Sunday, December 21, 2008

Exercises for a Flat Stomach

By Jose Loni

The formula for a flat stomach is not difficult. However, in order to be successful with the flat stomach formula, we need to understand three basic factors that will determine how flat our stomach will get. Those factors are: monitoring the frequency and quality of our food intake, increasing our energy expenditure and decreasing stress in our lives.

As we strive for a flat stomach, we must also monitor the quality and frequency of our food intake. We can begin by increasing our food intake to 5-6 meals throughout the day. Each meal should be made up of foods from the different basic food groups. Water intake is very important, which is a better alternative to sodas. Making healthier food choices will help give our bodies the necessary fuel for our daily lives and our workouts.

Physical Activity: when you are first starting out, you can begin with walking for at least 20 minutes per, then progress up to 30 minutes, three times a week. Try to maintain a good elevated heart rate while walking so you are challenging your system.

People think by doing countless ab exercises, it will get them to their goal of a flat stomach. It is important to do ab exercises to maintain or increase core strength, but doing multi joint exercises are much more effective at reducing overall fat and increasing our metabolism. When we increase our metabolism, we increase our body's efficiency to burn fat, and that will be more effective at flattening our stomach.

Our bodies have a way of surviving and maintaining energy supplies when it feels it is in danger. When we have high levels of stress, our bodies produce the Cortisol hormone, which stores fat in our stomach area. Stress causes the body to hold onto the fat, so that it can be used as an energy source for survival.

A stress coping mechanism that is greatly used and very easy to do in any environment is deep breathing. Taking a deep breath through our nose and deep into our abdomen, then slowly exhaling and releasing the air through our mouth. This method allows for a greater exchange of oxygen into our bodies and carbon dioxide to be expelled.

Flat stomach exercises in addition to diet and stress management will definitely help you achieve a flat stomach and make permanent and long lasting results. All it takes is a commitment to make the necessary changes and step-by-step, a flat stomach will be the result. - 16463

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