Best exercises for a flat and sculpted abdominal area

2021 is - finally - coming. You have probably already thought about your new resolution. If one of them is to lose a the extra love around your lower abdomen, this article is definitely for you.

Sculpt, refine, flatten, we will share with you the best exercises and tips to effectively firm this area of your body from home with only few equipments needed. The lower abdomen is not always easy to work on and most of us do not work this body properly.

Losing fat around your love handle is just as easy as losing thighs or glutes. It might feel harder but it is absolutely not, sorry to break this urban legend. Of course, genetic can play a role but there are ways to . Some will tend to store in the belly, while for others it will be the glutes and in tights. Everyone is different, we all have our target fat zone.

As very often while working on your fitness, fat loss or sculpting, there is not just one miracle solution. You might have to try different recipes, cross trainings. A journey journey is a real multidisciplinary affair. Of course, there are solutions which work better than others.

What are they?

A fitness journey is a combinaison of diet, cardio, quality sleep and muscle building. The 4 points work together, if one is not done properly it will affect the others 3. The biggest mistake done - See article about "Having a healthy lifestyle" - during a fitness journey is "Massive calories cut", but if you do not give enough energy to your body, you won't be able to grow muscles and your sleep will be highly affected.

You think you have tried all the solutions? Probably not, and there is always one more to try by updating your diet, changing the time of your trainings, ... If you would like personal advice, do not hesitate to contact us. Our team of Personal Trainers will be very happy to answer all your questions.

The second biggest mistakes is to do hundreds of crunch abs everyday. This exercice will sculpt a superficial muscle, it will grow in volume so it won't help you to flatten your belly. It is important to work on deeper muscles. These ones are of the most important because they will give that flat stomach appearance, very smooth but also maintains the viscera.

Even if you goal is to have a flat and sculpted lower abdomen, do not forget to work on your obliques abs by favoring movements which require a good placement of the back, a good breathing and an optimal contraction of the perineum.

Make sure your position is correct, it is always better to do less well executed repetitions than more badly executed ones which will lead to back or hips pains for example.

Best exercises to flatten your lower abdomen

As we have discussed just above, you should start working on your deep muscles. And, the Sheathing is a great classic for toning the abdominal strap and flattening the lower abdomen. It might be a little boring to only do normal plank. There are many different options of Planks:

Low plank:

Rest your forearms on the floor, with your elbows directly underneath your shoulders and hands facing forward so that your arms are parallel.

Extend your legs out behind you and rest your toes on the floor. Your body should form one straight line from your shoulders to your heels.

Squeeze your entire core, your glutes, and your quads, and tuck your butt under a little to keep your lower back straight.

Position your head so that your neck is in a neutral position.

Hold this position.

High plank:

Very similar to the low plank position but will also strengthen your shoulders

Rest your hands on the floor, with your hands directly underneath your hands and hands

Extend your legs out behind you and rest your toes on the floor. Your body should form one straight line from your shoulders to your heels.

Squeeze your entire core, your glutes, and your quads, and tuck your butt under a little to keep your lower back straight.

Position your head so that your neck is in a neutral position.

Hold this position.

Commando plank:

This variation will consist in going from the low plank to the high plank positions.

Begin in the standard high plank position resting on hands and toes with a neutral spine, abs drawn in, neck long.

From there, lower down to one forearm at a time and then back up onto your hands to go to the low plank position. Make your way up by pushing with one of your arms.

Then repeat this movement by alternating sides.

Shoulder tap plank:

Start in a high plank position and make sure your hands up directly under your shoulders and your spine is in neutral position.

Keep your hips as still as possible, and parallel to the ground lift one hand and tap it on the opposite shoulder. Squeeze your core tight. The unbalanced position will make sure you work properly on the deep muscles of your abdomen but also shoulders.

Raising feet plank:

Similar principle as the shoulder tap plank, create unbalancing in your mouvement.

Start in a high, or low, plank position and make sure your hands up directly under your shoulders and your spine is in neutral position.

Keep your hips as still as possible, and parallel to the ground lift one hand and lift one foot 20 cm off the ground, hold for 2 seconds and go back to the initial position.

Repeat on the other side.

Exercices such as alternating scissors, or V-Boat are great ways to strengthen the transverse muscle deeply. Be careful with your position and to retract your navel towards the spine when performing these movements to gain efficiency and avoid useless pains. Do not forget, it has been proved that cross muscle trainings is more efficient than working on only one muscle group. This is the reason why you should add movements such as lunges, push ups, burpees or squats to your routine. We have had the chance to share a core training with the international triathlon Justine Guerard and Thom Navarro, you can find the video in a previous article.

Once you master these routines, you can add simple equipments in order to add difficulties such as resistance bands, TRX, gyms rings or Swiss ball. These accessories will create an instability in your movements adding stress on the lower abdomen, the abdominals acting as a trunk in this search for upper / lower body balance.

Clearly, don't limit yourself to just one routine, vary the fun and pleasures! Your daily routine should combine all of this time: exercises targeting the transverse and obliques as a top priority, dynamic full body movements and a little more intense cardio at the end of the session to increase energy expenditure and eliminate more fat.

The main concern about having extra fat in the abdominal area, called visceral fat, gets lodged around organs and muscles, which significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This is the reason why it is very important to start looking after this area.

The best advice we can give you is: Stay active, eat well and have fun!

Clearly, no fatality for the lower abdomen, whatever your situation! Stop tucking in your stomach, move around, have fun, work on the right movements, create routine you enjoy, find fitness partners and above all free yourself from self-judgment, you will see that your lower abdomen and love handles will no longer be a problem!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. Our team of personal coaches will answer all your questions in no time.

Make sure you look after your body properly in order to be able to give 100% during your coming workouts. Do not forget, you have started this journey for yourself so make sure you have fun and avoid to always do the same routine.

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