Getting a flat stomach is something that most people aim for when they're working out and whilst it isn't the easiest thing in the world to achieve, it is possible and these 6 steps provide a good, basic outline of just how to do it.
1. Spend time on the treadmill - if you're carrying extra weight around your midsection, no matter how many exercises you do to develop your stomach muscles, you're never going to see them because of the additional weight.
As a cardiovascular exercise, running is a great way to lose weight, with its popularity shown in just how many treadmills cover the floor of London gyms and any other type of health club throughout the country.
2. Take up swimming - arguably the best all round exercise you can do, swimming works a whole host of different muscles throughout your body. Whilst you may not notice your stomach being particularly worked out if you're just doing an easy swim, do a strong front crawl, ensuring you move from side to side and you'll soon feel your midsection being stretched.
3. Carry out sit ups - the staple exercise of any programme to a flat stomach, once you've lost any excess weight around your stomach, it's time to start on the sit ups.
How many you do depends entirely on you as an individual, but just make sure that you never do so many in one go that it hurts - you should feel your stomach muscles stretching, but never hurting.
4. And modified versions - after several weeks of carrying out standard sit ups, you'll notice that they're becoming a lot easier. Once this happens, you should start looking at modified, more difficult versions of them.
For example, start off in the same position as you would should you be doing a normal sit up, but raise your legs off the floor and keep them at a right angle with your body. Then, when you carry out the actual sit up, alternate between twisting your torso so your right elbow touches your left knee and your left elbow touches your right knee.
5. Keep an eye on your carb intake - when you're looking to get a flat stomach, you need to keep a close eye on how many carbs you eat. The reason behind this is that you need the energy that they provide you with to ensure you can work out to the best of your ability and to the extent that is needed, but you don't want to consume too many that you're body retains them, making you put on weight, lethargic and unmotivated when it comes to working out.
6. Ditch the fats - as mentioned above, whilst you can work out for hours on end, trying to develop a toned stomach, if you are carrying excess weight around that section, you're not going to see the benefits.
Therefore, aside from keeping an eye on the amount of carbohydrates you eat, it's important that you lower how much fat you consume.
Completely wiping out trans fats (for example, margarine), it's important that you remember some fat is necessary for a well-balanced diet (the government recommends you consume at most 70-75g of fat each day, reducing this by up to 50 percent if your trying to lose a lot of weight) and so to ensure you eat enough fats, you should be consuming a regular amount of mono-unsaturated fats, which can be found in most nuts, avocados and oatmeal.
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For more information about London gyms, visit the Fitness First website.
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