Abdominal Exercise

With our often sedentary lifestyles, it's no wonder that many of us have just a tad too much fat in the abdominal area. Maybe you've just had a baby, and baby stretched that tummy out good! Perhaps you've recently lost a lot of weight, but find that stubborn belly fat just won't go away. Don't feel discouraged. Abdominal exercise will melt that fat away with just a half hour of effort on your part each day. You don't need special equipment and all can be accomplished while listening to music or watching TV.

The first recommended abdominal exercise is the old-fashioned sit-up. You may remember doing this in school in gym class. Sit-ups work. If it's been a while, you may want to start with the “sissy” sit-ups.

This easier sit-up starts with lying on your back on the floor, with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Clasp your hands together, behind your neck with elbows facing out. Keeping your feet flat on the floor, pull your upper body up, bringing your elbows forward in front of your face and touch your knees with your elbows. Return to the lying down position and repeat. When beginning your program, start with 25 sit-ups, increasing the number by 5 every other day. When you can do 50 easily, you're ready for the harder style of sit-ups.

The harder type of sit-up goes like this: Lie down on the floor on your back, legs extended and heels touching the floor. Your arms should be extended behind you with the backs of your hands touching the floor. Placing your hands together, pull yourself up and extend your hands until they touch your toes. Yikes,that is hard! Persevere. Shoot for 25 of these sit-ups per session. Increase by 5 every other day, progressing to 50 as you get stronger. By this time, you'll be seeing real results. The sit-up is the abdominal exercise without equal.

Another good abdominal exercise is the toe-touch. Stand with your feet together and arms at your sides. Bend from the waist and touch your toes, repeating 25 times. As you progress, try to touch the palms of your hands to the floor in front of your feet. You can eventually progress to 50 per session.

Yet another abdominal exercise to quickly trim belly fat is this: begin in a standing position with your arms at your sides and back straight. Raise your right arm over your head while sliding your left arm straight down your left leg. Reach with your right arm, extending your right hand over your head as though trying to touch your left shoulder. Use a bouncing motion, trying three times to touch your left shoulder, all the while keeping your back straight. Reverse arms and repeat. Begin with 15 repetitions and work up to 25.

If you do these abdominal exercises faithfully, you'll be looking good in a month's time.

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