Nadeem
Stomach flattening exercises are one of the many ways that we can work on getting our health into optimal shape. According to some of the latest estimates of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta (CDC), some 40% of the population of North America is either overweight or obese. A person who is overweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of somewhere greater than 25. The BMI is a figure that is obtained using a person’s height, age and weight and is a relatively good measure of physical fitness. Certainly, as a person’s BMI decreases and gets within the 20-25 range, they become healthier, feel better and can do more without getting tired.
One of the most frequently lamented body parts of an overweight person are the abs or the muscles above the stomach. In an ideal body look, a person will want to have 6-8 visible muscles in this area. Unfortunately, most people never see these and all they have are what is commonly known as “love handles”. But there are many stomach flattening exercises that you can do on a daily basis which will help you lose weight and consequently improve the shape of your body so that your stomach can look great too.
A word of caution about stomach flattening exercises
Contrary to popular belief, there are no exercises that you can do to “target” certain fat deposits on your body. Therefore, doing stomach flattening exercises in and of themselves will not directly cause you to lose any fat that has built up in your abdominal area.
The effect of stomach flattening exercises is somewhat different. The main effect you will notice when you do any sort of exercise of this nature is that the muscles in your stomach will grow stronger. By this, it is meant that you may end up with strong muscles in your stomach, but there will still be fat deposits over them. As stated above, the two are not related. Losing fat in specific areas is not related to working out any particular part of your body.
Do not think that this means that your efforts are futile though! The biggest benefit of stomach flattening exercises is that your body will start using a lot more energy than it had before during the sedentary lifestyle you were leading. This energy — provided you do not overeat to compensate for your exercise routines — will be derived from stored body fat. The metabolism will simply consume your fat cells to provide energy for your increasingly physical and active lifestyle.
Combine stomach flattening exercises with a total body workout for best results
Whenever you do any sort of exercise, you must combine it with a variety of approaches to achieve optimal bodily health. Stomach flattening exercises have a lot of benefits when it comes to increasing your core strength, helping you breathe easier, deeper and better as well as toning the abdominal muscles (the “six-pack” and the “eight-pack”), but to achieve maximum effect from your routine, you should combine it with other workouts as well for your muscles. Here are a few basics you should seek to incorporate at least 3-4 times a week in your life (it’s ideal to take 1-2 complete rest days a week).
Cardiovascular training — An important part of any fitness regime to increase your cardiovascular abilities. You should be aiming for endurance and stamina. You can start off slowly and work yourself from a brisk walk to a jog, and then from a jog to a run. This process can take as little as 10-15 weeks of daily walks, jogs or runs, depending on the levels you can achieve.
High intensity interval training — This is a type of cardiovascular exercise you may want to consider instead of steady, continuous exercise. What this basically consists of is periods of steady, medium paced brisk walking or jogging (depending on what your level of fitness is at) interspersed with short, 20-second spurts of extreme, high intensity full-on sprinting. This not only trains your cardio abilities, but will also increase your stamina and strength at the same time.
Different types of cardio — There are many different types of extremely beneficial cardiovascular exercises. You can choose to use the machines at your local gym, or another great solution, which many people love, is to get out into nature at least once a week. Getting out to go hiking on the weekends can be a great way to finish off a week and give yourself a chance to explore some of the more gorgeous areas of the part of the world you live in.
Stomach flattening exercises in the gym — There are a huge variety of exercises you can do in the gym which will help you flatten your stomach. You can use some of the machines that are specifically designed to target the muscle groups in your abdominal area, or you can go for free weights and do exercises that will strengthen those muscles as well.
Exercises using your body — Some of the best stomach flattening exercises are simply exercises that you can do with your whole body. For instance, the simple pushup is one of the best exercises that you can use to strengthen your stomach. Look up what’s known as the “100 Pushup Challenge” for a great program of how you can increase strength in your biceps, deltoids, pectorals and abdominal muscles all at once.
Sit ups are extremely effective as well — Sit ups are another extremely effective method of increasing strength in your stomach and your entire core, including all the muscles around your waist. It would be an understatement to say that sit ups are the best stomach flattening exercises out there, because they are so effective. There are a variety of different types of sit ups that you can do, including crunches, crunches with a twist, sit ups on a bosu ball or even the inclined sit ups that you do at a gym on a special machine.
What about frequency of exercise?
People who are dedicated to getting into an ideal physical shape and a level of fitness they will be happy with often want to know what the ideal frequency of physical exercises is. It depends entirely on the type of exercise you are doing. But in general, the following guidelines will help you:
Cardiovascular exercises — Try doing these at least 2-3 times a week. Preferably have two lighter sessions during the week and one more intensive one on the weekend. If you go jogging twice a week and then go hiking on the weekend, this is a perfect way to do this.
Weight training exercises — Again, try doing your weight training exercises at least 2-3 times a week. Make sure you give yourself at least one day of complete rest per week from either cardio or intensive weight training.
Daily exercises — You can incorporate your stomach flattening exercises into a very simple daily routine of pushups, sit ups and at least a short walk that takes about 30 minutes or more.
Stretching — Stretching is very important to do daily and can be done soon after you wake up or just before you go to sleep.
As you can see, stomach flattening exercises are just one of the many ways in which you can greatly improve your physical fitness and be counted amongst those people who are neither overweight nor obese! Get started today!
