People spend millions, if not billions of dollars, each year in the quest for a flat stomach.   Right now there are dozens of ab exercise devices out there.  There’s the ab do-it, the ab rock-it, the ab roller, the ab dolly, fast abs, 8 minute abs, the ab-lounge and so many more.

You would think that with all of these amazing new products that most people would be walking around with that nice, lean mid-section they’ve always wanted. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Most, if not all of these products, will do little or nothing to flatten your stomach.  And that’s because these exercise contraptions cannot eliminate the layer of fat that lies on top of your abs.

 In order to be successful at thinning your waistline you must have a basic understanding of how the ab muscles function and how your body burns fat.  The first thing that needs to be understood is the difference between fat and muscle. 

Fat is excess calories and is primarily stored in layers on top of muscle tissue. Muscle is made up of fibers that contract or shorten to produce movement. 

Fat cannot turn into muscle and muscle cannot turn into fat!  However, you can lose muscle and you can gain fat.  That’s what happens to most people.

So if your goal is to thin your waist line and have a nice flat stomach, the first thing you need to do is decrease / eliminate the layers of fat that are on top of your abs. We all have a flat stomach; it’s just some of our’s are covered by excess fat.
The most effective way of flattening your stomach is a combination of strength training (with a extra focus on mid-section), cardiovascular exercise (short, hard workouts), and stable blood sugar (keeps you from adding additional fat and makes it easier for the body to use body fat for fuel).

I should also mention that a flat stomach not only looks good but it also prevents muscle imbalances between the hips and abs which cause more than 80% of all lower back pain! So remember, a strong flat stomach means a strong, healthy lower back!
1. You must do some form of progressive strength training
The primary function of the abdominal muscle is to flex your torso forward.  However, there are also muscles that flex your torso to the side and muscles that rotate your torso.  Often times you see people on their ab roller every day doing hundreds of crunches or sit-ups.

If you want to effectively strengthen your stomach you need to incorporate the following types of exercises:

1-2 forward flexion exercises (reverse crunch, knee raises, crunch, sit-up, etc.)
1-2 side flexion exercises (side bends, side crunches, etc.)
1-2 rotational exercises (trunk rotations, standing twists, etc.)
Choose at least 1-2 exercises that target the lower abs , 1-2 for the obliques (love handles), and 1-2 for the upper abs. There are thousands of ab exercises to choose from - way too many for me to list here, however, I will give you a list of some of the better ones.
Great Ab Exercises
Reverse crunch
Ab Pike
Hanging knee raise
Torso rotation (twist)
Leg lowering
Side bends
Exercise ball crunches

Again, there are tons of choices when it comes to ab exercises and while there are some that are better than others, the key is to just make sure you work hard and progressively!

The abs, are muscles just like any other and should be worked on average 3 times per week.  While you can work out daily, base your frequency on how hard you worked them last time. For example, if you worked your core really hard yesterday and are sore, it’s not a good idea to work them hard again today. If you do anything at all, it should be light and just to get them moving.
2. Use short, hard cardio workouts to increase metabolism
Cardio workouts are important because they CAN, if done correctly, increase your metabolism for 4-24 hours or more!  This means you are less likely to store any excess calories as body fat because they are more likely to be used by your elevated metabolism.  Plus, you are more likely to burn off some excess body fat.

Below is a sample interval workout that can be done with just about any activity (walking, bicycling, swimming, stair climbing, etc.).

Warm up at easy pace 2-5 minutes… Perform 30 seconds of hard work (almost as hard as possible)… perform 1 minute of moderate work (recovery time-catch breath)… Repeat this process 6-10 times… Cool down at an easy pace for 2-5 minutes.
3. Stable blood sugar is the key
And most importantly, you must stabilize your blood sugar!  This is by far the most important factor when it comes to burning away that excess body fat and keeping it off!  To effectively stabilize your blood sugar you must feed your body frequently; like every 2-3 hours. The key is to give your body only what it needs at that time. 

Your body burns calories 24 hours a day, so, why would you only feed it once or twice a day? Give your body the fuel it needs: vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, whole grains, and lean proteins (chicken, fish, lean beef, eggs, etc.).

Many people are too hung up on how much fat is in food, or how healthy of a choice it is.  Calories are calories and it doesn’t matter where they come from. If there’s extra… where’s it going? Yup, you guessed it… body fat!

This is not to say that what you eat is not important because it is, it just doesn’t have that much of an affect when it comes to fat loss.  Try to make healthy choices whenever possible, but don’t feel like if you eat a cheeseburger it is guaranteed to be stored as fat. You can learn more metabolism boosting tricks here

4. Get the help of a professional
Unfortunately, most people don’t know enough about the human body, nutrition, or effective exercise to meet their health and fitness goals.  Ask yourself this one question, “Am I happy with my current progress or condition?”   If you’re not, you should consider getting the help of a qualified personal fitness professional.

Don’t depend on the information you get from magazines or from your local gym/ health club.  A qualified fitness professional can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, and in less time than you would imagine.
If you are serious about your health and fitness goals, and you are ready for that flat stomach, I recommend you start implementing the 4 strategies listed in this article. These 4 strategies can help you take control of your metabolism and burn off that excess body fat and having you looking and feeling great!
Well, I hope you found this article helpful.

Feel free to forward it to anyone you know who can benefit from it and keep your eyes peeled for some more great articles.

For more information on flat abs please click here: 
Talk to you again soon…
Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, MFT

Many of the injuries that bodybuilders suffer from could be easily prevented just by allowing the body enough time to rest…

While most bodybuilders dread hearing the word “rest”, many fail to realize that there is far more to rest than just avoiding overtraining. When you perform a tough workout you not only stress that muscle or muscle group, you also place stress on the cardiovascular, neuromuscular and components of the immune system…

For example, many bodybuilders will train their chest 2-3 times a week and spend an hour or more performing dozens of exercises just for the pecs…

While this may sound ok to some, when you add in the stress of other workouts it can quickly add up to too much stress in one or more ways. I hear bodybuilders all the time say “I let my body rest by splitting up my workouts” and “I worked chest yesterday so today I’ll train my back”… that’s NOT rest!

Click here to read more about propper workout recovery:

What is a Targeted Exercise and Why You Need To Be Doing Them?

While performing three different exercises for each area of the chest may sound “targeted” and it may work great for targeting the chest itself… this is NOT what we mean by targeted…

What we are talking about is choosing exercises with more than just size increases in mind… remember, there is far more to muscle than just how it looks… You can be really big, but also weak, slow and inflexible.

To drive this point home some more, remember the “Turtle Back Syndrome” we covered in article #1? So many body builders are plagued with this gruesome condition and they don’t even know it! Are you?

The Turtle Back condition is a direct result of too much focus on building up the pecs and lats and not enough focus on the upper back. Also, the lack of focus on flexibility in the chest and shoulders makes it even worse…

Not only does this look stupid, but it sets you up for back, neck and shoulder problems like rotator cuff tears and the like… and I know you don’t want any of those!

So by targeted, we mean exercises that will not just develop muscle strength and size, but more importantly work towards correcting muscle imbalances which will mean less pain and missed workouts, better performance and function, and most of all better and balanced total body development!

Click Here to Find Out Which Ones You NEED To be Doing?

Stretching can be great, but it can also make existing injuries worse or even bring about new ones!

The key to making stretching work for you is knowing which stretches you need to be working on… and just because a muscle feels tight, that doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be stretched.

For example, many people stretch the hamstrings because they feel tight and they think the hamstrings are limiting their flexibility…

the fact is, most of the time the hamstrings are “tight” because they are constantly being pulled / lengthened due to muscle imbalances that tip the pelvis forward.

Below is a scary attempt of artwork to show you visually what we are talking about:

Click here to see why stretching is need for bodybuilders:

Get ready, this is gonna hurt! The exercises most bodybuilders focus on the most, are the ones that cause the most problems… hopefully, you’re different..

But before we share with you what those exercise are, let’s talk real quickly about what bodybuilding is…

The goal of bodybuilding isn’t to get as big as you can, or at least to us it isn’t and shouldn’t be, but to build a balanced body that is as strong as possible in every way. For example, while being freakishly big may get people’s attention, it serves you no purpose at all…

while on the other hand, what if you were not only big, but also extremely strong and powerful, lightning fast, flexible, and agile enough to kick ass if needed?

So many bodybuilders build massive amounts of muscle yet are so unbelievably weak and inflexible… for example, we know a guy who can bench press over 350 lbs but can’t do a measly  50 push-ups!

The point is, the exercises you choose and how you perform them not only determine how big, strong, and flexible you are, but also affect how your body functions and whether or not you suffer from aches, pains, and injuries like back pain and sciatic pain.

Ok, here they are… the exercises that create the most problems and are most likely to lead to back pain: