subject: 3 Simple Steps To A Flat Stomach And Toned Abs [print this page] If a flat stomach is something that you're currently aiming for but aren't too sure how to go about getting the traditional and archetypal healthy body figure, it can be done by simply abiding the following 3 steps.
1. Carry out more cardio - no matter how many exercises you do to try and develop your stomach muscles, if you're carrying excess weight around your stomach, your efforts are going to be pointless - your abs will be developed and toned, but you won't be able to see them because of the excess fat.
Therefore, it's highly recommended that you sign up to any of your local gyms, attend 3 or 4 times a week and follow a regime that's based heavily on cardiovascular exercises.
Running, cycling, rowing and swimming are all great examples and you should see a noticeable difference in the amount of weight you're carrying around your stomach after just a few weeks of regular cardio exercise.
2. Lower your carbs and ditch the fats - when you're trying to lose weight so that you can eventually have a flat stomach, it's strongly recommended that you have a diet which is low in both carbohydrates and fats.
However, it's important that you don't just cut both out of your diet completely, as you're exercising and need to keep your energy levels up, you need to have a regular intake of carbohydrates. Therefore, rather than giving them up completely, limit them to one meal (or two smaller portions for two separate meals) before you work out.
With fats, you want to be keeping well below the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) at first to help with the weight loss and rather than a maximum of 95 grams of fat a day, you want to be aiming for somewhere around 45 grams.
3. Sit ups, sit ups, sit ups - once you've been eating healthily for a while, lowered your body weight and noticed that you no longer have any substantial amount of excess weight around your stomach, it's time to start defining your abs.
First and foremost, you have to keep in mind that whenever you're carrying out abdominal exercises, you need to only do as much as you can without any major pain - you shouldn't do too little that you can't feel your abs pulling or being stretched but you shouldn't do too many that it burns when you carry them out.
To start with, carry out some standard sit ups. Lay on the floor with your knees bent, hands on the side of your head and use your abdominal muscles to raise your body up until you feel the muscles pulling.
Next, carry out repetitions of the same basic sit up, but this time sit further up so that you can touch your left knee with your right elbow and the next time your right knee with your left elbow.
Finally, start off in the same position as a basic sit up, but lift your feet off the floor so they're parallel with your body (you should by in a position where if you were flipped over 180 degrees, you'd be on your hands and knees) and carry out the sit up.
Be careful with this last variation, as it can be a lot harder than you initially think, so don't rush into it think you can do as many as the previous sit ups.
