Getting a flatter stomach requires reducing your body fat to reveal your abdominal muscles. Resistance exercises can also help strengthen and tone muscles that produce a flattening affect on your stomach. According to the National Federation of Personal Trainers, you cannot target fat loss on any specific part of your body. Focus on fat-reducing workouts to burn off excess body fat or use strengthening and toning workouts, if you have a lean body build.
Cardiorespiratory Workouts
Cardiorespiratory workouts include aerobic exercises like walking, running, jogging, swimming or biking. These activities help you get a flatter stomach, because aerobic activities derive energy primary from oxygen and fat stored in your body. Your aerobic workout should last at least 30 to 60 minutes depending on the intensity. Perform aerobic workouts five days a week or on the days that you do not perform other workouts like weight training. Bring your heart rate to 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. Calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.
Muscular Endurance Workouts
Muscular endurance weightlifting workouts can help you get a flatter stomach, because they stimulate fat-burning and tone muscles throughout your body. Muscular endurance weightlifting workouts like circuit workouts incorporate high repetitions and compound movements and use as many muscle groups as possible. Circuit workouts include one upper-body pushing movement, one upper-body pulling movement and one lower-body pushing movement. Upper-body pushing movements include the bench press or incline press. Upper-body pulling movements include lateral pull-downs or rowing. Lower-body pushing movements include squats and leg presses. Complete four to five circuits per workout. Perform each circuit by completing 20 to 25 repetitions of all three movements back-to-back without resting in between.
Abdominal Workouts
Abdominal workouts can help make your stomach look flatter by toning your abdominal muscles. High-repetition abdominal workouts include sets of 20 to 25 repetitions. These workouts include exercises like crunches and jack-knife sit-ups, which can stimulate an aerobic effect that helps your body burn fat while toning your abdominal muscles. Perform lower-repetition abdominal workouts against resistance to emphasize toning your muscles instead of burning body fat. Resistance abdominal workouts may include 12 to 15 repetitions of exercises like the cable lying leg-hip raise, lever lying crunch and weighted crunch.
Posture Workout
Workouts that target the muscles responsible for your posture can produce a flattening effect on your stomach as well. Bodybuilding.com suggests workouts that target your lower back and scapula retractor muscles. Workouts that target your scapula retractor muscles include exercises like bent-over rows, incline rows and t-bar rows. Workouts that target your lower back include exercises like back extensions, dead-lifts and bent-knee good mornings.
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