With the awesome summer weather we have had so far this year, lots of my clients and exercise groups at Kris Cann personal training are asking what they can do to firm up their abdominals for the beach.

My normal response to trim tummy questions involves combining regular exercise with sensible eating.

Avoiding or severely limiting all fizzy drinks, sweets, cakes, desserts and drinking less alcohol and coffee.

Knocking back water like its going out of fashion helps stave off hunger and benefits you by maintaining hydration levels.

Why not try some healthily dressed, tasty summer salads packed with protein (good quality meat, fish or eggs) and a sensible serving of avocado and maybe a small sprinkling of pine nuts to help you trim down.

Avoiding unnecessary stress and getting to sleep before 10:30pm will also help the hormones that regulate fat storage do their work. My simple effective no thrills formula is; exercise, hydrate, eat healthily, relax, and don’t skip out on sleep!

Following on from last months article, try out the tips above and grab your (Swiss) balls to see if you can force your abs into action.

The exercises shown here are more advanced than in last months article, so it is advisable to start off by trying those exercises first.

If you are a beginner but feel that you need some easier exercises to break your self into it then try fitness mission 1, and follow on to all the other fitness mission programmes below.

Your focus on today's exercises should be to remain in control of your body and the ball at all times, this will mean moving slowly to begin with and can require quite an effort.

Ensure you keep breathing deeply throughout exercises and ask a friend to hold the ball until you get used to each move.

If you can eventually aim to get up to 25 repetitions and two or three sets maximum, you will be doing amazingly well. Try these exercises up to three times a week and don’t forget to get some cardiovascular training, resistance training and flexibility work into your exercise week as well.

Before you try these exercises you should always check with your G.P if you have any pre-existing medical conditions/injuries or doubt your health is sufficient to safely participate, and be reminded that these exercises are performed entirely at your own risk.

Click to view the warm-up video here

Click to cool down with some stretches

Getting fit is not always easy and if you are struggling to get motivated or results don’t come quickly enough, try one of my training sessions or group classes, and contact me through www.kriscannpersonaltraining.co.uk.

That’s it from me for this month, get your balls out and see what you can do before the summers over!