How to Lose Belly Fat

We all crave a flat stomach. But traditional crunches and sit-ups often fall short. This leaves many feeling defeated when these stomach flattening exercises don't deliver lasting results.

You'll discover why conventional exercises aren’t always effective and explore a surprising stomach flattening exercise technique from Dr. Berg.

This approach focuses on extending and toning the abdominal muscles, not just flexing them. It helps tighten loose skin that contributes to a stubborn lower belly pooch.

Why Traditional Ab Exercises Aren’t Enough

Traditional ab exercises like crunches primarily work on muscle contraction (flexion). While they may strengthen core muscles, they neglect skin tone.

Repeatedly flexing your abs might tone the muscles under the fat or loose skin. You might even reduce some lower belly fat with these flexion-based exercises. However, this happens beneath the surface.

Sculpted muscles under loose skin may not produce visible results. Traditional exercises don't address skin elasticity.

Understanding the Role of Skin Elasticity

Skin elasticity is its ability to stretch and return to its original shape. Age, weight fluctuations, and pregnancy can impact it.

This loss of elasticity can cause loose skin around the stomach, which this stomach flattening exercise aims to resolve.

For those aiming to lose belly fat through a variety of core strength-focused methods and are also actively trying to achieve a flatter stomach, it's best to implement this together with other lifestyle changes.

Changes relating to one's sedentary lifestyle are critical when implementing resistance training to build muscle or lose weight.

This also applies to following a healthy diet that is meant to support building muscle mass while losing belly fat and reducing total body fat with the aim of an ab workout designed for those wishing for flat abs and/or a flat stomach.

Introducing Dr. Berg's Stomach Flattening Exercise

This isn’t your typical sit-up routine. This stomach flattening exercise targets the lower belly pooch by utilizing stretching (extension).

The Technique

Start standing up. Bend backward as far as comfortably possible. Maintain balance with good glute strength and stabilization.

Return upright, contracting your abs and glutes to protect your back. Now bend forward fully into flexion, then start over. This completes one repetition of the extension and flexion routine, also known as the stretch-contract cycle.

This stomach flattening exercise helps tone the loose skin layer. Unlike typical abdominal exercises, this doesn't just focus on deeper muscle tissues.

Sets and Reps

Do four sets of 25 stretches, resting 30-60 seconds between sets.

Perform this stomach flattening exercise on alternating days. As you get stronger, increase repetitions to four or five sets of 50.

For effective weight management, consider other exercises as well, like planks and leg raises, to work out your lower abs and fortify the entire core area.

Important Considerations

If you have lower back pain, start gently until you build strength and coordination. Proper ab and glute contraction protects your back and minimizes potential strains.

Beginners should be cautious and focus on proper form before increasing intensity. Start by including planks into the workout to increase muscle and build muscle mass in your core, which further increases core strength.

Mountain climbers with feet raised or a feet shoulder-width apart stance will be extremely beneficial also, but take care when starting as it can be too strenuous.

Beyond Stomach Flattening Exercise: Additional Tips

While this stomach flattening exercise can significantly reshape your lower belly, combining it with other healthy habits is beneficial.

Nutrition

Your diet plays a crucial role. Avoid processed foods and replace them with lean protein and low-fat options.

Prioritize whole, unprocessed foods like colorful, non-starchy vegetables and fruits. Staying hydrated is also vital, especially when exercising or following an upper body ab workout routine.

Stress Management

High cortisol levels can cause the body to retain lower belly fat. Incorporate stress-reducing techniques.

Activities like mindful walks in nature can help manage stress.

Reducing stress is essential to maintaining not only your physical health but your mental health, too.

Sleep

Sufficient sleep helps prevent excess fat storage. Aim for at least seven hours of sleep nightly.

A healthy lifestyle, that promotes good sleep quality along with the stomach flattening exercises described above contributes to weight loss as well as improving heart health.

The Role of Gut Health in Achieving a Flatter Stomach

While targeted exercises can help tone abdominal muscles, achieving a truly flat stomach requires a holistic approach that includes gut health.

Bloating and inflammation can make it difficult to see visible abs, often stemming from digestive issues like gastritis.

Understanding what causes gastritis, such as poor diet, stress, and certain medications, can help address underlying digestive problems that may hinder progress in achieving a leaner midsection.

Incorporating gut-friendly foods, staying hydrated, and following a proper, nutrient-dense diet can help reduce bloating and support digestion.

When combined with effective core-strengthening exercises like planks, bicycle crunches, and leg raises, a healthy gut can contribute to a flatter, more defined stomach.

Conclusion

Dr. Berg’s stomach flattening exercise offers a fresh perspective on core work. Focusing on stretching and extension alongside contraction, this approach targets stubborn lower belly fat.

Remember, consistency and a healthy lifestyle are key. This exercise is a tool, not a quick fix. It addresses a common frustration by integrating stress relief, healthy eating, and improved sleep for lasting transformation.

Consult a healthcare professional before starting any new exercise program. Your individual results depend on your circumstances, needs, and goals.

By focusing on reducing body fat, building muscle mass, and making informed choices about your well-being, you can increase your chances of success in your weight loss and fitness journey.

FAQs about stomach flattening exercise

What exercise flattens your stomach the most?

While various exercises engage the core, Dr. Berg’s stomach flattening exercise, with its emphasis on backward bends for extension, targets the lower belly pooch.

This approach differs from sit-ups, which focus only on flexion and may not address loose skin.

What exercise burns the most belly fat?

While many tout cardio and high-intensity interval training, spot reduction is a myth.

Cardio and HIIT benefit overall fat loss, including belly fat, but they don't target specific areas. Pairing these with a healthy diet and core strengthening exercises like bicycle crunches provides the best results.

Doing leg raises while knees bent, as well as planks where you rest on your left elbow while slowly raising your left leg straight at a 45-degree angle for a period of time, after which you repeat with the opposite leg, can provide benefits as well.

It's very helpful to understand your weight gain issues before undertaking these efforts, but it's also beneficial even without that background knowledge.

By focusing on exercise that reduces total body fat and includes planks as well as following a healthy diet it helps in improving one's physique, in other words to look physically fitter or lose weight, and even more specifically reduce total body fat with these core strength building moves for the abs area with a flat stomach goal in mind.

How to flatten a belly in 7 days?

Rapid, extreme transformations are unlikely and unsustainable. A 7-day routine of nutritional changes, Dr. Berg's abdominal extension movements, and stress management can jumpstart progress.

Consistency and long-term effort are crucial for noticeable, lasting results.

What is the best exercise to make your stomach smaller?

Aerobic activity combined with targeted muscle toning can help slim your midsection. There’s no single best exercise, and consulting with healthcare professionals is recommended.

Speak with reputable physicians to get informed opinions on achieving a slimmer physique. In your exercise regimen, you can consider bicycle crunches in the seated position.

Slowly lift your feet about 12 inches off the floor. Ensure your feet don't touch the floor during this entire process to target your lower abs.

Be sure you maintain balance by only moving your upper body with the legs being stationary throughout. You might also include crunches that target the oblique abdominal muscles on both sides.

Starting with the legs raised and bent at a 90-degree angle where feet stay about hip or nose level off the floor, you'll move the left elbow to the right knee, then alternating with the right elbow to the left knee while exhaling with each movement.

It's best to also try this exercise but with the starting position modified, meaning that your knees will now be just minimally raised and just a few inches away from the floor, instead of 90 degrees you'll target lower and oblique abs.