Incorporating the best flat tummy exercises into your weekly workouts is going to be key for great female abs, especially if you’re going to be working out at home.
Doing an ab workout out at home is going to present a number of challenges, especially for beginners, but flat tummy exercises like bicycle crunches and mountain climbers could be just the thing your looking for to get those abs in tip top shape.
The Benefits of Having Abs
A great set of washboard ABS is not only aesthetically pleasing, they provide a plethora of other benefits including:
1. Ab muscles stabilize your torso and help you maintain good posture.
2. Strong ab muscles are critical for preventing lower back pain and injury.
3. Walking, bending, sitting, and standing, all involve your abs.
4. The Transverse Abdominis is important for every day function. It provides maximum stability to the spine.
How to Get Rid of Lower Belly Fat
So you have a beer belly, how do you get rid of it and get a flatter stomach?
Well the best thing you can do is eat a healthy diet. Many health practitioners will say abs are made in the kitchen, and they are mostly right.
First, Start by eliminating all processed, sugary, and unhealthy food from your diet. One study found that people who ate a high amount of refined grains were more likely to have a more belly fat compared to those who ate whole grains.
Excess belly fat can lead to serious health consequences. Its presence is associated with higher risks of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, heart attacks and depression. Excess belly fat is an indicator of higher levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of good cholesterol (HDL). One study by the American Academy of Neurology went as far to say that excess belly fat could shrink your brain!
“Existing research has linked brain shrinkage to memory decline and a higher risk of dementia…,”
said study author Mark Hamer, PhD, of Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England.
Second, add some heart pumping cardio to your exercise routine.
Swim, bike, run or walk. You will need to burn as many calories as possible
One study showed that participating in cardio exercise 3-4 times per week significantly decreased belly fat.
The more cardio you can get in the better. Try HIIT training for best results.
But what if you want to lose that belly a bit faster, tighten up the abs and obliques, and have a core you can be proud of?
The answer is: You must incorporate the best and most dynamic ab exercises into your workout routine, the ones that not only strengthen your core, but aid in eliminating belly fat.
So without further ado, here are:
5 Best Flat Tummy Exercises for Great Female ABS
#5 Bicycle Crunches
Doing the bicycle crunch at home is a great way to get your body moving while strengthening your core at the same time
It’s great for exercisers of any level.
To do this exercise:
Start by lying flat on your back and touching your finger tips to the sides of your head.
Bring your left leg and right elbow together, crunching your abs.
Keep your chin in a neutral position and alternate sides.
Really try to squeeze your abs each rep.
#4 Plank with Knee Raises/Mountain Climbers
The plank alone is a great exercise, so by making this exercise dynamic with the knee lifts/runners, you are creating instability in your core, forcing your muscles to work differently and in a more dynamic fashion.
To do this exercise:
Start by placing your forearms flat on the ground.
Lift your hips off the ground and try to align your body into a neutral spine position.
Now while alternating your legs, bring one straight up towards your chest.
Do this in a controlled manner.
Bring the knees up either one at a time as a beginner, or “in the air” at the same time for the more advanced exerciser.
#3 AB Wheel Rollout
Another way to get a lot of the same benefits of the pike to ab rollout is to just use an ab wheel to do your rollouts.
For this workout, you want to be on your knees and push the ab wheel out in front of you as far as your body safely allows.
The ab wheel makes it easier to push out in different directions and hit the core in different ways.
One good quality ab roller I like to use is this Ab Trainer.
This ab roller comes with a comfortable knee pad for added knee support, a six pack abs nutrition E-book for valuable diet, health, and fitness guidance and an ultimate ab workout E-book. The ab roller is one of the most inexpensive ways and is part of the best ab exercises for a flatter stomach.
#2 Swimming
Swimming is unique because it works almost every muscle throughout your body.
Like boxing, swimming forces you to use your core to stabilize and control your body.
It is one of the best ways to safely burn calories, while effectively working every muscle group.
Muscles surrounding your core, hips and lower back are completely engaged during a good swim session.
Try throwing the backstroke and butterfly into your routine.
If you need to work your way up to this, use a kickboard or water jog to begin.
Anything in the water is an effective way to get a great full body workout.
#1 Pike to Rollout
The #1 best Flat Tummy Exercise for Great Female ABS, per a 2010 study in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, is to do swiss-ball pike rollouts.
These same pike rollouts can be accomplished on a suspension trainer.
To do this exercise:
Start in a plank position with your legs on the stability ball or feet in the suspension trainer straps.
Lift your hips as high as you can.
Come back down to neutral position and as you do this, roll the ball backwards (or push the suspension straps backwards) a small amount, just enough so you can really feel your entire core working.
It doesn’t take much of a roll back to achieve this affect, maybe a couple of inches.
This particular exercise was found to be the most effective exercise to hit your upper abs, lower abs, and obliques all at once.
In order to do this exercise, it would be smart to grab a suspension trainer. My favorite piece of exercise equipment is the TRX PRO Suspension Trainer System. The quality, versatility, and ease of use make this suspension trainer far above the rest. Use this for your pikes, rows, lunges, squats, push ups, pull ups, and tricep extensions.
Conclusion:
Abs are a stabilizer muscle and the more the exercise forces your abs to stabilize your core, the more effective your exercise will be. Abs are made in the kitchen, but if you want them to look good once they make their appearance then add these ab exercises to your fitness regimen.
Need more information? Check out my article: How to Quickly Get 6-Pack Abs
Summary: 5 Best Flat Tummy Exercises for Great Female ABS (At Home)
5. Bicycle Crunches
4. Plank with Knee Raises/Mountain Climbers
3. Boxing
2. Swimming
1. Pike to Rollout
What is your favorite ab exercise? Is there an exercise that should have made the list? Let me know below!!
