All of us desire a flat stomach. But, it is not that easy to lose belly flab. We might spend hours working out and yet not see the results. There are numerous flat stomach exercises, but not all of them are effective.
You should be careful while incorporating stomach exercises in your workout routine. They have to work for your body type and physiology. You should be able to plan appropriately and select exercises that aid in getting washboard abs with ease.
Firstly, you will have to target different muscle groups to get a flat stomach. The behaviour of these muscle groups is not the same. Some of the prime muscle groups you need to target are the upper abdomen, lower abdomen and oblique’s. Also, stomach exercises in isolation are not effective.
They have to be coupled with intense cardio activity. This is because sometimes when we do stomach exercises strenuously, we end up over developing our ab muscles. This makes our waist and belly bigger and wider; obviously this is against our goals to get a flat stomach. Cardio routines are necessary to burn layers of fat round your belly.
In addition, the cardio activity you adopt should be intense and have variation. Dull, monotonous and repetitive cardio activities are seldom effective in burning belly flab. In intensity of cardio workouts is also crucial. You should not attempt low intensity cardio workouts that last for extended time periods. The reverse principle works to get a flat stomach.
You should engage in high intensity cardio workouts. They should be done in intervals; varying and speed and intensity in each interval session. Unless your heart rate is raised significantly, calories will be disbursed adequately. In fact, 30 minutes of uninterrupted cardio activity at least 6 days a week is essential to get a flat stomach.
Also, surprise your body by engaging in different types of cardio exercises. Walking, jogging, running, biking, swimming, If you have the stamina, you can engage in cardio activity for even 45 or 60 minutes on 6 days in a week. It is a good idea to add some form of stomach exercises after cardio sessions. You can do any form of exercise like strength training, weight lifting, pilates etc. These should also be very intense.
How can you be sure of the intensity of workouts here. It is simple, if you can easily do more than 20 repetitions of any exercise than the workout is not intense enough. Vary your exercises here also; adopt crunches, leg raises, side bends, stretches, yoga postures etc. Avoid doing sit-ups, they do not help to shed belly flab and only exercise the hip flexors. If you pay attention to the type of exercises you practise, you will acquire washboard abs in no time.
