Most people think abdominal workouts require hundreds of sit-ups and crunches. The truth, however, is that they are just a waste of your time, and in some cases, may actually injure your low back. If you really want 6-pack abs along with a sculpted body then the most efficient and effective way of achieving it is through total body exercises. In this workout you will be performing nine total body exercises in circuit fashion. Therefore, each exercise will be performed back to back to back with no rest in between.

Start with kettlebell swings. These are 2-hand swings and you need to power up with the hips. Drive them back and power them back up. Move immediately into extended pushups. Move your arms out in front of you as you lower yourself down and back up. The next exercise is a stability ball pike. This is a more advanced version of the stability ball jackknife. Place your feet on the ball and your hands on the floor and pull the ball in as you push your hips up until you are in a pike position. Try to get your hips as high up as possible.

If you are not very flexible, just do jackknifes in place of them. Move immediately into stability ball back extensions. Plant your feet against a wall or something stable. Your chest is supported by the ball. Place your hands behind your head and raise yourself up and back down. Next is a 1-arm kettlebell swing. Make sure you are driving back with your hips and back up. If you are more advanced, you can do snatches in place of the swings. Do all reps on one side and then do all reps on the other side.

Next you will do high rep close grip pushups. Tuck your elbows into your sides with your hands closer together as you move down and back up. Do as many as you can. Move immediately into stability ball leg curls. Place your feet on the ball and bridge your hips up with your arms out to the side. Curl the ball in while keeping your hips up the entire time. Do 20 reps.

The next exercise is a stability ball rollout. Place the ball in front of you and start in an upright position, roll the ball out. Get a nice long stretch as you roll out and contract your abs when you pull it back in. If you have an ab wheel, you can use that in place of a stability ball. This is going to be harder than using a stability ball.

Finally, you’re going to finish off preferably with a sprint as the last exercise. If you can’t do sprinting, you can sprint in place or finish with burpees. In most cases, although you aren’t directly targeting your abdominals, you are still required to brace them which in turn indirectly works your abdominals for a powerfully efficient abdominal workout. If you want maximum fat burning results, switch from crunches and cardio to the belly fat burning Turbulence Training workouts: http://turbulencetraining.com

Most people interested in getting abs will have seen an abdominal exercise gadget infomercial with all those fit men and women. But have you ever wondered if those ab gadgets really work as claimed?

If you want the real truth about abs then fitness expert Craig Ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training, recently reviewed a research study on ab exercise gadgets to help you decide.

According to Craig, one of his favorite ab exercises includes one of those cheap infomercial gadgets, “the ab wheel”. You can pick one up at Walmart for under 20 bucks, and it works your abs hard without crunches.

But do other ab gadgets really work?

Researchers (from the Mayo Clinic, of all places) tested the “Ab-Slide” device and compared it to the ab crunch, the supine double leg thrust (seated knee tuck-in), and side plank.

Reference:
J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Nov;22(6):1939-46.

Ten young men and twelve young women did all the exercises.

Tests showed that the Ab-Slide, a contraption fairly similar to the Ab Wheel, worked the abs the hardest.

On the other hand, the seated knee tuck-in required a lot of hip flexion, and the doctors believed it could cause BACK PROBLEMS in people prone to low back injury.

Craig recommends sticking with the Ab Wheel, and of course, keeping crunches out of your program. He also suggests adding the Seated Knee Tuck-in to your list of ab exercises to avoid.

For best results, stick to the exercises in the Turbulence Training workout program.

Click here for more ab exercises and workouts:

What about crunches then?

By the way, if you are thinking of doing crunches to get abs then this might make you think twice.

Not only are crunches hard on your low back, they are also useless for helping you to get a flat stomach.

A much better way is to stick to interval training, the ab exercises in Turbulence Training, and the TT nutrition guidelines if you want to transform your body.

Click here to burn belly fat fast:

Who doesn’t want to flaunt a lean and athletic body in beachwear or a swimsuit? Walking around with a well-sculpted muscular body and having the members of the opposite sex ogle over it, is a secret desire most of us have.

But, acquiring a fit and ship shape body often seems quite an uphill task. For ordinary men and women, who have regular full time jobs, it is often quite difficult to spend hours in the gymnasium to acquire body like professional athletes.

However, if you are interested in building muscles and burning fat without spending too much time and money at high-end gyms then you need not be discouraged. There are lots of websites on the internet which can provide you with useful exercise tips and diet guides to for losing extra weight, building muscles and regaining your youthful fitness in minimum time.

There is quite a lot of hard work and diligence involved in the process of getting a well toned body. Abdominal fat, or belly fat as it is more popularly know, is not so easy to lose through merely a strict diet plan.

This is because fat tissues in the abdominal area often become resistant to efforts of losing fat. Crash dieting and the resultant sudden loss of weight and then regaining the same weight makes augments the problem of stubborn belly fat.

Cardiovascular exercises like jogging, cycling, stair climbing coupled with a low- fat diet would help you lose over all fat from your body. But, if you are planning to burn fat from your abdominal area and procure a wash board flat stomach in the process, then you need to put in extra effort.

However, the positive aspect of this course of action is that you need not go to exclusive gyms or health spas to get a toned abdomen. You can pick up more information about muscle building and losing tummy fat from the various heath and fitness websites available in the internet.

For muscle building and spot reductions of fat from your abdominal area, you need a more specialized exercise plan and a weight training routine apart from generic cardio exercises. This rigorous training program should be supplemented by a low fat and high protein diet, which would help you in muscle building and fat reduction.

Also, make sure to drink lot of fluids during your training schedule. Water assists in the process of losing tummy fat and so gulping down glasses of water along with your high protein fare would definitely speed up your weight loss.

For a free trial to help you to get rid of your bothersome belly fat go to Turbulence Training For Abs Trial

In this video Craig Ballantyne shows you six abs exercises that do not include crunches which are the old-fashioned way to get abs and are not really effective.

Craig’s Turbulence Training for Abs has a whole lot more valuable information about abs workouts and there is a free trial available right now.

Here’s the link for your free trial so get over there right now and finally get rid of that belly flab.

www.TurbulenceTrainingforAbs.com/FreeTrial

In a surprising comment made during a popular UK radio show, the founder of one of the largest Pizza chains in the United States and United Kingdom told listeners not to eat too much pizza!

In an interview with host Adam Shaw on BBC’s Radio Four program, John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John’s pizza, was asked whether he was concerned about the British government’s recent actions in the fast food restaurant business to help put the brakes on obesity.

Schnatter said, “Pizza is actually healthy for you if you don’t eat too much of it. You can’t eat five or six slices but if you eat one or two slices it’s very nutritious.”

Laughing, Shaw replied, “I’m not sure your investors would want to hear you tell people, ‘don’t eat too much of our pizzas!”’

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Across the web, bloggers and tweeters have been putting in their two cents. Some say he was a little TOO honest. Others say this was either the worst PR screw up ever… or the best PR move ever (you know what they say about “bad” publicity).

Although I wouldn’t call pizza health food, I think his advice to eat pizza, but only in moderation was the responsible thing for a fast food owner to do at a time where obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, not just in the United States but in the U.K. and other countries as well.

Moreover, it was just plain good diet advice! One reason people are failing to control their weight is because of all-or-none thinking, i.e, “I can’t eat ANY pizza EVER again!” or, “I have to follow my diet 100% or not at all.”

In my experience, all or none thinking is one of the biggest causes of diet failure. It’s far better from a psychological perspective to eat your pizza; simply enjoy it infrequently and in small quantities.

Think of you on a diet like a pressure cooker on a burner. The longer you keep that pot on the heat, the more the steam pressure builds up inside. If there’s no outlet or release valve on that thing, eventually the pressure builds up so much that even if it’s made of steel and the lid is bolted down, she’s gonna blow, sooner or later.

Well, in the beginning, you might think your willpower is made of steel and that you’re bolted tigher than a submarine hatch, but the longer you’re on a diet with no relief, the greater the pressure builds up until YOU blow your top… and that means massive binge eating.

But if you let off a little steam in the form of a “free meal” (or two) and enjoy that slice of pizza (or whatever is your favorite ‘poison’) on occasion, that relieves the pressure. Alas, you never even feel the urge to binge… because you HAD your pizza and the urge was satisfied. Since the meal was planned and you kept the calories under control, it had little or no effect on your fat loss results.

This topic of conversation was prompted on the BBC radio show during a discussion about how the Pizza business was doing during the recession and about efforts to stem the growing obesity crisis in the UK.

Earlier last month, The Food Standards Agency in the UK started negotiating with UK food, pub and sandwich chains to display calories on their menus to try to provide education about healthier options for consumers who eat out frequently.

The move is similar to one made in New York City last year, where restaurant chains that have more than 15 locations must print calories on the menus. According to an article in the British Medical Journal, this has resulted in an average reduction of 50-100 calories for each food order. Not much, but at least it’s something.

In the case of pizza, a 2.2 ounce thin-crusted slice of cheese pizza could have as little as 190 calories. One slice of “meat lover’s” pizza, on the other hand, could set you back almost 500 calories! If you knew the difference, would it change what kind and how much you ate?

I’m totally in favor of posting calories on menus, despite the critics who say it won’t make a difference. I think anything that raises calorie awareness is going to affect behavior in a positive way and help make for better food decisions. Whether it should be mandatory by law is debatable. I say, let the restaurants decide and then let the marketplace sort itself out.

I would be more likely to recommend or support the restaurants who opted to post calories, increase their range of healthy choices… and on that rare occasion, have a CEO who actually says, “Eat my food, but not too much!!”

Now, if we can only get those Mcdonalds’s execs to say the same thing!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

P.S. No relation to Venuto’s Pizza, hahaha

Tom Venuto

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Why do you always hear that 2 pounds per week is the maximum amount of fat you should safely lose? If you train really hard while watching calories closely shouldn’t you be able to lose more fat without losing muscle or damaging your health? What if you want to lose fat faster? How do you explain the fast weight losses on The Biggest Loser?

These are all good questions that I’ve been asked many times. With the diet marketplace being flooded every day with rapid weight loss claims, these questions desperately need and deserve some honest answers. Want to know where that 2 pounds per week rule comes from and what it really takes to burn more than 2 pounds of fat per week?

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Why Only 2 Pounds Per Week?

The truth is, two pounds is not the maximum amount you can safely lose in a week. That’s only a general recommendation and a good benchmark for setting weekly goals. It’s also sensible and realistic because it’s based on average or typical results.

The actual amount of fat you can lose depends on many factors. For example, weight losses tend to be relative to body size. The more body fat you carry, the more likely you’ll be able to safely lose more than two pounds per week. Therefore, we could individualize our weekly guideline a bit by recommending a goal of 1-2 lbs of fat loss per week or up to 1% of your total weight. If you weighed 300 lbs, that would be 3 lbs per week.

Body Weight Vs Body Composition

Weight loss is somewhat meaningless unless you also talk about body composition; the fat to muscle ratio, as well as water weight. Ask any wrestler about fast weight loss and he’ll tell you things like, “I cut 10 lbs overnight to make a weight class. It was easy – I just sweated it off.”

You’ve also probably seen people that went on some extreme induction program or a lemon juice and water fast for the first week and dropped an enormous amount of weight. But once again, you can bet that a lot of that weight was water and lean tissue and in both cases, you can bet that those people put the weight right back on.

The main potential advantage of any type of induction period for rapid weight loss in the first week is that a large drop on the scale is a motivational boost for many people (even if it is mostly water weight).

Why do you hear so many diet and fitness professionals insist on 2 lbs a week max? Where does that number come from? Well, aside from the fact that it’s a recommendation in government health guidelines and in position statements of most nutrition and exercise organizations, it’s just math. The math is based on what’s practical given the number of calories an average person burns in a day and how much food someone can reasonably cut in a day.

How Do You Lose More Than 2 Pounds Per Week?

Can you lose more than 2 lbs of pure fat in a week? Yes, although it’s easier in the beginning. It gets harder as your diet progresses. How do you do it? My rule is, extraordinary results require extraordinary efforts. An extraordinary effort means a particularly strict diet, as well as burning more calories through training because you can only cut your calories so far from food before you’re starving and suffering from severe hunger.

Simply put, you need a bigger calorie deficit.

If you have a 2500 calorie daily maintenance level, and you want to drop 3 lbs of fat per week withe diet alone, you’d need a huge daily deficit of 1500 calories, which would equate to eating 1000 calories per day. You would lose weight rapidly for as long as you could maintain that deficit (although it would slow down over time). Most people aren’t going to last long on so little food and they often end with a period of binge eating. It’s not practical (or fun) to cut calories so much and in some cases it could be unhealthy.

The other alternative is to train for hours and hours a day, literally. People ask me all the time, “Tom, how is it possible for the Biggest Loser contestants to lose so much weight? Well first of all they’re not measuring body fat, only body weight. Then you have the high starting body weights and the large water weight loss in the beginning. After that, just do the math – they’re training hours a day so they’re creating a huge calorie deficit.

But without that team of trainers, dieticians, teammates, a national audience and all that prize money, do you think they’d be motivated and accountable enough to do anywhere near that amount and intensity of exercise in the real world? Would it even be possible if they had a job and family? Not likely, is it? It’s not practical to do that much exercise, and it’s not practical to cut your calories below a 1000 a day and remain compliant. If you manage to achieve the latter, it’s very difficult not to rebound and regain the weight afterwards for a variety of physiological and psychological reasons.

For Fast Fat Loss: Less Food Or Harder Training?

Trainers are becoming more inventive these days in coming up with high intensity workouts that burn a large amount of calories and really give the metabolism a boost. This can help speed up the fat loss within a given amount of time. But as you begin to utilize higher intensity workouts, you have to start being on guard for overtraining or overuse injuries.That’s why strict nutrition with an aggressive calorie deficit is going to have to be a major part of any fast fat loss strategy. Unfortunately, very low calorie dieting has its own risks in the way of lean tissue loss, slower metabolism, extreme hunger, and greater chance of weight re-gain.

My approach to long term weight control is to lose weight slowly and patiently and follow a nutrition plan that is well balanced between lean protein, healthy fats and natural carbs and doesn’t demonize any entire food group. To lose fat, you simply create a caloric deficit by burning more and eating less (keeping the nutrient density of those calories as high as possible, of course).

But to achieve the extraordinary goals such as photo-shoot-ready, super-low body fat or simply faster than average fat loss, while minimizing the risks, I often turn to a stricter cyclical low carb diet for brief “peaking” programs. I explain this method in chapter 12 of my e-book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (it’s my “phase III” or “competition” diet).

The cyclical aspect of the diet means that after three to six days of an aggressive calorie deficit and strict diet, you take a high calorie / high carb day to re-feed the body and re-stimulate the metabolism. Essentially, this helps reduce the starvation signals your body is receiving. It’s also a psychological break from the deprivation which helps improve compliance and prevent relapse.

The higher protein intake can help prevent lean tissue loss and curb the hunger. A high protein diet also helps by ramping up dietary thermogenesis. A high intake of greens, fibrous vegetables and low calorie fruits can help tip the energy balance equation in your favor as fibrous veggies are very low in calorie density and some of the calories in the fiber are not metabolizable. Healthy fats are added in adequate quantities, while the calorie-dense simple sugars and starchy carbs are kept to a minimum except on refeed days and after (or around) intense workouts.

There’s No Magic, Just Math

In my experience, a high protein, reduced carb approach in conjunction with weights and cardio can help maximize fat loss – both in terms of increasing speed of fat loss and particularly for getting rid of the last of the stubborn fat. It helps with appetite control too. But always bear in mind that the faster fat loss occurs primarily as a result of the larger calorie deficit (which is easily achieved with sugars and starches minimized), not some type of “low carb magic.” If your diet were high in natural carbs but you were able to diligently maintain the same large calorie deficit, the results would be similar.

I’m seeing more and more advertisements that not only promise rapid weight loss, but go so far as saying that you’re doing it wrong if you’re losing “only” two pounds per week. “Why settle” for slow weight loss, they insist. Well, it’s certainly possible to lose more than two pounds per week, but it’s critically important to understand that there’s a world of difference between rapid weight loss and permanent fat loss.

It’s also vital to know that there’s no magic in faster fat loss, just math. All the new-fangled dietary manipulations and high intensity training programs that really do help increase the speed of fat loss all come full circle to the calorie balance equation in the end, even if they claim their method works for other reasons and they don’t mention calories burned or consumed at all.

Beware of The Quick Fix

Faster fat loss IS possible. My question is, are you willing to tolerate the hunger, low calories and high intensity exercise for that kind of deficit? Do you have the work ethic? Do you have the supreme level of dietary restraint necessary to stop yourself from bingeing and putting the weight right back on when that aggressive diet is over? Or would you rather do it in a more moderate way where you’re not killing yourself, but instead are making slow and steady lifestyle changes and taking off 1-2 lbs of pure fat per week, while keeping all your hard-earned muscle?

Remember, 1-2 pounds per week is 50-100 pounds in a year. Is that really so slow or is that an astounding transformation? You don’t gain 50-100 pounds over night, so why should anyone expect to take it off overnight? Personally, I think short-term thinking and the pursuit of quick fixes are the worst diseases of our generation.

If you want to be one of those “results not typical” fat loss transformations, it can be done and it may be a perfectly appropriate short-term goal for the savvy and sophisticated fitness enthusiast. It’s your call. But when you set your goals, it might be wise to remember that old fable of the tortoise and the hare, and buyer beware if you go shopping for a fast weight loss program in today’s shady marketplace.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

Tom Venuto

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Women who undergo rigorous training just to get six pack abs is now becoming a popular trend worldwide because it promotes an effective means of keeping the body fit, sexy, great looking, and healthy. Although many women who are benefiting from this, there are still those who refuse to consider the idea because they think that having a six pack abs is a guy thing only.

What prevents women from getting six pack abs

Despite the advantages it brings to make bodies of women sexier, there are so still things that hinder women from getting six pack abs. If you were one of those who are planning to achieve six pack abs but still have hesitations, it is a must that you conduct a simple research first on the advantages and disadvantages of training to get six pack training.

One of the things that hold back women from getting six pack abs is that the training makes the woman’s muscles bulky and the overall appearance masculine. However, a woman—despite training for six pack abs—will not have a bulky physique since her body cannot produce enough of the  testosterone that is required to build huge muscles like those in men. Women who are muscular did not get those from training but from having excessive amounts of testosterone in their bodies.

Proper nutrition is important

For women to achieve six pack abs, the  formula for success is good and proper nutrition. This is because it provides the basic things such as energy needed for growth and the sustenance can only be derived from proper diet.

According to nutritionists, proper nutrition should include the right kind of foods. For women (and this applies to men too) who are planning to develop six pack abs, this should be a major factor to be aware of because it will make your training more successful. The following are some eating tips to prepare women get that six pack rips and muscles in no time:

1. Make sure that you eat at least six meals  everyday. For newcomers at developing six pack abs, this is the most basic rule because it will ensure you have the energy to endure weight lifting. Eating meals once every 2 to 3 hours will ensure the stability of blood sugar. This will also ensure satisfaction of cravings, maximization of metabolism and energy, and constant need to feed the building muscles.

2. Enough amounts and significant types of protein should be consumed properly.Protein plays a big role in developing six pack abs because it is the building block of the body. To know how much protein you need to get that much-prized six pack, multiply your total bodyweight by 1.2. The result will be the amount of protein—in grams—which is the ideal amount that should be consumed every day.

3. Ensure that you consume the right types and amounts of carbohydrates. In women who are training for six pack abs, carbs are very important to supply the energy your body needs. To figure out how much carbs you need daily, multiply the lean body mass of your body by 0.8 and the result is the total amount of carbs—in grams—that you need. Remember that since getting six pack abs means you losing fats, you must only consume the foods with low carbs such as brown rice, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes.

4. Always include vegetables into your diet. Women who want six pack abs should make sure that green leafy veggies such as  green beans, broccoli, and lettuce have a place on their diet. These types of foods will ensure that cravings can be suppressed without getting hungry. Vegetables will also aid  your metabolism which will make the absorption of protein easier and faster.

Getting six pack abs has become one of the popular choices to keep the body fit and healthy among women. This is because it does not only guarantee a fast way of improving muscle but also the body’s endurance and strength as well. But do women really want a six pack?

Experts say that for a woman to develop six pack abs, she must undergo workout training where the exercises are designed to develop the muscles in the torso area. Here, the woman’s muscles exert force against different forms of resistance like free weights, which greatly aids to the development of wonderful six pack abs.

Strength training as the key to six pack abs

Women who are looking forward to having six pack abs must undergo strength training so she can endure all the physical requirements of her goal. To start with, it is ideal to do strength training exercises at least 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes or so to prepare the muscles for more rigorous physical movements.

Aside from preparing your body’s muscle for more extreme physical exercises, strength training can also give a woman firm muscles for a great looking physique in the future. Studies show that strength training is very important for women who are gearing towards having six pack abs because it can increase the endurance and strength of the developed muscles that can allow women perform tasks daily with lesser exertion and effort.

This can also improve the working capacity of the muscles buts also aid the body’s coordination, balance, and blood circulation as well as the strength of the joint, ligaments, and bones.

Experts say that to be able to develop muscle and achieve six pack abs through strength training, women should always make it a practice to stretch before she starts and after she has performed some weight exercises to prepare the joints for the pending motion during the weight lifting.

Stretching is very important for beginners because it can reduce soreness after the exercises and can help prevent cramped muscles while increasing the range of your motion.

Women who are doing workouts to get six pack abs can do common stretching exercises such as warm-ups that include flexibility and stretching exercises to keep the muscles supple, increase the joints’ range of motion, heart rate and body temperature, and blood flow to muscles, enhance flexibility, and improve coordination.

Cool-downs are also important to return the heart rate as well as the blood pressure to resting mode gradually. Since they are composed of slow walking and stretching, it can relax the sore muscles during and after the exercise.

After stretching, the strength-training exercises can help women who are into the trend of getting six pack abs:

• side shoulder raise which focuses more on arms, thighs, elbows, and palms to give more strength to the shoulder;

• front shoulder raise which highlights the arms using thighs and palms during weight lifting repetitions;

• upright row which is good for the shoulders, neck, and upper back because it strengthens a woman’s upper back to endure more activities;

• biceps curl which is good for strengthening the biceps or the front arm by curling it upward using repetitive motions up to the shoulders;

• one-arm dumbbell triceps curl which is the most ideal strength training for women who are looking forward to perfect six pack abs because the effort exerted here benefits almost all parts of the body.

Using resistance bands can be an effective component of any workout routine, and stomach exercises are no exception. There are a number of exercises targeting the midsection that incorporate resistance bands. Resistance bands come in a variety of difficulties, usually indicated by the color of the band itself (e.g., green can be little resistance, yellow may be medium, red for difficult, etc.). Choose a resistance level that is appropriate for you, then move up as necessary. Do not overdo it by immediately grabbing the most advanced band you can find, as this can lead to injury..

Seated Crunch

This exercise provides the same benefits as the basic abdominal crunch, but with less neck strain and without the possible discomfort that comes with lying on the floor, since it uses a band rather than gravity to provide resistance. For this stomach exercise, you will need to be sitting in a straight back chair which you can somehow loop your band through.

Sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor and about as wide apart as your hips. Contract your abdominal muscles, and slowly bend forward to about a forty-five degree angle. Repeat for an entire set. Be sure to keep your feet on the floor and your back as straight as possible.

One-Arm Band Pull

Put the chair away and stand up, again with feet hip width apart. Put your hands above your head, holding the band about eighteen inches apart. Keeping your left hand overhead, bring your right hand out to the side, elbow bent at about a ninety degree angle. Hold your left arm still as you contract your abdominals and lower your right arm until your hand is in line with your chest.

Hold this position, then slowly return. Repeat for an entire set, then switch hands. Keep your back straight and avoid bending or leaning at the waist. For an additional challenge, do this exercise standing on one foot. Perform the exercise with both hands while standing on your left foot, then do it all again on your right foot.

Twisting Roll-Back

For this stomach exercise, you will need to sit on a flat surface, preferably the floor. Use a mat or towel for cushioning to ease possible strain on your tail bone. Sit down with your legs bent and heels on the floor. Your toes should be pointing up– do not put your feet flat on the floor. Loop the band around your feet, put one end in each hand and put your hands together.

In a rolling motion, lower your torso toward the floor about forty-five degrees. As you do this, twist to the right and spread your hands to the sides. Hold for a second, then rotate back to the middle and raise your torso back to start. Your heels should remain on the floor throughout the exercise. Do a full set, then switch to the left side.

Don’t forget, as with any exercise routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury

As the weather improves, that  is often the signal to many people that it is time to work on that little bulge that has been building up around the stomach area over the last few months. These few exercises can help you shed that excess belly fat and flatten out that stomach in time for summer.

Plank

For this stomach exercise, you will need to lie on a flat surface, such as the floor. You will be lying in your stomach, so you may want to use a mat or towel to cushion your knees. Prop your upper body up on your forearms so that your elbows make a ninety degree angle and are positioned directly below your shoulders.

Now lift your body up off the floor so that your lower body is supported by your toes, while your upper body remains supported by your elbows. Your body should basically be a straight line, with no arch or drooping through your back. Hold this position for twenty seconds, then lower your body back to the floor. One repetition is sufficient.

Side Plank

This stomach exercise is a variation on the previous one, and begins in the same starting position. Once you are in the correct position, roll to your right side, keeping your torso supported with your right forearm. You will have to raise your hips and roll your feet so that your left foot is on top of your right.

As in the plank exercise, your body will be a straight line, but this time you will be on one side. Place your left hand on your hip and hold the plank position for five seconds. Return to start and repeat on the left side.

Ball Roll

If you thought you needed a real ball for this stomach exerecise then I am sorry to disappoint you , because in this stomach exercise, you are the ball! First of all, sit on the floor and hug your knees to your chest. Roll back slightly so you are balancing on your tail bone and your feet are off the floor, toes pointing downward.

Pull your abdominals inward while rolling onto your lower back and the upper part of your butt. Contract your abdominals and pull yourself back to the starting position. Loosening your arms up may help if you find this exercise too difficult at first.

Standing Crossover

As the name implies, you will need to stand up for this stomach exercise. Position your feet a few inches apart. Put your arms out to the sides and bend your elbows at a ninety degree angle so your fingertips are pointing to the ceiling and your palm are facing forward.

Contract your abdominals and lift your right knee toward your left elbow, while at the same time bringing your left elbow down toward your right knee. Touch the two joints together, pause, then return to start. Switch sides and repeat for an entire set. And remember, as always with any stomach exercise routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.