Building abs (for a girl)

[polo_tottie]

How long do you folks reckon it'll take me to tone up my abs? I'm 5ft3, 8 stone and a size 6-8 uk dress size (about 25-26 inch waist) and pretty unfit. I've never really done any excercise before because i didn't think i needed to. I've been to a gym once and to be honest I found it pretty boring , BUT i'd quite like to be firm rather than flabby. Also, if anyone can recommend any exercises aside from sit-ups, that'd be great!
I don't want to be ripped, but I'd like to be able to sit down and not have my rubber tyre sticking out.
Thanks!

[johnk]

You would be better doing some aerobic exercise and using your pulse rate as a guide.
Subtract your age from 180 and aim for that. Do any exercise you don't find boring, swimming or rowing are the best but anything that get's your pulse rate up will do as you are exercising your heart and lungs which are the basis of all exercise.
Concentrating on just 1 muscle usually leads to problems.

[joggerjayne]

Any exercise which brings your thighs closer to your chest will use your Abs.

So ... sitting here at my desk ... pressing my hands down on the desk for support, and repeatedly lifting my knees up to the underside of the desk, gives a pretty good Abs workout.

Then stand up, put your arms straight out in front of you, and bring your left knee up to your right elbow, then your right knee up to your left elbow.

Sit back down. Stretch your legs out in front of you, put your hands on the front edge of your chair, and raise your feet up and down.

By the time you've repeated all these a few times, you'll have worked your Abs without leaving your computer !!

[Chocman]

A lot of people don't realize that the stomach is part of our core muscles which also involve lower back and obliques (Side muscles) So a good regime will also include exercises to work these also, but seeing you've asked just about the stomach then let me answer that.The most effective are crunches and its many variations, the plank and side plank, also hanging leg raises and cable crunches, but these two can be done further down the line.
Google these or type into youtube for vids to show you exactly how to do these.
Good luck.

[polo_tottie]

thanks so much for the advice guys and gals! i really appreciate it!! i've just got the p90x workout dvds... they are pretty hardcore but i tested out a couple of them last night - they're doable... with practice! :D and people on youtube of all shapes and sizes seem to be getting good results with it so there's hope for me yet (if a morbidly obese person can do this programme then i think i should be able to too if i man up and stop being such a wuss! hehe)