Keeping your tummy toned can be challenging, especially if you have an apple shape. Besides its less-than-appealing appearance, a protruding belly can be a warning sign for your health. Abdominal fat is primarily visceral fat, which increases your risk of conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Dietary changes and exercise can flatten your stomach. But be realistic: If you have excess abdominal fat, exercise can make your stomach flatter than it currently is in two weeks, but not washboard flat.
Cardio
It doesn't matter how many crunches you do. Spot-training is no substitute for cardio or aerobic exercise when it comes to blasting fat from your belly. Aerobic exercises include walking, running, cycling, Rollerblading and swimming. Choose an exercise that you'll enjoy doing over the next two weeks and beyond. Try to do between 30 and 60 minutes of cardio five days a week. If you want quicker results, you have to increase your exercise pace or duration. If you're not used to exercising, it's safer to increase duration rather than pace -- walking briskly for 60 minutes instead of 30, rather than suddenly switching from 30 minutes of walking to running for the same amount of time.
Strength Training
Resistance exercises such as weightlifting or body-weight workouts also help to trim waistlines, even in older women who have a harder time keeping belly fat at bay. In a study in "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise," in April 2003, researchers from the University of Arizona point out that strength training can significantly impact intra-abdominal fat in postmenopausal women, even in the absence of changes in body weight and fat-free mass. Muscle burns more calories than body fat, so start building muscles three to four days a week to help flatten your stomach in the next two weeks. Do three sets of about 10 to 12 repetitions.
Yoga
Abdominal fat is closely linked to high levels of stress. As stress increases, the adrenal glands pump more cortisol into your body. Cortisol encourages your abdomen to store more fat than it normally would, according to Alka Kanaya, an internist at the University of California at San Francisco. By reducing stress, less fat gets stored in your body, giving you a better chance of flattening it in the weeks to come. Practice yoga for 15 to 20 minutes each day. If you're not used to this mind-body therapy, sign up for a beginner class at your local YMCA or gym, or get a beginner's yoga DVD from your local library.
Crunches on an Exercise Ball
If you can do only one spot-training workout to tone your abdominal muscles in the next two weeks, make it a set of exercise ball crunches. These exercises ranked highest among abdominal exercises done on home exercise equipment in a 2001 study conducted by the Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University and commissioned by the American Council on Exercise. They also came in third overall among gym and home abdominal exercises. Although exercise crunches generate less activity in the obliques and upper and lower abdominal muscles than the bicycle maneuver, which came in first overall in the study, they use less hip flexor action, which makes them even more effective. Try to do two to three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions every other day over the next two weeks.
References
- Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide; Abdominal Fat and What to Do About it; February 2007
- Harvard School of Public Health: Exercise Safety
- University of Arizona; Resistance Training In Postmenopausal Women With and Without Hormone Therapy; Pedro J. Teixeira, et al.; April 2003
- "Yoga Journal"; Metabolic Makeover; Catherine Guthrie
- American Council on Exercise; New Study Puts the Crunch on Ineffective Ab Exercises; Mark Anders; May/June 2001
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