what's the best exercise to flatten your stomach?

Answer 1

Exercise will strengthen the muscles. Combined with proper diet, it will cause fat to go away. Exercising a muscle group does not mean that fat in that area will go away.

Answer 2

The best exercise to flatten your stomach is to work out your brain. Discipline yourself to eating healthy foods on a consistent basis. Combine that with a good full body weight lifting routine, and you should be on your way to a flatter stomach.

Answer 3

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor in front of you. Lie on an exercise mat rather than a hard floor to prevent back strain. (Image 1)

2. Position your feet as wide as your hips. (Image 2)

3. Place your hands behind your head so that your thumbs are tucked behind your ears.

4. Hold your elbows slightly out to the sides and keep your chin pointing upward. (Image 3)

5. Curl up and forward so that your head, neck and shoulder blades lift off the floor. Make sure you're not pulling your head forward with your hands. If your chin is making contact with your chest, the abdominal muscles aren't being used in the exercise.

6. Pause for a moment. Lift your head up enough so that your middle and lower back stay on the floor. Squeeze your abdominals as you pause. (Image 4)

7. Slowly lower your head, neck and shoulder blades to starting position.

8. Keep your knees bent, your feet in the same position and your back straight throughout the entire exercise.

Tips:
For a more difficult crunch, do the exercise starting with your knees bent roughly at right angles and your feet lifted off the floor 2 or 3 inches. Cross your feet at the ankles for stability. Doing the crunch this way puts more pressure on the abdominals.

For an easier exercise, fold your arms across your chest with each hand resting palm down on the opposite shoulder. Pay special attention to your neck since your hands are not supporting the back of your head. (This method also prevents "cheating" for those tempted to use the larger shoulder carriage muscles in the "hands-behind-head" method.)

For a more advanced crunch, hold lightweight plates (1 to 10 lbs.) on your chest or hold the plate behind your head as you support your head.

Crunch with a twist by curling up one elbow (or side) slightly above the other elbow. This works the obliques - the side muscles of your abdomen.

Do two to three sets of 15 to 20 repetitions once a day. You should see results in 4 to 6 weeks.

There are multiple variations of the abdominal crunch, including pull-down and cross-knee crunches - see Related Sites for details.

Lying on an exercise mat rather than a hard floor helps prevent back strain.

Despite what you may think, commercialized abdominal machines/rollers are not enough to get you solid abs. A "six-pack" results from not only crunches, but also consistent aerobic and fat-reducing exercise (such as running), as well as eating a low-fat diet.

Once your abs are a little stronger, look into ab video workouts and ab machines. They will introduce more advanced exercises and add definition to your stomach.


Warnings:
Avoid using your hands to pull up your head. This can cause serious damage to the neck and spinal cord regions.

One clear sign of improper technique is touching your elbows together when doing the exercise.

If you have any condition that would impair or limit your ability to engage in physical activity, please consult a physician before attempting this activity. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

Answer 4

Physical exercise is an important complement to dieting in securing weight loss. Aerobic exercise is also an important part of maintaining normal good health, especially the muscular strength of the heart. To be useful, aerobic exercise requires maintaining a target heart rate of above 50 percent of one's maximum heart rate for 30 minutes, at least 3 times a week. Brisk walking can accomplish this.

The ability of a few hours a week of exercise to contribute to weight loss can be overestimated. To illustrate, consider a 100-kilogram man who wants to lose 10 kilograms and assume that he eats just enough to maintain his weight (at rest), so that weight loss can only come from exercise. Those 10 kilograms converted to work are equivalent to about 350 megajoules. (We use an approximation of the standard 37 kilojoules or 9 Calories per gram of fat.) Now assume that his chosen exercise is stairclimbing and that he is 20 percent efficient at converting chemical energy into mechanical work (this is within measured ranges). To lose the weight, he must ascend 70 kilometers. A man of normal fitness (like him) will be tired after 500 meters of climbing (about 150 flights of stairs), so he needs to exercise every day for 140 days (to reach his target).

The minimum safe dietary energy intake (without medical supervision) is 75 percent of that needed to maintain basal metabolism. For our hypothetical 100-kilogram man, that minimum is about 5,700 kilojoules (1,300 Calories) per day. By combining daily aerobic exercise with a weight-loss diet, he would be able to lose 10 kilograms in half the time (70 days). Of course, the described regime is more rigorous than would be desirable or advisable for many persons. Therefore, under an effective but more manageable weight-loss program, losing 10 kilograms (about 20 pounds) may take as long as 6 months.

There are also some easy ways for people to take exercise, such as walking rather than driving, stairclimbing istead of taking elevators, doing more housework, or parking the cars farther and walking to school or office can all be very good exercise

Answer 5

Half the story is strengthening the abdominal muscles - crunches, situps, etc. are good as noted by others.

The other half is that the tightest six pack will still remain hidden by the thick layer of fat covering it - to remove that, you need to reduce sugar intake, eat healthy and build a regimen of regular, strenuous aerobic activity.

Answer 6

Crunches and sit-ups are great because they tone the muscles.

However, if the muscles around your middle are covered with fat, then you have to work on that first.

Cut out sugar, and 'whites' (white bread, rice, etc). You'll see a change in a couple of weeks. That together with the toning excercises, you'll look great!

Answer 7

Diet and all exercise forms (weight training and aerobics). There is no such thing as spot training, you can do abdominal exercises all day long and it is not going to burn the fat on your midsection, they will build the muscle but they will not burn the fat.

Answer 8

I think it's one of those excersize balls. You would bend backwards over one, then sit back up again. It not only encourages you to excersize your abs *and* all the stabilizing muscles, but it doesn't dig into your hips like the floor does, and it can be used for several other excersizes.

Answer 9

One very simple exercise is there. It is, turn your head from current position to extreme left and then to extreme right and then back to normal position, when someone asks you whether you want more food. That is, say no to extra food.

Answer 10

i've heard it helps to do sit-ups and crunches. just lie on your back and do them straight up and side to side and hopefully you'll see improvements. i tried doing this for the same reason as you, but didn't stick with it. i think you have to do a lot of reps every day for several months to see results, as well as watch what you eat.