Flat Belly Workout

Strengthen your core muscles, tighten your midsection and improve your overall appearance with a good ab training routine.  Upper abs, lower abs and obliques should all be exercised to get the best results.  You can complete this routine every day, but do it at least three times a week.  Keep in mind that to build the six pack you see on bodybuilders you would have to complete a more intense workout fewer days a week – but if your goal is a thinner middle and flat stomach, these exercises are very good and can be done more often.

Combine your ab workout with a cardiovascular and muscle building routine for the best results.  Read this article for reviews of programs that incoroporate all three elements.

Complete 3 sets of as many reps as you can perform – be sure to use good form.

1. Sit Ups – works mainly lower abs, but also upper abs and somewhat obliques

2. Leg Raises – works mostly lower abs, but also upper abs and slightly obliques

3. Crunch – works mostly upper abs, also lower back
Combining a crunch and a leg raise is a more andvanced move you can do. Remember to lift only your shoulders off the floor, keep tension on only the abs and maintain control throughout the movement.

4. Knee Ins – works lower abs the most and also upper abs and obliques.
Again, you can make this move more complex by combining it with a crunch, or hold a weight between your feet as you bring your knees in. 

For a thorough description of how to complete these exercises, read this article.  An absolute beginner shoud do only one set of as many repetitions as you can perform.

If you want to really build your entire core and get a bonus by working several muscles all at the same time, try bodyweight exercises.  Bodyweight exercises work the abdominals while working additional body parts, so they burn fat faster.  You can include weights with some of the moves – hold dumbbells either at your side or crossed in front of your chest in a squat or lunge, for example. The plank, side plank, quadraped crunch, wall squat, jumping jacks and push ups are just some of the bodyweight exercises you can try. You can find out how to perfrom these bodyweight exercises in here.

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