How To Get A Flat Toned Stomach


HealthNutritionOnline
Back-to-Directory A health article fromYour Health Online the A to Z directory of dealing with Health Problems & nutritional Self Care Strategies


One of the most common fitness questions this time of year is “How can I tone my stomach for swimsuit season”?

Typically, people believe that the guaranteed quick route to obtaining a rock-solid six-pack is a path packed with hundreds of sit-ups or abdominal crunches. Wrong!

The reality is that even if you do crunches every day you aren’t guaranteed to get the stomach you desire. Getting those highly sought after, toned abs requires more work than just abdominal exercises. Plus, as far as stomach exercises go, sit-ups or crunches alone are not the solution.

We won’t go into detail about the muscles that make up the abdominal wall, but it’s good to know the basic information. At a high-level the abdominal/trunk area consists of 5 major muscles.

It’s necessary that all of these muscles be exercised. It’s also important to utilize different types of training techniques like concentric, eccentric and isometric.

In addition to training those muscles, it is imperative that you also reduce the fat in your stomach area. If you don’t decrease the fat in this area, then you’ll never see well-defined abdominal muscles not matter how long and hard you train them.

The key to reducing body fat is a comprehensive workout program that consists of cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility exercises. Plus, don’t forget a healthy diet.

Good examples of cardio exercises are: walking, swimming, aerobics, and jogging. Strength training can be done with dumbbells, resistance bands and even just your own body weight.

Flexibility can be as simple as a few stretches held in place for about 20 seconds.

Now, back to the specifics of abdominal training.

Traditional crunches can be a part of your abdominal training, but should be limited and certainly shouldn’t be the only part. To most effectively work your stomach area, it’s necessary to include about 80% rotational work.

Rotational exercises are those that include twisting-type methods. Simple crunches do not fall into the rotational category because you simply lift your body straight up and down.

To most effectively train your abs, incorporate a lot of variety, including different positions and equipment. This will allow your muscles to continually be challenged, which is what will help make them stronger and more defined.

Remember that you don’t have to lie on your back in the supine position to work your stomach area. There are hundreds of different ways to work them, including exercises in a standing position, on your side, raised on a ball, hanging from a bar, etc.

Don’t forget the importance of form. If you don’t use correct form when performing abdominal exercises, you’ll severely limit the effectiveness not to mention possibly cause an injury. Tips for correct form include:

Don’t ever pull on your neck or head Don’t allow your legs to move, they should remain still -- let your abs do all the work Try to keep your belly button pulled in toward the floor throughout the entire move.

To get you started, below are a few sample exercises* with instructions. Start working out today, and you can show-off your toned abs in time for summer.

Basic Crunch:
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your hands lightly behind your head for support. Using your abdominal muscles lift your shoulders a few inches off the ground, pause briefly and return to start position. Complete at least one set of 10-12 reps.

Standing Towel Circle:
Stand tall and hold a small towel (or resistance band) taut overhead. Contract abs and slowly draw a large, wide circle over your head and around your torso with your hands. Keep towel pulled taut throughout. Return to beginning position and reverse the circular direction. Complete at least one set of 8-10 reps in each direction.

Oblique Twist With Ball:
Begin by sitting on the ball. Walk feet forward until ball is resting under your back -- body is now parallel to the floor.

Place hands lightly behind head for support. Using your abdominal muscles slowly crunch up lifting your shoulder blades off of the ball and rotate left shoulder toward right hip. Return to starting parallel position and repeat then switch sides.

For access to a huge library of exercises demonstrations (including demos for the above exercises), visit: http://www.workoutsforyou.com
*You should always consult your physician before trying any new exercise programs.


About The Author
Lynn Bode, author and certified personal trainer, offers her services online through WorkoutsForYou.com. Workouts For You delivers affordable weekly exercise programs to help even the busiest of people lose weight, tone-up, build muscles, increase stamina and more via the Internet. Let us guide you one-on-one through your fitness journey. Visit: http://www.workoutsforyou.com for a free sample workout. info@workoutsforyou.com


Back-to-Directory BACK TO “Your Health Online”
the A to Z directory of dealing with Health Problems & Self Care Strategies for natural remedies to your health issues.

==========

Even when we try to eat well, we're disadvantaged. The nutritional content of most food has been compromised over the years, not only by deficient soils and modern production, transportation, storage and processing methods, but also by the enormous amounts of chemical and artificial substances added to promote growth, storage life, taste and appearance.

It's for this reason that more and more medical authorities are advocating the use of vitamin and mineral supplements. However, finding them in the right combination can be both confusing and costly.
The nutrition products I am going to recommend you make use of knowledge gained from the botanical world's 6,000 year history. They incorporated health building nutritional herbs with the best modern technology to help our bodies cleanse and detoxify so that the cells - the tiniest living units - can be as fully nourished as possible.
This allows the cells to grow, repair and to perform their functions with the best possible efficiency so that we feel and look better and are more able to prevent and fight disease. Once the body begins to clear itself of toxins it can more efficiently absorb nutrition.

Further reading through our articles on health issues will give you a body of information that will help you decide what options you have to deal with the underlying causes of your problem through giving your body the nutrition products that will assist you body to heal from the inside out.



You can visit our health food products page here: Herbalife Health Nutrition Supplements and learn more about our core nutrition program, the Cellular Nutrition Advanced Program and also check out these targeted products, Florafiber to replace your healthy flora and Aloe Vera Juice to help cleanse your system.

We wish you well in your search for solutions to this problem and your movement towards better health in all areas.



Health-Care-Careers

Back to Top of your health online page
Subscribe to “Your Health Success” newsletter
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy |Disclaimer | Free Health Book



Contact-Site-Webmaster



Click here to post comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Submit *YOUR* health story.

Back-to-Directory BACK TO “Your Health Online”
the A to Z directory of dealing with Health Problems & Self Care Strategies for natural remedies to your health issues.

Subscribe to get your weekly "Health Success Magazine" with a new complete & comprehensive Health Report in every edition!


to “Your Health Success”
our weekly F’R’E’E’ Newsletter

If you would like a free no-obligation private consultation or to contact Warren Tattersall for more information, please click here >> Contact Us

We wish you well in your search for healthy diet solutions and your movement towards better health in all areas.
Click the books above to learn more about how we treat CFS naturally, to get your life back!

You will find many assorted Health Reports available for download free to you on this website!

Our free Health Success Reports are each available for you to download when you subscribe to receive them and their 7 part eCourse.

You can unsubscribe at any time, but we are sure you will want to receive all the email lessons of these informative ecourses.

Read more HERE to select the REPORT subjects of most interest (or concern) to you.