Get Six Pack Abs

asked:




Getting six pack abs can be a challenge. Many people spend hours a week on the treadmill yet have little to show for it. If that’s you, then these tips can help you turbocharge your workout, burn off that abdominal fat, and actually spend less time at the gym.

The number one mistake people make when doing aerobic exercise is working out at a steady state. Often, people start running on a treadmill or exercising on an elliptical trainer for 20-30 minutes. When they get no results, they simply crank up the difficulty level on the treadmill or they extend the length of their aerobic workout.

Yet if you work out at a constant pace, you will often find that even after going 60 minutes a day, 6 days a week, your abdominal fat just won’t burn off.

The problem is that when we exercise at a steady state, our bodies adjust to the level of difficulty, and any fat burning is minimized. In order to increase the rate of fat loss, you need to mix up your aerobic routine and continually keep your body guessing.

Sharron Nixon asked:


Stomach exercises are great because the stomach is one troublesome spot that, when you begin to lose the weight, will appear much more toned and flatter within a very short time. If you want to tone your abs or get ripped, remember that stomach exercises are only part of the solution.

Exercises for the stomach like sit-ups can be done daily or at every workout session. Abdominal exercises are some of the easiest you can perform, not only because they target a portion of the body often missed by other traditional exercises, but because you can perform these exercises so often.

Strengthening exercises for the stomach, should always be followed by a full range of stretches designed to lengthen and tone the muscles. The best abdominal exercises are those that combine aerobic exercise with spot training, but it is a myth that abdominal exercises are all you need to have a flat stomach.

There are four abdominal muscles that form a multi-layered multi- directional girdle around the trunk or core of the body. When doing your stomach exercises concentrate on your obliques, the stomach muscles that run up the side of your stomach and around to your back. These are exercises usually involving a twisting crunch. In this way you’ll exercise your central abdominal or core area for ‘free’ as you go.

The stomach is always a problem area and unfortunately exercises for a particular area don’t result in weight loss from that specific area. For best results with stomach exercises, remember to eat a healthy diet and perform aerobic exercise 3 times a week as well as doing your in addition to abdominal exercises.

The abdominals are some of the most resilient muscles in the body, which makes abdominal exercises one of the few workouts that can be practiced daily without injury to the body. Because of the resilience of abs, a dedicated person can do stomach exercises daily, helping them see results far more quickly than is possible with many other areas of the body.

Abdominal exercises, if practiced frequently, can provide rapid and easily seen results, which is greatly encouraging when you exercise. One of the best things about stomach exercises is that many, if not all of them, can be done at home. Equipment such as crunch machines, specialized crunch benches, and medicine balls can all enhance the abdominal exercises you do in your own home.

Don’t make the mistake of doing hundreds of repetitions of stomach exercises in the hope of getting a flat stomach. Only when your body fat has lowered sufficiently, can your abdominal muscles become tight and visible. A recent study showed that the classic sit-up is not the best exercise for stronger, flatter stomachs. The best abdominal muscles in the world may be hidden by a stubborn layer of body fat. This is because we are all of different body types.

Some people store fat more readily in the hips, buttocks, and thighs, others store fat excess in the arms and upper back and still others store their fat in the stomach and waist area.

There is no way around it: if you want that trim, defined torso that is so desirable in todays world, you are going to have to do stomach exercises. This is where you need a routine consisting of exercise for lower abdominal muscles. Such a routine helps you define and sculpt the lower abdominals, giving you that chiselled look.

Charles A. Inniss, Jr. DPT asked:


One of the most popular fitness goals is to lose weight and get a flat stomach.  This article shares 5 things you should do if you want to get a flat stomach.

The first thing you should do if you want to lose body fat and firm your stomach is eat a healthy breakfast.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it can set up your body to burn fat throughout the entire day.  Your body needs nutrients to burn fat, so by eating a healthy and nutritious breakfast you are setting up your body to be efficient throughout the day.

The second thing you must do to have a healthy metabolism is drink plenty of water.  Every metabolic process in your body uses water.  Most people are chronically dehydrated, and without adequate hydration levels your body cannot burn body fat at maximum efficiency.  Another benefit of drinking more water is less calories from other beverages.  By replacing sugar laden drinks with water, you can decrease the negative impact of sugar, calories, and chemicals and increase the positive effect of consuming more water.

The third flat stomach tip is to include cardiovascular or aerobic exercise in your fitness routine.  Cardio burns tons of calories and if you want to get a flat stomach you should do a minimum of 30 minutes of aerobic exercises 3 times a week.  Walking is a great form of aerobic exercise, and it’s a great place to start for someone beginning an exercise program.

The fourth tip to get a flat stomach is to include some weight training in your weekly fitness routine.  Weight training has different benefits when compared to aerobic exercise.  Even light weight lifting can increase your metabolism for hours after you’ve stopped exercising.  In addition, weight training can also help your body become more sensitive to insulin.  When your body becomes more sensitive to insulin, you digest and process sugar and carbohydrates more efficiently which is helpful in losing weight and maintaining weight loss.

As both men and women age, they lose lean muscle tissue, and this slows down the metabolism and can cause weight gain, especially around the mid-section.  By weight training on a regular basis a minimum of 2 times per week, you can add lean tissue to tone your muscles, build your muscles, and speed up your metabolism.

The fifth tip to help you get a flat stomach is to get a full night of sleep.  There have been multiple studies about a lack of sleep and the stress hormone cortisol.  Elevated cortisol levels can cause your body to hold onto unwanted belly fat and make it difficult lose excess stomach fat.  Getting a full night’s sleep gives your body time to recover from the stressors of everyday life and will improve your chances at making weight loss progress.

The 5 tips are simple, but they can make a big impact and help you live a healthier life.  If you want to get a flat stomach try to eat a healthy breakfast, drink plenty of water, perform aerobic exercise and weight training on a regular basis, and get plenty of sleep.