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The Key to a Flatter Stomach

By Mark Mancilla

Want a flatter stomach? What do you do now? Do you do crunches or the seated ab machine? Well, no matter which way you answered, you are going about it all wrong! Ab exercises aren't going to give you the nice midsection I know you want. But you know what will? Total Body Exercises.

It's a mistake I see all the time with new exercisers working out on their own at health clubs. They look at the placards on the equipment showing which muscle groups are worked by that machine then attempt to isolate that area in order to reduce it. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

Let's say someone wanted a flatter stomach (everyone)…

One's natural thought would be to do a seated ab crunch machine. But guess what. It's not an effective way of working your abs at all. Let me explain…

If your goal is to have a flat stomach then the first thing you need to do is remove the layer of fat that's covering up the muscle! The best way to do that is by exercising your entire body and the use of complex movements. When you do that the results will be dramatically different.

Sometimes this is hard for people to understand but let me try to simplify it for you. When you work with something like an ab machine you're not using a lot of energy (calories) and therefore won't need to release a lot of body fat for fuel. But when you work the much larger muscle groups like the ones in your legs, back, and chest you'll burn twice the calories.

The fact of the matter is you'll do more to have a flat stomach by doing a total body exercise like a squat then you will by doing crunches! It makes me laugh when I see an infomercial where they show someone who went from flabby to six-pack by using some new ab crunch device. What's sad is that there are a ton out there.

About the Author:

Mark Mancilla is a certified personal trainer located in Huntington Beach, CA. For more information check out his Website!