Flat stomach workout - how to train your stomach muscles.
Every man or woman wants to have a flat stomach. Because this is a common problem there are lot of training methods and ideas to accomplish that feat. Some of those methods are more helpful some are less. That's why it is a good idea to understand what kind of training is best for stomach.
First let's understand how human stomach muscles are build
Stomach muscles were built to protect internal organs. However since people are standing on two feet stomach muscles also are responsible for stabilization. Nowadays people are spending most of their time sitting at work, at home so the stomach muscles are weak and because of that people tend to have more problems with a flat stomach.
Our stomach is divided into:
- Transversus abdominus - they are the deepest stomach muscles and are responsible for protection of internal organs.
- Rectus abdominus - those are the muscles that we can see from outside. They give a "six-pack" look when they are in good shape.
- External obliques - located on both side of "six-pack" muscles. They are responsible for trunk stabilization when the body is twisting.
- Internal obliques - those muscles reside also opposite the Rectus abdominus muscles but they work differently. They also work when the body is twisting but in the opposite way.
Stomach muscle exercises will not burn fat
We have to remember that the more fat covers our stomach the less muscles we will be able to see, even if they are pretty well toned. If we concentrate only on the stomach muscles we won't be able to burn fat from stomach and we will never achieve a flat stomach. The only way to lose fat from stomach is a healthy diet and some exercises - and it's not what you are thinking. The best stomach exercises are Cardio exercises. Crunches are not the best. You can read more about Cardio exercises here : Cardio exercises.
However let's focus here on the stomach muscles training. What you should know about that.
First of all you have to remember that in order to build your stomach muscles you have to introduce intensive training that is designed for flat stomach. It is important to increase the level (intensity) of your exercises and to change the type of exercises performed by you. It's because muscles are getting accustomed to one kind of motion and intensity level so you have to change that in time. So in every training you have to train your stomach muscles in many positions and not concentrate on crunches only. The more muscles you involve in your training the better they will look. While doing stomach exercises remember that first you should start with lower stomach exercises, then you can move to oblique muscles and you should finish with the top muscles. Why you should do it that way? It's because when you train top muscles only those muscles are trained, but when you exercise lower body the top stomach muscles are also involved. So if you start with the top part you will tire them and you won't be as effective when you will train your lower stomach muscles.
Muscle balance
Lot of people are making mistake of training only stomach muscles. Because of that stomach muscles become very strong and your back muscles become weak. So there is no balance between those muscles any more, which can lead to back pain. That's why you should remember to train your back muscles also. You can do it after stomach muscles or mix it in between.
Good technique while doing stomach exercises
You should try to make the whole move in the exercise, be more precise with your moves. At the beginning it's even better to make less iterations but focus more on the quality of your moves. Some people tend to make lot of reps but they do it fast and the muscle moves are not controlled well. That kind of training is not very effective. The number of reps depends on your condition. If you feel tired, your muscles are shaking it means you should let go and come back the other day. It is not a good idea to train tired muscles because it could lead to muscles injury.
What are the most popular stomach muscle training?
* ABS,
* Weider's six
In the ABS method you involve all of your stomach muscles. So you do those exercises in different positions. Important part is the sequence of exercises and to train all of your muscles during training session. You can read more about this here: Ab workouts.
Weider's six is a pretty difficult training. The most important element is to shut down your movement in the moment when your muscles are in maximum tense. This type of training involves mainly the front muscles and less the oblique ones.
Both of these methods can be pretty successful when it comes to strengthening your stomach muscles. But you just can't expect that you will burn lot of fat that is covering your stomach while you do ABS or Weider's six exercises. You won't achieve a flat stomach with them, forget about that. With those exercises you can make a pretty "six-pack" but only if you lose fat from your stomach first. You can accomplish that with training of the whole body that is done for 30-60 minutes at least 3 times a week. The best exercises for that are the Cardio exercises which you can find here: Best stomach exercises.
So to summarize all of that. If you want a pretty flat stomach first you should focus on fat burning with Cardio exercises. You should supplement this training with a diet and stomach muscles exercises. If you do so you will see the effects after few weeks.
