general Reading Tests are made up of 3 long texts taken from current books, journals, magazines, newspapers, notices, advertisements etc. While the academic texts are related to topics you might face at an undergraduate/ postgraduate level or any purpose in an English-speaking environment, the general texts will be different. Section 1 in general test focuses at your Social survival skills (notices, advertisements, timetables etc); Section 2 concentrates on Workplace survival skills (job descriptions, contracts, manuals etc) and Section 3 talks about longer and more complex text on topics of general interests.

The most effective and shortcut to succeed here is mastering the Skimming and Scanning technique, following which, I was able to improve my score. Please note that the topics and questions are not massively difficult but answering all of those in time could be. Another technique is, reading the questions first so that you know what you are looking for. Skimming is reading fast to get a general summary of the material which I followed paragraph after paragraph to predict the location of the answer initially. After that, Scanning is reading comparatively slowly but in fast rate to find specific keywords related to my answer. While skimming tells you about general information within a section, scanning helps you locate the particular fact.

Bonus tips: Try reading critical journals like The Guardians, somedays before the exam and practice experiencing the pressure. While skimming/ scanning, our mind subconsciously reads and pronounces every word which takes additional 5-7 minutes per text overall. From now on, try not to read rather just practice looking at some words together only. Our brain automatically can see 3-4 words at a glance and this practice enables us to work faster and solve problems. Try highlighting the key-texts in the questions while reading them so that you can find out answers quickly. Also, spare 12-15 minutes in the first text, 20 minutes at most in the second so that you can have more time for the most difficult part at the third part (25 or more).

IELTS Writing Test: My marks for this parts were 7.5 and 6.5 respectively. Both the General and Academic Tests comprise of two tasks though the topics are different. For Academic Writing Task 1, you will be asked to summarize a visual information/ graph/ table/ chart/ diagram. I made sure to organize my response into three main parts; the introduction, an overview and the main features from the diagram.

In Academic task 2, you might be asked to agree or disagree with a point of view or argument, discuss two opposite views, or the reason of a problem and offer a solution from the topics ranging from the environment to immigration, culture and even technology.

In General Writing task 1, you will be asked to write a letter to suggest any improvement plan/ request information/ explain a situation. Examiners will check your ability to provide general and factual information about the task, express needs, wants, opinions, complaints etc.

General task 2, you will be asked to write an essay on an argument/ problem/ point of view. You will be assessed on your capacity to provide factual information, outline a problem, present a solution, justify an opinion or evaluate and challenge ideas, evidence or an argument. 

Bonus Tips: Try not to think much before writing any of those parts if you're giving the Computer-based exam (like I did). Write whatever you have in mind as rough to utilize your time wisely, and afterwards come back and replace the low-value linking words, sentences, conjunctions with idioms, phrases, high-vocabulary enriched words. I'm sharing a picture below for your better understanding. Try remembering and pushing these words naturally in your writing part accordingly. Please inbox me if you have difficulties with anything or want to know more about the usages.

IELTS Speaking Test: This was one of the strongest part for me this time as I had a continuous speaking practice being an Online English Tutor (also known as ESL teacher). I got 7.5 this time followed by 7 earlier. It's same for both the General and Academic Tests. It's conducted face-to-face with a certified IELTS examiner and are recorded in case they need to be reviewed later. 

The test takes between  10-15 minutes and consists of 3 parts. Part 1 is the first part where the examiner will ask you some general questions related to work, family, studies, hobbies etc. In part 2, you'll be given a topic card, with a pencil and a paper to take notes and prepare response for 1 minute. You'll then be given the chance to speak on it for 2 minutes. In part 3, you'll have a two-way discussion with the examiner where they'll ask questions related to the topic discussed in Part 2. Listening, Reading and Writing takes place one after another without any break. You can choose to appear for your Speaking test before or after all the parts.

Bonus Tips: Grab a partner to talk anything about your life in the last 7 days casually, in English. Remember that before you focus too much on your grammatical errors or vocabularies, your fluency will be assessed; how you talk informally in a natural setup. Try not to sound fake, avoid too many complicated words or vocabularies. One bonus thing is that for most of us, we form sentences in our native language, then translate those in English which takes time and makes it complicated. You can practice (if you have more time) forming words in English throughout your speaking without any native language help. You'll automatically sound natural and better this way. Moreover, just like the writing part, I'm sharing another picture of words that you can practice to insert in your speech more naturally.

Common Question: Computer or Paper-based exam?

- I'd definitely go with the computer one! In this modern era, we all are good with typing speeds (thanks to our engagement in social medias). You can have all sorts of benefits in all the parts here. You'll have an individual headset for listening, can see the time while doing reading practice, highlight texts in the texts and questions whereas the best part comes in the writing section. As mentioned above, you can correct, insert, replace all kinds of mistakes and words once you're done with the rough.
For those opting for the paper-based exam, I won't discourage you either if you're more comfortable and confident with it.

Resources: So, this part is crucial if you have come this far and want to get away with good marks without any coaching. There are several online free ielts preparation material that you can find suitable for you. My suggested ones would be the tests from British Council, IDP, more computer based demos so that you get familiarized with it. I also practiced more difficult online versions to strengthen my knowledge. My idol throughout the journey so far was YouTuber Asiya if you want to have a look too. Additionally, if you register through online portals, you might be provided with some more useful free material just like I did with IDP IELTS and got certifications as well for completion of all of them!

Conclusion: That was all about my preparation! Before going away, I want to remind you all that your mental preparation is more important before sitting for the exam. As it will take considerable amount of time and money from you, you won't want to waste any of those without being fully confident. So, please work on building those amidst your textual preparations. Have a look at my YouTube Channel for further insights if you need any.

#IELTSexam #IELTSspeakingtest #IELTSwritingtest #IELTSreadingtest #IELTSlisteningtest #IELTSbandscore #IELTStips #IELTSresources #IELTSpreparationOnline 

Best of luck, Keep SCORING!