With Adele dropping her shocking weight loss across Instagram and Rebel Wilson following suit, it’s no wonder abs are the most worked out body part across Instagram and YouTube. More and more celebrities are being praised for their dramatic weight loss and toned cores, with even Boris Johnson hiring a personal trainer.
Data shows that abs are the most worked body part, with abs producing the highest number of YouTube views in relation to workout tutorials . There are over 50 million hashtags on Instagram dedicated to abs and abs workouts alone. Belly and stomach workouts are also popular, second to full body work outs.
| Body Part | Instagram Hashtags | Youtube Views | Total |
| Abs | 51,685,535 | 219,000,000 | 270,685,535 |
| Full Body | 2,176,625 | 219,000,000 | 221,176,625 |
| Stomach | 838,530 | 76,000,000 | 76,838,530 |
| Biceps | 11,709,621 | 54,000,000 | 65,709,621 |
| Legs | 24,454,619 | 37,000,000 | 61,454,619 |
| Arms | 7,112,657 | 54,000,000 | 61,112,657 |
| Bum | 12,147,078 | 35,000,000 | 47,147,078 |
| Chest | 12,583,448 | 24,000,000 | 36,583,448 |
| Back | 17,637,560 | 11,000,000 | 28,637,560 |
| Shoulders | 7,758,293 | 11,000,000 | 18,758,293 |
Sources: Data collection was conducted via the social platforms of Instagram and YouTube on 18th August 2020. All data is current and correct as of the date above.
Celebrity Inspiration
At 53, even Halle Berry achieved sculpted abs for the first time and showed off her impressive six pack – talk about ab-spiration! Halle Berry incorporated her core in every workout, using weights to really make her abs defined. Further, she praises a mixed variety of workout styles, including martial arts, strength training, and weighted abs exercises.
Having been braced with Joe Wicks workouts throughout lockdown and with lockdown restrictions lifting, it’s not a surprise that we are wanting to get back into the gym to emulate our favourite celebrities. Geordie Shore’s Chloe Ferry has been a particular stand out on social media, demonstrating her at home workouts and showing off her washboard stomach. Her body transformation has focussed on slimming down and toning up her abs.
The Exercises
To emulate your favourite celebrities, here are some workouts to help you make your core just as enviable.
Beginners
Shorter workouts will help ease you into working your core for the first time or after a fitness break. Start with simpler but impactful moves such as stomach crunches, planks, and bicycle crunches to help you master the basics.
Joe Wicks' 10 Minute Abs Blaster is a great tutorial, with lots of encouragement to get you going!
Intermediate
When you’ve mastered the basics and want to push yourself further, try to ramp up the amount of times you work out your core! Add in more advanced moves such as dead-lifts to knee raises, downward dog knee tucks, and reverse lateral walks. Moves like this will also help you work out the rest of your body.
Chloe Ting has fantastic free work out programmes including various ab challenges ranging from two weeks to 30 days.
Lower Abs
In addition to abs, many people are interested on working their lower stomachs too, with a focus on weight loss for belly fat. Moves to help you shift the lower fat include scissors, mountain climbers, and reverse crunches.
MadFit is the queen of targeting and burning lower belly fat, using short but precise workouts.
If you want to do a full Halle Berry and really push yourself, don’t forget to incorporate weights into your exercise routine.
The Supplements
When it comes to nutrition, effective diets for obtaining and maintaining abs needs to focus on healthy meals. It’s especially important to eat enough protein and fat, particularly when doing rigorous exercise to build muscle.
Here are Discount Supplements’ best-selling protein powders to help you during your workouts.
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey 2.27kg
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey is a premium whey protein blend containing whey protein isolates (WPI). Rated 90+% pure protein, WPI is known as the highest quality whey ingredient. The protein blend is fast acting, with just 1g of fat.
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey 2.27kg, £49.99
PhD Nutrition Diet Whey 2kg
PhD Nutrition Diet Whey is a high protein weight management shake. Diet Whey features a premium blend of whey and milk protein concentrate along with soya protein isolate, offering nutritional support to trained muscles. It also contains specially selected, functional ingredients to facilitate energy metabolism and appetite regulation.
PhD Nutrition Diet Whey 2kg, £34.00
Bulk Protein Company Vegan Gainz
Bulk Protein Company Vegan Gainz is a high-quality vegan weight gainer product. This product is made from all plant proteins and contains 30g of protein per serving.
Bulk Protein Company Vegan Gainz 4kg, £29.99
Body Positivity
Whilst the results from Adele, Chloe Ferry, and Halle Berry are to be commended, don’t let this force you into thinking that you have to drop to the floor and crunch straight away to be as slim as possible!
Celebrities such as Jaqueline Jossa and Rebel Wilson are opening up about their body insecurities and shedding weight for the right reasons. Rebel Wilson made a New Year’s resolution to stop her unhealthy eat habits and begin a fitness journey. Similarly, Jaqueline Jossa has opened up about wanting to get fit to feel better in herself aiming to ‘move more’ as its good for mental health.
Both stars have demonstrated that fitness journeys should be focussed on being healthy and feeling good, as opposed to chasing fad diets and wanting to be ‘skinny’.