How to make your stomach flat - exercises for losing weight and strengthening muscles

Why a flat stomach is an important goal

Fat deposits in the waist area are an aesthetic drawback and at the same time a cause of disturbances in the functioning of the body. Excess fatty tissue in this area provokes the development of type II diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke. Statistics show that in old age, owners of a protruding belly are more likely to suffer from asthma and dementia.

Flat stomach: useful tips

A flat stomach is the result of exercise, a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. A genetic predisposition to a protruding belly has been confirmed in 5% of people who are dissatisfied with the appearance of their waist. In other cases, the problem can be resolved. What to do to make your stomach flat:

What to do to remove belly and sides

Understanding what result you plan to get, you can easily select an exercise program. At this time, you should not adhere to a strict diet; you should exclude processed foods, fried and fatty foods from your diet, and focus on fruits and vegetables. Be sure to do a warm-up, this does not depend on where the training takes place - at home or in the gym. At first you will feel discomfort in the muscles, but this goes away in a couple of days, and after 2-4 weeks the first results will be noticeable.

For men

Before you move on to exercise, you need to understand the causes of obesity and the manifestations of a male beer belly. These include:

inactive lifestyle;
improper diet;
presence of problems with the endocrine system;
bad habits (smoking, alcohol abuse);
diseases affecting metabolism (for example, diabetes);
stagnation in the gastrointestinal tract.

First you need to minimize all possible negative factors, and then start doing abdominal exercises. Charging to pump up cubes is most effective using the following exercises:

twisting (pumping the rectus and oblique abdominal muscles);
“climber” (running in place from a lying position);
hang on the horizontal bar, while raising your legs;
bar;
dumbbell press;
push-ups and squats.

Women

Every girl dreams of having a sporty flat tummy. Only by combining proper nutrition with training does this become real. Watch your diet, pay special attention to breakfast: eat any food. It is preferable to make dinner light, for example, salad, kefir or cottage cheese. Eat slowly, from small plates. This helps psychologically. Forget about snacking, and satisfy your hunger with dried apricots or fruit.

Training must be regular (mandatory minimum - 3 times a week). Each type of load is done 15 times in 3 approaches. The break between blocks of exercises is 1.5-2 minutes, during which you cannot sit: you need to walk and warm up. It is not recommended to eat an hour before training and two hours after it ends. If training is planned outside the gym, it is recommended to prepare weights and dumbbells (they can be replaced with flasks of water).

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Diet food for a flat stomach

The menu is compiled taking into account goals and objectives, contains a minimum of saturated fats (margarine, fast food, fatty meat and meat products) and quickly digestible carbohydrates (confectionery and flour products). Express programs and mono-diets are less suitable than a balanced diet, which is aimed at slow, steady weight loss and maintaining normal weight.

With intense fasting and mono-diets, the effect of reducing body weight is largely achieved by removing water from the body. When the main focus is on combating body fat, nutritionists advise choosing a menu rich in protein, fiber, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The diet must include:

Fermented milk and whole grain products.
Vegetables, herbs and fruits.
Sea fish, lean white meat.

A flat stomach in a week is an achievable goal if you take a comprehensive approach to solving the problem of excess fat deposits. Experts recommend adding gymnastics and other health-improving, fat-burning techniques to your diet.

Nutrition

No matter how effective the workouts are, weight loss cannot be achieved without following a healthy diet with some restrictions.

Nutrition tips during training

To quickly achieve your goal - a flat, sculpted stomach and a feminine, thin waist, you need to reconsider your diet. To give your body elasticity, you will have to lose a few extra pounds. This can be done quickly if you eliminate the consumption of unhealthy, fatty and fried foods, and also reduce the total amount of calories consumed.

Nutritionists confirm that you can lose belly fat and reduce your waist if you combine training with eating whole grain cereals, plenty of vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy products (but not low-fat!), and some types of meat and fish. The number of calories burned should exceed the number consumed.

Doctors' dietary recommendations:

Breakfast is the most important part of a flat belly diet. It should be dense and useful. It is breakfast that starts the metabolism.
Drinking clean, still water before each meal will help avoid overeating and clear your skin.
Break your meals into 6 parts and eat small portions. Try to replace unhealthy fats (confectionery, sausages, fast food, etc.) with healthy ones (nuts, dried fruits, dark chocolate), but do not exclude fats from the diet, they are good for the female body.
Fiber-rich foods will improve intestinal function.
Avoid sweet, highly carbonated drinks.

Warm-up

Many people forget that a condition necessary for a quality workout is a warm-up. With its help, the muscles “awaken” and warm up. The likelihood of sprains and injuries is reduced precisely thanks to a responsible approach to warming up.

Easy warm-up option:

Feet slightly wider than shoulder width, hands on waist. Turn the body to the right and left 20 times.
Feet shoulder-width apart, arms along the body. We reach for the floor with our palms, without lifting our feet, 15-20 times. We strive to reach the very tips of our toes and linger for a couple of seconds.
Legs apart, arms parallel to the floor in front of you. We pull the left leg to the right hand, and the right leg to the left alternately. 10 times on each leg.
Feet wider than shoulder width, hands clasped in front of you. We perform a deep squat, making sure that the knees do not go beyond the feet. At least 15 times.

Perform the warm-up complex slowly, watch your breathing.

Proper breathing - training for a flat stomach

There are many sports techniques that help get rid of fat deposits around the waist. These include high-intensity interval training, yoga, and the trendy Body-slim, Fit-bo and Tae Bo systems. To fight fat, it is better to choose proven, scientifically based complexes that you like and give moral satisfaction. Then the restrictions are easier to bear, and classes are enjoyable. Respiratory systems will help supplement the combat arsenal, consisting of sports training and dietary nutrition.

Bodyflex and oxysize are breathing practices that are used to form a slender waist. The essence of the techniques lies in an unusual way of breathing during sports training. You need to breathe not only lightly, but deeply, involving the diaphragm in the process. Diaphragmatic breathing is accompanied by constant contraction of the abdominal muscles. More air and, accordingly, oxygen enters the lungs. Tissues are better saturated with oxygen, fat metabolism accelerates.

The difference between bodyflex and oxysize lies in the technique of execution. In the first case, the sequence is followed: exhale, inhale, powerful exhale with a vocal exclamation, hold your breath, take a new breath. Sports exercises are performed at the stage of holding the breath. In oxysize, there is a different sequence without holding your breath: inhale, three additional inhalations in a row, exhale, three additional exhalations in a row. The main advantage of breathing exercises for the formation of a flat stomach is that it can be done at any time, anywhere.

General recommendations

The press can only be divided into upper and lower areas conditionally. It's one whole. Certain movements provide only different degrees of tension in the zones. Therefore, to properly work out the abdominal muscles, it is not necessary to include dozens of different exercises in your training program.

For cubes to appear, two conditions must be met:

increase muscle volume;
reduce fat percentage.

Local fat burning is a myth. Fat almost always disappears evenly throughout the body. Therefore, it is important to follow a diet and perform aerobic exercise. If you get rid of everything unnecessary, you will see your abs even if you don't build them at all.

Women need a combination of high-repetition abs, cardio, and diet. Men in this formula need to replace the high-repetition style with a strength mode, implying no more than 15 repetitions per set. Otherwise, instead of cubes there will be only squares - the abs will be inexpressive. Although this level is worthy of respect.

Note. Everything is individual: some manage to increase the volume of the press even when performing a large number of repetitions.

Effective sets of exercises and sports techniques

American fitness trainer J. Michaels promises a flat stomach in 6 weeks with his own training program. The set of exercises is performed at an intense pace, which helps burn calories and accelerate fat metabolism. Many exercises for a flat stomach are done in a lying position, so you will need a gymnastics mat. To enhance the effect, Coach Michaels suggests using dumbbells weighing 1-3 kg. Several options for training:

Exercise 1. Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides. Raise your right leg, bent at the knee, and at the same time straighten your left arm. Alternate legs and arms, make movements imitating a step, quickly.
Exercise 2. Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, arms raised up. Squat from the starting position, while lowering, crossing your arms below, touching your fingers to the floor.
Exercise 3. Starting position, as in exercise 2. Alternately raise your straight legs up, bending at the waist, lowering your arms and touching your toes with your toes.
Exercise 4. Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, arms crossed above your head. Take a wide step forward with both legs alternately while performing a deep squat. Keep your body straight.
Exercise 5. Lying on your back, raise your legs, bending your knees, while simultaneously lifting your torso and stretching your arms forward parallel to the floor.
Exercise 6. Lying on your side, bend your legs at the knees, bend your upper arm at the elbow and place it behind your head. Raise your straightened upper leg parallel to the base of the floor. Holding it suspended, bend your leg at the knee, while simultaneously touching the elbow of your upper arm with your knee. Change position - lie on the other side.
Exercise 7. Lying on your back, stretch your arms up, legs straight. Raise straight opposite legs and arms, touching each other. In a more complicated version, raise your torso and bend at the waist.
Exercise 8. Stand up straight, arms raised up. Swing forward, bending at the waist and touching your toes with your toes. While holding this position, step your arms forward until the entire body is parallel to the floor. Return, walking with your hands, back. Get up. Repeat again.
Exercise 9. Get on all fours. Straighten your arms at the elbow. From the stop, alternately pull the leg bent at the knee towards the chest.
Exercise 10. Lying on your side, straighten your lower arm and hold your body straight on it at an angle to the floor. Stretch your upper arm up, bend your lower leg at the knee and pull it towards your stomach until your body bends at the waist.

On the subject: How to remove sides: effective methods, principles, technologies

Do the exercises of the complex 10 times. Gymnastics makes the muscles located in the abdominal area work - the abdominal muscles, rectus, transverse, oblique. The visual result after training is noticeable in this area. Jillian Michaels recommends exercising for 30 minutes every day. This is a complex complex that is not easy for beginners to master right away. Simple exercises for a flat stomach are no less effective than advanced foreign programs. Gymnastics will help tighten your abdominal muscles:

Exercise 1. Get on all fours, resting on your palms, with your back straight. As you inhale, pull your stomach in and arch your back. Hold your breath for 10 seconds. Exhaling, return to the starting position.
Exercise 2. Stand up straight, legs straight, heels together, arms along the body. Bend forward, touching your palms to your toes. Don't bend your legs.
Exercise 3. Lying on your back, spread your arms to the sides, raise both straight legs up.
Exercise 4. Twist the hoop around your waist for 20 minutes.

Repeat each exercise at least 10 times. By regularly increasing the number of approaches and increasing the pace of exercise, you will be able to make your stomach flat and prominent in a short time. Nutritionists recommend doing gymnastics in the morning before meals. What should women and men do who are desperately short of time to play sports? A set of exercises has been developed especially for them, which can be done without leaving the office, sitting at your desk:

Exercise 1. Sitting on a chair, straighten your back without touching the back. Exhaling, raise your leg bent at the knee to your chest, hold it in the raised position for a few seconds, and lower it. Change leg.
Exercise 2. Sitting on a chair, straighten your back and rest your hands comfortably. Raise your legs pressed to each other, bent at the knees, slowly lower them without touching the base of the floor, and raise them again.
Exercise 3. Repeat exercise 2, simultaneously turning the torso in different directions to work the oblique muscles.
Exercise 4. Sitting on a chair, spread your legs slightly wider than your shoulders. Extend your arms to the sides parallel to the base of the floor. Using the fingers of your left hand, without bending it, touch the foot of your right foot. At the same time, the torso turns. Return to starting position. Touch the fingers of the straightened right hand to the foot of the left leg. Continue, alternating working legs and arms.
Exercise 5. Sitting on a stable chair with armrests, hold them tightly with your hands. Raise your body, completely lifting your hips and legs off the seat. Keep your body suspended for a few seconds, return to the starting position, and repeat again.

Salon treatments will help you get a flat stomach in a week. Seven sessions of pressotherapy, hardware and classical massage in combination with other methods of influencing abdominal fat will quickly lead to the desired result. During a course of hardware therapy, the waist circumference is reduced by 4-6 cm, without taking into account the effect of physical activity and low-calorie nutrition.

Tips for doing exercises at home

The main misconception of beginners who dream of tightening their figure is intensive training designed for professional athletes. This should absolutely not be done, as there is a risk of injuring or tearing the muscles. It is necessary to gradually introduce more complex physical exercises into the complex. And also follow these tips:

Lesson plan

To ensure that the results are not long in coming, you need to develop your own training schedule. The plan should be convenient and easy to remember. If you do not have knowledge of the sport, seek help in creating a plan from a professional trainer. And most importantly, follow the schedule unconditionally!

Combinations

If you perform the same sets of exercises for a long time, the muscles will get used to the regular monotonous load, and there will be no progress from the training. It is necessary to combine and swap exercises. The body will be in good shape, and the set of exercises will never get boring.

Psychological help in the fight for a flat stomach

Many people who dream of a flat stomach and a toned figure face obstacles on the way to achieving their cherished desire. If it is difficult to adhere to a dietary diet and you have to force yourself to do exercises, it means that you lack motivation, willpower, and self-confidence. A psychotherapist will help you tune in to victory. A professional nutritionist will individually select a menu and tell you how to make your stomach flat without harm to your health or psychological discomfort.

Plank with push-ups

The main position is a plank. The exercise consists of lowering ourselves onto our elbows and returning to the plank. Heels together, stomach tucked (and it wouldn’t work any other way). We perform the exercise for 30 seconds, or count - 10 for each hand.

What effect does this exercise have? The plank exercise gives a lightning-fast effect: the muscles of the whole body become toned, tightened, fat reserves melt, energy and strength appear. When performing a plank, fat disappears even in the most difficult places - from the back, buttocks, thighs, and abdomen.

To perform the plank correctly, you should adhere to the following rules:

the lower back should not bend;
The stomach and buttocks must be kept tense;
if it is difficult for you to hold the bar in the heels-together position, then place your feet shoulder-width apart, this will make it much easier to hold the bar;
the legs remain straight and tense during the exercise;
The hands are placed exactly under the shoulders, otherwise the joints may suffer.

Common mistakes in the fight against fat deposits around the waist

The diet is well adjusted, a sufficient amount of time is allocated for physical activity every day, and fat deposits on the abdomen remain in place. Why is this happening? Perhaps we are talking about common mistakes that many men and women make when trying to get rid of waist fat. What to pay attention to:

A diet without the “right” polyunsaturated fatty acids. They are found in olive and peanut oil, avocados, nuts, and sea fish.
Frequent drinking of beer. “Beer belly” is a common expression that is associated with a certain body type. Recent scientific studies have revealed that the expansion of waist size is influenced not by the drink itself, but by the various snacks that are served with it - salted nuts, chips, crackers. Beer provokes appetite, salty snacks provoke thirst. The result is a vicious circle when you alternately want to drink and eat.
There is little mineral water on the daily menu. Purified tap water will not replace table mineral water due to the lack of microelements in it, in particular magnesium, which reduces insulin and blood sugar levels. It is enough to remember that fats are actively broken down only after the glucose concentration decreases to understand why fat deposits on the abdomen do not disappear.
Uncontrolled fasting. Complete refusal to eat forces the body to work in extreme conditions. To maintain the functioning of organs and systems longer, the brain tries to compensate for energy costs by consuming fats sparingly and very slowly. The absorption of food after a long period of fasting occurs better, metabolic processes slow down. Every extra gram of food turns into fat reserves for a rainy day. Nutritionists do not advise taking a break between meals for more than 12 hours. It is better to reduce the portion size and reduce the intervals between meals.

A small supply of fatty tissue in the abdominal area is necessary. The layer protects internal organs from mechanical damage and plays the role of a strategic energy reserve that will help you easily survive hungry days. It is necessary to think about the consequences and take action if the waist circumference in women exceeds 80 cm, in men - 94 cm.