Flat stomach 101: Effective hacks to get flat abs

A toned, flat stomach isn’t only about aesthetics and self-confidence. It gives you a number of benefits, including improved physical performance, better balance, enhanced posture, and a reduced risk of spinal (and other) injuries. Unfortunately, many women find it hard to strengthen their core and create flat abs. This is often simply because of a different fat metabolism in females. Luckily, you can achieve this goal if you put a bit of effort into it.

If you're also wondering how to get a flat stomach, there are 6 primary tips to use:

• Create a calorie deficit and balance your diet.
• Do regular physical activity and implement exercises for the abs.
• Don’t overlook full-body workouts.
• Work on your posture.
• Don’t be overly clingy in terms of a gym or props (you can get started on your own).
• Set realistic goals and take it slow.

A flat stomach is a dream for many women. It gives your body special aesthetics and helps support overall health. Not to mention, the sense of self-confidence given by the ability to wear trending clothes that you like.

Yet, many women stumble upon numerous obstacles on their path to flat abs. This can happen due to multiple reasons, including natural gender difference in fat metabolism, which implies an overall higher body fat percentage and a greater complexity of building lean muscle mass.

Luckily, this doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your dream! In this guide, we’ll tell you how to flatten stomach in practice and attain your body goals.

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Why Strive for a Flat Stomach?

Before you can hop on your flat abs journey, it’s important to find the right motivation for you. Motivation is what will fuel you to work toward your goal and overcome any obstacles that come along the way. And, despite a common misconception, the motivation for getting a flatter belly goes far beyond aesthetics.

Working on your belly muscles will help you build a stronger core. This, in turn, has a few big benefits:

• Better physical performance – Core is engaged in pretty much any physical activity, from regular walking to sports. So, when you make your core stronger, this will increase your stamina and overall physical performance. Besides, core stability helps maximise force generation during activity and reduce joint load. So, if you are struggling with joint pain, let’s say, because of a medical condition like PCOS, improving core stability can help reduce the damage of joints and improve pain.
• Improved balance – When you strengthen your stomach muscles, this also helps improve your coordination and stability. In the long run, this can greatly improve your balance, making it easier to handle daily activities.
• Better posture and reduced risk of injury – Your core creates a muscle corset around your spine, helping you keep your posture nice and straight. Furthermore, an improved posture reduces the strain on the back, which can help you prevent injuries during exercise and daily movements.

How to Get a Flat Stomach: 6 Practical Tips

Now that you know more about the benefits of having flat abs and factors that might be getting in your way right now, let’s get to the most exciting part – how to flatten stomach step by step.

In this part of our guide, we’ll tell you about the best practical tips that should help:

1. Rethink Your Daily Diet

Although you need exercises to strengthen your core, your diet plays a decisive role in getting a flat stomach. A smart calorie deficit will help you drop excess fat and reduce your body size, which is crucial to let your abs show.

In order to reduce belly fat, you need to consume fewer calories than you expend. Importantly, we are not talking about extreme caloric restrictions, such as eating 600 calories per day. Instead, strive for a mild deficit of about 500 calories/day and a perfect balance in your diet. Reduce or eliminate the consumption of junk food, sodas, and other unhealthy products, and build a diet that consists of a good combination of healthy proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. And, of course, eat plenty of vegetables and fruits.

2. Implement Regular Exercise

After you develop and implement a healthy diet, you want to strengthen the effect by increasing your physical activity. The more you move throughout the day, the more calories you expend and the sooner you can attain your body goals. You can start with basic, low-impact activities, for example, walking for at least 30 minutes a day. Yet, if you want to get flat abs, you also need to implement strength training to build muscles.

Here is a brief list of the best exercises to flatten stomach:

• The cat kick: To do this exercise, stand straight with your arms lifted at shoulder level and feet together. On the exhale, lift one of your legs up and move your arms forward, rounding your spine. On the inhale, get back to the starting position and repeat the exercise with another leg. Do 20 reps.
• The canoe twist: Stand straight, feet apart, and fingers of both hands locked together. On the exhale, move your hands and core to one side and lift one of the legs, bent at the knee, to the other side to twist your body. On the inhale, return to the starting position and do the same with the other leg. Do 20 reps.
• The pilates zip up: Stand straight with feet together and arms lifted up to the chin (hands joined). On the exhale, press your arms down and get on your tiptoes. Hold the position for several seconds and return to the starting position on the inhale. Do 20 reps.

Unlike traditional crunches, exercises like these help you work on your core more deeply, engaging more muscles simultaneously. There are also many other great exercises to flatten stomach that you can combine and mix in your workouts. Some of the most common ones include planks, side planks, toe reaches, leg raises, bicycle crunches, and others.

3. Don’t Neglect Whole-Body Workouts

For anyone wondering how to get a flat stomach, it can be incredibly easy to focus on ab-specific exercises and overlook whole-body workouts. The truth is that it’s not possible to build muscles and burn fat locally. It always requires a holistic approach for the best result.

With this in mind, our next tip for a flat belly is to do whole-body workouts rather than focusing only on your abs. Do strength training that engages your back muscles, arms, glutes, and other groups of muscles.

Important: If you are not very athletic yet, always start slowly. Try low-impact workouts first and gradually increase the load as you feel stronger and develop greater endurance.

4. Work on Your Posture

As we mentioned earlier, a stronger core can support your posture. And it works both ways – your posture also helps you achieve a flatter belly. When you slouch, your spine deforms, making the stomach pooch outward. On the other hand, when your posture is good, your pelvis gets into the right position, making your tummy look trimmer.

There are two tips we can give you from this perspective:

• Watch your posture all the time, wherever you go. Align your entire body to make a straight line, keep your shoulders open, and spread your body’s weight equally on your heels and the balls of your feet.
• Do regular posture exercises to help yourself sit and stand straighter with less effort.

5. Don’t Get Over-Focused on Gyms and Props

When you set off on a weight loss and muscle-building journey, you will find plenty of marketing offerings geared toward you. Some say you absolutely have to join a gym and find a personal trainer. Others sell all types of sports equipment that you can’t do without, such as stability balls, bands, and others.

The truth is that you don’t really need all these things to get started. You can cook low-calorie meals and exercise at home, and still achieve excellent results. So, think less about the solutions they market to you and simply put your effort into achieving your goals.

6. Set Realistic Goals

Often, when women start thinking about how to flatten stomach, they dream about getting an instant result. Of course, the time you need to achieve the desired shape depends on a variety of factors, such as your body composition and fat percentage. In any case, there is no need to rush.

In order to get a flat stomach without overexhausting your body or damaging your health, you want to take things slow. It’s important to set realistic goals, understand that there might be occasional setbacks, and reward yourself for every win (even a small one). Such an attitude will help you stay motivated and avoid excessive strain.

FAQ

How to get a flat stomach?

Achieving a flat belly takes a holistic approach and consistency in your efforts. The best approach is to combine a balanced diet that creates a calorie deficit, regular physical activity and core-specific exercise, full-body training, and posture improvement.

How long does it take to get a flat stomach?

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Every person will have an individual timeline based on multiple factors, including the current body fat percentage. genetics, metabolic rate, and sports experience. The first noticeable changes can be seen anywhere from 4 weeks to several months. Most importantly, set realistic expectations and take it slow to achieve your goals without health damage.

What might be holding me back from getting a flat belly?

If you’ve been eating in a calorie deficit and training but still can’t achieve a flat stomach, it can feel confusing and incredibly disappointing. So, what might be the cause? The most common issues include:

• Incorrect calorie counting
• Exercise inconsistency
• Insufficient intake of fiber and protein
• Excessive consumption of sugar and sodium

Other things that can get in the way are poor sleep and increased stress levels. To overcome these issues, be sure you approach your diet with accuracy, train regularly, and maintain proper sleep hygiene. Also, consider doing stress management practices to reduce cortisol levels.

Conclusion

If you’ve always dreamt about a flat belly, getting started can feel overwhelming and scary. This isn’t a short journey, and there might be some obstacles that get in the way. Yet, the good news is that accomplishing this goal is possible if you just put some effort into it.

After reading this article, you have a practical guide on how to achieve a flat stomach and make your abs show. Create a consistent approach to this matter and stock up on patience, and you will reach the result!

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