Want a Flatter Stomach? Do These 4 Exercises Every Morning, Trainer Says
Many of my clients come to me with a common fitness goal: They want to lose fat, build muscle, and get a flatter stomach.
In order to get a flatter stomach, you have to be doing the right things consistently: Strength training, eating at a calorie deficit, and getting in your daily steps. If you don't do any of those things, then you're not going to slim down your waistline—no matter how many crunches, situps, and side bends you perform.
Also, a mistake that many people make with ab training is performing weighted movements. Your abdominal area, just like your other muscles, can actually hypertrophy (grow in volume) when you add extra resistance. So, if your goal is to achieve a flatter stomach, then you need to minimize the amount of ab moves you're doing that involve weights.
Instead, the key to getting a flatter stomach is focusing on ab exercises that work on building core strength and stability. Here are four easy movements you can start doing every morning in order to achieve a flatter, more toned stomach. Make sure to perform this circuit 3-4 times through. And for more, check out The #1 Best Abs Workout You've Never Tried.
Vacuum Pose
Get on all fours with your hands in line with your shoulders and your knees in line with your hips. Draw your stomach in as hard as you can, and hold that position while maintaining tension in your core. Relax your abs Once you've held tension for 20 to 30 seconds, relax your abs.
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Ab Wheel Rollout
Get into a kneeling position on the floor with your hands holding an ab wheel. Keeping your core tight and glutes squeezed, extend your body forward as far as you can, leading with your arms and hips and squeezing your abs. Once you've gone as far as you can, exhale all of your air out before rolling back to the start. Perform for 10 reps.
Related: Cindy Crawford Reveals Her Exact Workout for Flat Abs
Side Plank with Rotation
Get into a side plank position with your shoulder in line with your elbow and legs stacked on top of each other. With your core tight and glutes squeezed, begin by taking your top arm and rotating it underneath your body in a scooping motion to the other side, rotating on your elbow and squeezing your shoulder blade to finish. Perform 8 to 10 reps on one side before spinning around and completing your reps on the other.
Related: One Secret Effect of Consistent Exercise, New Study Says
Lying Leg Raise
Begin by lying flat on your back with your ribs pulled down toward the ground. Keeping your core tight and legs straight, raise your legs up towards your head. Flex your abs hard at the end of the movement, then lower them back to starting position under control, maintaining tension the entire time before performing another rep. Do 10 to 15 reps.
And that's it! Your morning workout for flat abs is just four moves done 3-4 times through.
For more, check out this 20-Minute Slimming and Toning Workout.
