The weather is warming up, and for many people, that means it is time to work on that little bulge that has been taking up residence around the midsection since Thanksgiving. These several exercises can help you shed that excess turkey weight and flatten out that stomach in time for beach season. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.

Plank
For this stomach exercise, you will need to lie on a flat surface, such as the floor. You will be lying in your stomach, so you may want to use a mat or towel to cushion your knees. Prop your upper body up on your forearms so that your elbows make a ninety degree angle and are positioned directly below your shoulders. Now lift your body up off the floor so that your lower body is supported by your toes, while your upper body remains supported by your elbows. Your body should basically be a straight line, with no arch or drooping through your back. Hold this position for twenty seconds, then lower your body back to the floor. One repetition is sufficient.

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The midsection is a problem area for many people, and those who want to shrink the size of their belly are numerous. A balanced diet is a good place to start, but there are also some great stomach exercises to help along the process. The exercises discussed below meet this description, as they are specifically designed to help reduce belly fat, and therefore, the size of your tummy. These particular exercises are targeted at beginners, so give them a try if you are just starting out. Once you have mastered these, feel free to advance to something more challenging. When doing these exercises, it is important to move slowly so as to maintain control and not allow momentum to take over. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.

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A major complaint of people who want to look more fit is belly fat. Specifically, a large number of people have trouble with “love handles.” Far from lovely or lovable, these are deposits of fat that take up residence on the sides of one’s lower torso, around the external oblique muscles. Traditional crunches and sit-ups will not do much for this sort of chub, as they mainly work the abdominal muscles and not the obliques. The good news, however, is that there are a few stomach exercises which specifically target the obliques, helping trim love handles. As with any new physical activity, consult a professional before beginning and be sure to properly warm up to avoid injury.

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Now that spring seems to finally be back in our lives, many people are concerned about losing those few extra pounds of chub which stand between them and a sculpted midriff. Those folks who let themselves go a little in the winter months may be working overtime now that it is April and thoughts of bikinis are dancing in their heads. The good news is that there are, of course, stomach exercises to speed along the process. Some are better than others, including these few, which are good specifically for trimming belly fat. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.

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