To achieve a flat stomach, you must do exercises for all abdominal muscles and cardio exercise to burn excess body fat. Interval cardio training exercises increase your metabolism so you'll lose the fat covering your stomach quickly. Three or four days a week of abdominal exercises will tighten your stomach muscles.
Interval Cardio Training
Instead of simply doing aerobic exercise at one level of light or moderate intensity, interval cardio training alternates between periods of moderate intensity and high intensity. As with any cardio or aerobic training, you should warm up for at least 5 minutes by doing some light exercise such as marching in place. You should also cool down after any workout with another 5 minutes of light exercise. During cardio training, start with 3 minutes of moderate intensity exercise such as jogging in place. Then, raise the intensity by walking stairs, jumping rope, or another exercise to increase your heart rate. Don't go above an 8 on an intensity scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. Do high intensity for 1 minute. Repeat 3 minutes of moderate intensity followed by 1 minute of high-intensity cardio. Start with 10 to 20 minutes and work up to 30 minutes, not including the warm-up and cool-down period. Three to five days a week of interval training is good when you do light to moderate intensity cardio on other days, so you're getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily. Thirty minutes of strength and core training can count as physical activity.
Rectus Abdominus Exercises
The rectus abdominus muscles are the ones people generally think of as their stomach muscles. These are the muscles that make up a 6 pack. Exercises such as crunches, reverse crunches, sit-ups, ball roll-ups, decline crunches and ball roll backs work your rectus abdominus muscles. Adding a twist with your shoulders when doing crunches and decline crunches can tone your oblique muscles. Start with two sets of 12 reps and work up to three sets of 10 to 15. Most people are familiar with the crunch exercise, but reverse crunches also work the abdominals. To do reverse crunches, lie on your back with your arms resting at your sides and your legs straight. Lift your legs up in the air above your hips and flex your feet so that the soles of your feet are parallel to the floor. Push your lower back flat onto the floor. Lower your legs slowly toward the ground and keep your back flat. Lift your legs back up at the point where you can no longer maintain a flat back.
Transverse Abdominus Exercises
The transverse abdominus is a group of muscles that is deeper than the rectus abdominus. It's responsible for stabilizing your spine. When toned, it will pull in your abdomen and give you a flatter stomach. Exercises such as planks, elevators and pelvic tilts strengthen your transverse abdominus. Pelvic tilts are a simple exercise you can do lying down or against a wall. Lie face down on a mat with your legs straight and your arms relaxed to your sides. Tuck your hips and push your back flat against the floor. Hold for 5 seconds. Release and rest for a few seconds. Do another 10 reps.
Tags: moderate intensity, your legs, back flat, cardio training, reverse crunches