List Of The Best Exercises To Trim The Waistline And Flatten The Stomach

Abdominal exercises have the largest amount of misinformation and myth surrounding them. According to the American Council on Exercise, this is due to the desire people have for a quick path to a flat stomach, and the manufacturers of exercise gadgets who are willing to capitalize on that desire. To get a flat stomach, you must do two things: reduce your total body fat and strengthen the girdle of abdominal muscles that hold in the internal organs.

Bicycle Crunch

To cut through the misinformation, the American Council on Exercise commissioned a study to find out which ab exercises utilized the most muscle. Dr. Peter Francis performed the study that was published in 2001 in "ACE FitnessMatters." Francis found that the bicycle crunch stimulated the most muscle activity of any exercise in the rectus abdominis --- the six-pack muscle --- and the second most muscle activity in the oblique abdominal muscles. You get three times the results with a bicycle crunch as a traditional crunch.

Captain's Chair

In the same study, Francis found that the captain's chair reverse crunch stimulated the second most muscle fibers in the rectus abdominis, and the most activity in the oblique abdominal muscles. It is also three times as effective as the basic crunch. By performing the bicycle crunch and the captain's chair reverse crunch, you get the best results of any ab-specific routine.

Deadlift and Squat

But the external abdominal muscles alone won't trim the waistline in an optimal way. "Strength Training Anatomy" explains that there's an entire girdle of abdominal muscle that activates during very heavy exercises to protect the spine through a process called abdominal blocking. The muscle expands, creating internal pressure that prevents the spine from collapsing forward. Very heavy exercises such as the deadlift and squat stimulate this activity. Strengthening this girdle of muscle produces a literal girdle effect, where the internal organs and visceral fat are contained with less bulging. In fact, a study performed by J.L. Nuzzo, et al., and published in the January 2008 issue of the "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research" found that these exercises stimulated core muscles as much as or more than ab-specific exercises.

Running

But muscle development alone won't produce a slim waistline and flat stomach. You must also have low body fat. One of the best ways to reduce body fat is through aerobic exercise, which burns calories and keeps the metabolism high. One aerobic exercise does double-duty as both a great calorie burner and a great ab exercise: running. Lifting the legs during running is very similar to the movement of a reverse crunch, requiring the same core muscles. In fact, a study published in the December 2009 issue of "Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism" found that the trunk muscle activated during running equaled that of ab-specific exercise, making it a good choice for flattening the stomach.