Ways To Get A Flatter Stomach

There are several ways you can get a flatter stomach. Traditional abdominal exercises such as sit-ups tighten the surface abdominal muscles so that your abdomen becomes flatter. But this isn't going to help if you're carrying around significant belly fat. Abdominal machines promise flat abs for everyone, but they are often not as effective at burning fat and calories as cardiovascular exercise.

Rectus Abdominus Exercises

The rectus abdominus muscle is the most common abdominal muscle targeted with ab workouts even though it is less commonly referred to by name. Most people simply say "abs" or the "six-pack muscle." To tone the rectus abdominus, do spinal flexion exercises that shorten the distance between the front of the shoulders and hips. An example is the bent-knee sit up. To perform a sit up, lie on your back with the knees bent and put your hands on the back of your head. Sit up without moving your lower body, or crunch up partway. Lie down slowly.

Stabilization Abdominal Exercises

It is easy to think that an exercise like a sit-up goes more for ab toning that just holding yourself in one position and letting your abs work for balance. But if you place your body in a difficult enough position to maintain, the abs burn. And holding the abs in to stabilize the spine tones the muscles in this way. An example is the prone iso-abs exercise. To perform this exercise, place your forearms on the floor with your fingers interlocked and lie flat on your belly. Then, raise up toward the ceiling and back to the floor while keeping your hips and shoulders at the same height. Pause for three to five seconds at the top of each lift.

Ab Machines

Abdominal machines are not all good or all bad. Some of them work the rectus abdominus with crunch exercise variations and some work the abs through stabilization exercise. The AB Roller and the Torso Track are effective machines, according to ACE FitnessMatters. The Ab Roller simply provides neck support while you do crunches as you lie on the backrest. The Torso Track works your abs through stabilization as you hold your spine straight and parallel to the floor from a kneeling position as you slide along the track of the machine. You basically hold a push-up position as your arms move forward.

Cardio

Cardio makes your abdomen flatter by burning off fat. It also makes your face, legs, arms, hips and the rest of your body thinner too. A simple rule of exercise is that to lose weight, burn more calories than you need to survive at your current weight. If you are not doing cardio, start with 10 minutes of moderate cardio such as brisk walking a day and work up to 150 minutes a week. If you are doing cardio already, increase the time or intensity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 300 minutes a week of moderate cardio or 150 minutes a week or vigorous cardio such as running for the most health benefits.