Easy Ways to Get a Flat Tummy

Looking at health magazines every month will give you an idea of the most commonly sought-after improvement people seek when exercising: the flat stomach or six-pack abs. There are a number of ways to improve the appearance of a person's midsection, and they are generally simple and straightforward. Two things are important to remember when considering the stomach: strengthening the abdominal muscles and removing the fat covering the abs. The only way to achieve high-level results is to keep both goals in mind when working toward a flat stomach.

Ab Exercises

• Obviously, exercising the abdominal muscles is important. It is also important to consider the different muscles involved in the midsection. Exercises like crunches are effective for working the upper abs, but will do little to nothing for the lower muscles. Hip raises are an effective exercise for the lower abs, and will not put too much strain on the lower back. The obliques are also important to flatten the stomach. The obliques are on the sides of the midsection, the area most commonly associated with love handles. Twisting exercises, such as crunches while on your side, or twisting crunches, with the elbow moving toward the opposite side's knee, are effective for working the side muscles of the midsection.

Cardiovascular Exercises

• Cardiovascular exercises, such as running, swimming, or biking are also important to flattening the stomach, as these exercises help the body burn calories and lose weight. No matter how many crunches are performed, if the fat on top of the abs is not eliminated, the abs will never show definition. Any aerobic exercise can help flatten the stomach, and most gyms will have plenty of machines to aid in the exercises.

Resistance Training

• Resistance training, such as weight lifting, is also important, as the increased muscle mass will help burn calories every day, and the calories burned are throughout the body. Leg exercises such as squats and lunges are very effective at burning calories, as the leg muscles are some of the largest in the body, so working them will burn the most calories for the time spent exercising. Weight lifting will also help develop a better body in areas outside of the midsection, which most people strive for when exercising.

Diet

• No matter how good a workout routine a person adheres to, if their diet is not under control, they will never achieve their desired results. Fad diets will come and go, but one constant in weight management is that the number of calories consumed in a given day will be the greatest factor in weight loss. Lower carbohydrate diets are generally effective because foods high in carbohydrates also tend to have more calories, so limiting one will limit another. Keeping your diet healthy is also important, as too few calories will deplete the body of essential nutrients, which your body can interpret as starvation, slowing the fat burning process. Everyone is different, and has different goals, so finding the ideal amount of food to consume each day can take some trial and error, but a weight loss of two to four pounds a week is ideal.