How To Get A Flat Stomach

Written by Glenn

Tuesday, 13 November 2007

The Problem

Every problem must be divided into smaller problems so it can be more efficiently attacked. It is the same for this one. For overweight people, of course there will be no benefits if they start to do abs all day long, they could even put their health in a danger. So first they should reduce their overweight, which is an entirely different problem, and then attack the problem of getting a flat stomach. But for a common relatively healthy person, with just some extra pounds concentrated on his or her not so flat stomach, there are many alternatives he or she can explore. We will explore the problem and possible solutions

See Also: The Flat Belly Diet. We conclude with some user feedback in the comments section (6th entry) with seven specific exercises to get six pack abs.

After doing some research on this highly requested topic, we truly believe there are two major strategies to deal with one of the most problematic areas of the body, the stomach. It seems a lot of people are ready to try anything to get a really flat tummy, so here we are going to offer some direct advice.

The Diet

Diet is a major factor in removing fat from your stomach and in general, from all your body. You should always consult a nutritionist before following any diet. We are just posting a possible diet that maybe is not recommended for everyone. If you have overweight, please consult your nutritionist first.

Number one recommendation is to eat more fibre, at least 25 grams daily to keep a flat stomach. You can find fibre in fruits and vegetables and also in some whole-grain foods. Fibre is also helpful for lowering blood cholesterol.

A second advice for a flat stomach is to make carbs part of your diet. You should eat around 250 grams of carbs based on a diet of 1800 calories per day. More carbs than this and you could start retaining a lot of water in your body.

A third advice on the diet is to drink a lot of water. Eight 8 ounce glasses per day should help you in your goal to get a flat stomach. Just remember to avoid drinks with lots of sodium.

Finally, eat light at night. Some studies reveal that eating light at night is beneficial because you’ll wake up with appetite for a fibre rich breakfast. Try to eat five times per day. Remember that your body needs food every 3 to 4 hours so instead of 3 large meals, try with 5 smaller meals.

The Exercises

Diet alone will take you nowhere if you really want a wonderful and good looking flat stomach. Although you still will get a slimmer figure with diet alone, we encourage you to complement the diet with some exercises for optimal results. Working your abs will require patience and hard work but if you are determined in achieving your goals then you will have no problems.

Cardio exercises are critical to get flatter stomach muscles. 30 minutes of sprints a day will do the trick. Do not confuse sprinters with long distance runners, the former have a lot of muscles and perfect abs while the later are skinny and have soft stomachs.

There are many abdominal exercises for you to choose, and probably all will work fine. Just start up with simple techniques and progressively move to harder exercises. 30 minutes of abs per day should be enough on the long term. Remember to keep doing your exercises forever and don’t just let them go when you reach your goal. You need to maintain your body and discipline is paramount here. If you think that switching eating habits and stopping your exercises won’t do anything to your new acquired body you are completely wrong. You’ll lose everything you’ve gained so far, so keep focused and keep training.

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Comments (9)

	1. 16-11-2007 07:40
	I want a flat stomach! Can you give more examples of exercises to do this? I really want to be ready for summer! Guest Report

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	2. 11-01-2008 03:18
	How to reduce belly weight Dear sir can u give me some tips or some excurise. http://how to reduce belly weight Guest Report

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	3. 12-01-2008 11:26
	How to reduce belly weight I think doing a 20 min stomach workout would work. Of course, just like any other muscle, you don't need to work your stomach every day! Every other day will work. I've had success with the P90X program. Guest Report

Kenny

	4. 21-02-2008 15:56
	Specific Stomach Exercises for six pack Build Muscle 1. Do Crunches. Lie on the floor (with or without a mat) and cross your arms in front of your chest. (Do not place both hands behind your head. Placing both hands behind your head can cause lower back problems in the long run as it places unnecessary stress on that part of your body from pulling on your head and neck.) Another alternative is to cross your arms in front of your chest is to lightly place your finger tips behind your ears, without pulling on your neck or ears to help raise you off the floor. Draw in your abdomen towards your spine while inhaling through your nose. Now raise your shoulders (upper torso) towards your knees, using strictly your abdominal muscles. It is very important not to lift your entire back off the floor, as this can cause back strain, and the extended movement does not help you develop six pack abs any faster. The most important part of the crunch is the initial flexing of your abs as you lift your shoulders off of the floor. As soon as you begin lifting off the floor exhale through your mouth, ending with a gasp once your shoulders are off the floor. Then pause for a second once you are at the top of the crunch and exhale the last bit of air from your diaphragm while flexing your abs. The proper breathing and flexing make all the difference. Now lower back down slowly and controlled while inhaling through your nose, just until your shoulder blades touch the ground. Do not let your head touch the ground and repeat. 2. Do Sit Ups. Lie on the floor, feet on the floor, knees up and fingers placed behind your ears or hands crossed on your chest. Sit all the way up, lifting your lower back off the floor along with your shoulder blades.Lower yourself down. Repeat. Once this becomes relatively easy for you (i.e. you can do a quite a bit with ease) start adding more challenges. Find an incline bench or do these on an exercise ball. Once you "graduate" from that, do weighted sit ups. Hold a weight on your chest while you do these. As these become easier, hold heavier and heavier weights. You might also try lifting your feet off the ground while doing the sit ups or alternating the leg in the air, like pretending to pedal while sitting up. If your hands are behind your head, bring your left knee up to touch your right elbow and then your right knee to the left elbow. 3. Do Leg Lifts. Lie on the floor, legs straight out, hands at your sides. Lift your legs straight up (not bending your knees at all) until they're at a ninety degree angle (or close). Lower your legs and repeat without letting your legs touch the floor. For more challenge there is equipment at most gyms that will allow you to raise yourself up using your arms as support and dangle your legs. You can perform leg lifts there too. If you're using this piece of equipment, you can make it easier by just raising your knees to your chest. It's more difficult to raise your legs to a horizontal position with your legs straight. This helps firm up the lower abdomen. If you're truly a monster, try doing leg lifts with a medicine ball hanging from your feet. Or hang from a pull up bar and raise your legs in front of you all the way up to the bar. Still too easy?... 4. Do Jackknife Sit Ups. Lie down flat on the floor. Place your hands on the ground to your sides for balance; you can pick them up as you get used to the movement. Simultaneously raise your knees and torso so that your knees and face meet on an imaginary line extending from your pelvis to the ceiling. You should be able to kiss your knees at the top of the motion. Your legs will naturally fold bringing your feet towards your hips, much like a jackknife. Lie back down (i.e. "spread out") and repeat. Place a weight between your feet when you think you can handle it. What's that? More? 5. Do V-ups. Lie on the floor, legs straight out, hands on the floor but this time extended out over your head. Simultaneously raise legs and torso. Don't bend your knees! What kind of V would it be if you bend your knees? Reach with your hands toward the raised feet. Touch your feet if possible (will require some flexibility). Relax, return to starting position and repeat. Add weight between feet to match your taste. 6. Static Hold and Side Statics. Put your body into the push-up position but with your elbows on the floor, and you whole body flat. This position is known as the static hold position and it trains your core (including your abs) to hold the body in place which is the real purpose of your abs. Hold this position for as long as possible, but you should be aiming to start off with at least 45 seconds, while seasoned ab workers known to achieve over 20 minute static holds. To perform the side static hold roll onto one side of your body and lift into the same position as before, but this time only one arm will be on the ground with the other arm pointed straight up the air and your non-weight bearing leg resting on your bottom leg. Once again, hold this for as long as possible 7. Train Your Oblique Muscles. It's not as important to work on your oblique muscles at first, but eventually you'll want to start working these too. These are the muscles to either side of your stomach. There are multiple ways to do this and anything that includes twisting your torso against a resistance counts. There are twisting machines at gyms, you can twist while you do sit-ups, you can do side bends, you can twist side to side with a medicine ball in hand, etc. Be aware though, that many beginners tend to have weak obliques compared to their abs (it simply isn't used as much in daily life) so go easy on the sides at first. 8. Know that since it is, literally, the center of your body there are many other tricks you can use to train your abs, and some of the other movements will more or less involve your abs. Including every abdominal exercise in existence would make this article painfully long and new methods are being developed constantly. Now that you've made up your mind about a washboard mid-section, get creative! Find new ways to crunch, bend and twist in your daily life. Some possibilities include: 1. Use a stability ball. Do your crunches on the ball to introduce instability to your workout, which will improve your balance too. There are also lots of core exercises that can be done with a stability ball.You can also use a small bubble use for physical therapy. 2. Duck and twist during your daily routine. Reach with your left hand to things on your right and vice versa. If you feel like turning around to face something, see if you can do it with keeping your hips in place and twisting at the waist (warning: awkward when talking to other people, use only against inanimate objects). While walking or standing, pretend that something is coming toward you and you have to duck to get out of the way. Do this as often as you are comfortable or at times when it won't look weird. You can bend forward from the hips or, if you're really into it, bend at the knees too and really "sink" out of the way. 9. Do the Scientific Best Abs Exercise Researchers at the San Diego State University, found that there are certain abs exercises that triggers most muscular activity. The winner was the "bicycle maneuver": * Lie on the floor; make sure your lower back is pressed on the ground. * Take your hands behind your ears. Then bring up your knees at a 45 degree angle. * Start doing a bicycle pedalling motion. Touch your elbow with the opposite knee (right elbow with left knee and so on, alternating) Registered Report

Glenn

	5. 12-04-2008 21:24
	Long distance runners feelings hurt I felt the comment about only sprinters have muscle and flat stomach's was misleading. I do a mix of cardio, swimming, rollerblading, biking, and running - and my runs are all long distance. I also rock-climb and lift weights 2-3x per week. I have muscle and flat abs! It can be done - the most important thing to remember is perserverance - the results will come if the diet and exercise changes are lifestyle changes for good. Guest Report

Jenn

	6. 13-04-2008 08:13
	Long distance runners feelings hurt You make a good point and the over generalization is noted. Thanks for noting that for others to not be discouraged if they aren't sprinters. Registered Report

Glenn

	7. 20-04-2008 08:17
	Other ways to help flat stomach I thought this information may be of use on other ways outside of those listed about to help you get a flat stomach: Habits That Will Shrink Your Middle Calm down. Too much stress can contribute to a potbelly. Stress increases levels of cortisol, a hormone that seems to direct fat to our middle, says Jacob Seidell, PhD, of the National Institute of Public Health in Bilthoven, Netherlands. To keep levels low, try this 5- to 10-minute stress reducer: Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. Next, take several slow, deep breaths to help clear your mind. Continue breathing deeply and repeat the word "one" to yourself as you exhale. (If you get distracted, just bring your focus back to the word "one.") Practice this for 5 to 10 minutes once or twice a day. Skip the alcohol. That glass of wine with dinner may be part of the reason your jeans are too tight. Alcohol also tends to raise cortisol levels, sending fat to your belly, Dr. Seidell says. Stop smoking. "It keeps me thin," proclaim many smokers. But the truth is that smokers tend to have more abdominal fat than nonsmokers, says Dr. Seidell. (The stress hormone cortisol seems to be the culprit here too.) "When people stop smoking, the amount of abdominal fat actually decreases," he says. Eat more fiber. Not only is fiber great for overall weight loss (it fills you up so you don't eat as much), it also prevents constipation, which can cause your tummy to bulge, says Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, a gastroenterologist and director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center in Baltimore. To stay regular, aim for 25 to 35 g of fiber a day by eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables; or try a fiber supplement. Drink up. For premenstrual bloating, drink lots and lots of water. This will actually help flush away bloating, not make it worse. Guest Report

Tonya

	8. 29-06-2008 06:48
	Other ways to help flat stomach can u plzz..help me get a flat belly m age 13 n 50kg.. http://i want a flat belly Guest Report

raveena

	9. 29-06-2008 09:43
	Other ways to help flat stomach Please take the time to look at our articles on how to help you lose weight in the belly. I'd recommend looking at our flat belly diet article, as well as a good exercise program to go with it. Browse our site and read read read. You must become informed and then you must have the motivation to actually execute a weight loss plan. Guest Report