Well it’s April now and seems like the weather is slowly starting to warm-up, which means summer is hopefully right around the corner.  Summer means clothes get smaller and bathing suits come out, but why wait until summer to prepare your body for more skin exposure? Why not get started on it right now?

It is not possible to spot reduce; therefore, doing 1000 sit-ups per day alone will not have you looking like a fitness magazine cover model by summer.  In order to achieve the flat belly we all strive for it takes discipline combined with an equal balance of the proper exercises and healthy eating.

Michelle’s Top 5 Flat Belly Exercise Tips:

1. Weight Train:  doing 2-3 weight training workouts per week will help increase lean body mass increasing metabolic rate and decreasing body fat percentage, which includes reduction in abdominal fat.

2. Quality over Quantity: when training abs focus on form, go slow so you don’t use momentum, and just like any other muscle allow recovery time between training sessions.

3. Switch Up your Cardio:  incorporate interval training (HIIT) for increased fat burn instead of sticking to strictly steady state cardio.  Try different machines, head outside and do sprints, hill training, or run stairs to continue to challenge your body and burn fat.

4. Incorporate Core Training into Your Weight Training Sessions: add exercises into your workouts that “kill 2 birds with 1 stone”.  For example, perform a dumbbell chest press while lying on a stability ball instead of a bench.  This activates your core and lower body muscles as they have to contract to stabilize your body throughout the exercise 

5. Do Not Live and Die by the Crunch: not only do most people perform crunches wrong, but performing too many crunches alone can also give you a forward hunched posture causing your belly to protrude even more.  Try planks, they work well to strengthen the core and help to improve posture and standing up straight will help to flatten out the tummy.

Sticking to these exercise tips will get your started in your journey to a flat belly, but remember about 30% of it gets done in the gym while 70% is in the kitchen.  “YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT”

Email Michelle@CORE-Condition.com for exercise or nutrition tips to help flatten your tummy for summer!

Michelle Roots BA Kin, CSCS, PES

www.CORE-Condition.com