Jelly Belly Be Gone

You can get a flat stomach and great abs without buying any exercise machines. Some of them don’t work and most of them aren’t more effective than the regular crunch anyway. Here is a sample of two popular abdominal training exercises that have reported great success.

Oblique Exercise: The Oblique Crunch.

Lie on your back, knees bent, so your left foot is resting flat on the floor. With your right knee bent, place your right foot across your left knee.

Place your left hand at the side of your head and your right hand on the left side of your abdominals or on the floor next to your thigh.

Curl your body up with a twisting movement, bringing your left shoulder toward your right knee. slowly lower your body to the ground.

Repeat 15-30 times. Breathe out on the way up, in on the way down. Rest a few minutes and do another set. Try to do 3-4 sets. Don’t forget to do the same for the other side as well.

The Bicycle Exercise:

This is a simple and very effective exercise that works all three areas of your stomach simultaneously.

Lie on your back on the floor with your hands behind your head. Slightly bend your knees and bring them in towards the chest and lift the shoulder blades off the ground.

Straighten the left leg out to about a 45-degree angle while simultaneously turning the upper body to the right, bringing the left elbow towards the right knee.

Switch sides, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee. Continue alternating sides in a ‘pedaling’ motion for 15-30 reps. Rest a few minutes and do another set. Try to do 3-4 sets. If you are a beginner or if this is hard for you, do 10 repetitions for one set of both exercises, and gradually work your way to the recommended amount of repetitions.

Whether you wish to lose 10 pounds or 50, it doesn’t matter, because you can create a flexible and balanced meal plan that you can stay on for as long as you need.

Here are the key points to a healthy meal plan. These tips are common sense but are often overlooked. You can introduce the following changes gradually, instead of changing your diet all at once.

Your Diet Plan:

Divide your meals into 6 smaller meals a day. Include healthy delicious snacks in between meals. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time when possible, so you know exactly what you plan to eat. Last minute choices tend to be less healthy and higher in calories.

Healthy nutritious snacks you can add to your meal plan include crackers, pretzels, baby carrots, popcorn, fresh and dried fruit, yogurt, low-fat cheese, peanut butter, air popped popcorn cereals and nuts and seeds. Try to avoid chips, sodas, cookies, and ice cream

Drink plenty of water during the day, it is healthy and helps you feel less hungry. Sometimes our brain confuses thirst with hunger. You will eat less if you drink a glass of water before a meal.

Lower your fat intake. Switch to skim milk, lean chicken, no fast food, eat less margarine, butter and mayonnaise; Use less oil when cooking meals.

No more soft drinks and juices. Soft drinks are empty calories and juices have less fiber and vitamins then the original fruit.

Try to add more whole grains to your meal plan. Brown rice instead of white rice and whole grain breads instead of white bread.

Avoid foods that are high in sugar, like candy and cakes. Eat vegetables with every meal.

Eating breakfast, as you wake up, boosts your metabolism and decreases binge eating later in the day.

Eat your meals slower and no more eating in front of the TV.

If you would like to have a flat stomach you should do cardio exercises, there is no way around it. Cardio exercises raise your heart rate and boost your metabolism (for up to 24 hours! - after a good workout), but the most important benefit of cardio exercises is that they burn fat, unwanted stomach fat included.

Start doing cardio exercises for at least 40 minutes to an hour a day 3-6 times a week. If you are a beginner, start a slower pace and slowly increase your workout time.

Be sure to switch from exercise to exercise if you need to keep yourself from getting bored and your body from getting used to one activity.

Sample cardio exercise that you can try right now:

1. Start by jogging 5 minutes to warm up.

2. Sprint for 2 minutes

3. Slow down to a comfortable jogging pace for 5 minutes

4. Sprint for 2 minutes

5. Go back to jogging for 5 minutes

Repeat as many times as you can and don’t forget to cool down in the end.

Lose those pounds!

There are many abdominal exercises, some are more effective than others. There are simple exercises for beginners and harder exercises for more advanced athletes. Here is a sample of the most popular abdominal training exercises divided into two main areas.

Upper Abs Exercise : The Basic Crunch.

Lie on your back on the floor or on an exercise mat with your hands to the side of your head or crossed on your chest. Keep your knees bent at a 90 degree angle with your feet resting on the floor.

Lift your shoulder blades of the ground as if you are trying to touch your knees with your chest but do not move the legs. Concentrate on lifting using your stomach muscles only.

At the top of the movement contract your ab muscles intensely and then slowly lower your body down. Lightly touch the floor with your shoulder blades and repeat. When you sit up your hip flexors do most of the work and it can be bad for your back.

Lower Abs Exercise : The Reverse Crunch.

Lie on your back on the floor with your hands behind your head or on the floor by your hips, with your knees bent and your feet lifted six inches above the ground.

Slowly bring your knees toward your chest and lift your butt of the ground. Concentrate on contracting your abs, you should feel your lower abs working after a few repetitions.

Use your abs do not swing your legs to create momentum. slowly lower your legs to the starting position, six inches of the floor.

Repeat 15-30 times. Breathe out on the way up, in on the way down. Rest a few minutes and do another set. Try to do 3-4 sets. If you are a beginner or if this is hard for you, do 10 repetitions for one set and gradually work your way to the recommended amount of repetitions.

If you would like to have a flat stomach you should do cardio exercises, there is no way around it. Cardio exercises raise your heart rate and boost your metabolism (for up to 24 hours! - after a good workout), but the most important benefit of cardio exercises is that they burn fat, unwanted stomach fat included.

When you do cardio exercises your body burns calories all over, and that is exactly what you need to get rid of the belly fat layer that covers your stomach.

Burning fat with cardio exercises, eating healthy, and doing a few abdominal exercises to tone your stomach muscles is the best way to get a beautiful flat stomach.

What is the best cardio exercise? Well there is no “best” cardio exercise. You can do anything that gets your heart rate up.

If you like to go outdoors, consider fast-paced walks, running, cycling etc. For those who like the gym treadmills, elliptical trainers and stationary bikes could be the choice. If you prefer to stay at home you can jump rope or dance.

Do something you enjoy for at least three times a week. Most importantly choose an exercise that fits your fitness level. Sure, running burns more calories than walking, but if running wipes you out after a half mile or bothers your knees, you’re better off walking.

Benefits of cardio exercises:

* You burn calories and lose weight

* Cardio exercises make your heart stronger so that it doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood

* Doing cardio helps reduce risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes

* Cardio increases your lung capacity

* Cardio Exercises help you sleep better

* It makes you feel good

* It helps reduce stress

Teen weight loss has become an alarming concern for many. Obesity in teens has hit epidemic levels and continues to rise. There are many weight loss programs and valuable information available today, however, for teens not all of these programs are geared towards their nutritional needs. These simple teen weight loss tips can help them achieve their goals.

Empty Calories: A 12 ounce can of regular soda has over 100 calories and 10 teaspoons of sugar with no nutritional value. These empty calorie drinks and foods add up quickly and give you none or very little of your daily vitamin needs. Switch to diet drinks and drink more water. Also, eliminate or reduce the too sweet and too fatty snacks.

Don’t Crash Diet: When you slash calories too extreme your body begins to slow down your metabolism in order to save energy. This causes you to burn fewer calories and your body begins to store foods as fat. Crash diets not only slow down your metabolism but can have a negative effect on your growing.

Eat Breakfast: By eating within a few hours of waking up, you are fueling your body and boosting your metabolism. Your breakfast can be a quick bowl of whole grain cereal and skim milk or a low fat or fat free yogurt. If time is limited, then take an apple or banana with you and eat it on the way to school.

Limit Fast Foods: Fast food restaurants are now offering healthier foods, but much of the menu is still very high in calories and fats. You can eat at home and limiting the number of times you eat out. However eating out is a great way to socialize with your friends, so you cannot always avoid eating out. So just remember to select wisely.

Get Active: Studies show that by adding 30 minutes of structured workout routines 3 to 4 times a week, along with fun activities like sports, gym class, swimming, dancing or anything you enjoy that keeps you active, can greatly improve overall health.

The most unlikely aid to your leg exercise are bed pillows–they can make your legs stronger. A recent study revealed that when some men attempted single-leg squats while standing on a cushy surface, their hips and leg muscles worked up to 13 percent harder. It’s a tricky maneuver, however, because you can easily lose your balance. If you can do three sets of 10 wobble-free single-leg squats while standing on a hard floor, bring on the pillow. Before long you will feel the effects on your legs

If we told you about a secret way to dramatically increase your body’s ability to burn fat calories, would you do it? Of course we will be asking you to make a sacrifice: Stop drinking beer and alcohol for 4 weeks.

It’s long been recommended that cutting out beer, wine, and liquor for a month can turbocharge your weight loss, especially in that land mass sliding over your belt.

Yes, alcohol is high in calories, about 7 per gram. And that’s before you add sugary mixers to your rum or vodka. But drinking has a greater effect than simply increasing the number of calories consumed. Alcohol reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy.

Consider this study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition where eight men each were given two vodka drinks made with sugar-free lemonade, which they drank within about an hour. Their fat metabolism was measured before and after they drank the vodka. It turned out that the amount of fat the guys burned dropped 73 percent for several hours after they finished their drinks.

Because when the alcohol in your blood is broken down by your liver, it is converted into a waste product called acetate. When acetate levels rise, your body burns acetate for fuel instead of the fat you are trying to lose.

Cutting out alcohol will make every weight-loss strategy work even faster. Plus, maintaining your new fitness will be that much easier once you experience the power of maximizing your body’s natural calorie furnace.

So, while you may not be the strongest guy in the gym, you can still turn heads by banging out a set of single-leg squats. And the attention is just a side benefit. Master this one leg workout and you’ll see gains in strength, speed, and balance. You’ll squat more weight, jump higher, and discover athletic ability you never had before. The best part: You can do it all without setting foot in a gym.

Test your best

To determine your leg workout training plan, do as many single-leg squats as you can. If you aren’t able to perform at least two repetitions flawlessly, note the spot during your descent at which you can’t control your speed of movement. This is your “breaking point” — and you’ll need to know it to complete the routine. Once you’ve finished the test, proceed to the leg workout here that most closely matches your maximum effort.

SINGLE-LEG SQUAT

Stand on a bench or box that’s about knee height. Hold your arms in front of you and flex your right ankle so your toes are higher than your heel. Keeping your torso as upright as possible, bend your left knee and slowly lower your body until your right heel lightly touches the floor. Pause for 1 second, then push yourself up. That’s one repetition.

Do this workout once every 4 days until you can perform at least two single-leg squats with perfect form.

Here’s a set of exercises that uses the weight of a medicine ball to blast your jelly-belly from top to bottom, and your obliques on the sides–those all-important muscles you use when doing twisting, turning moves in sports. The added weight of the medicine ball will give you a more intense workout than you’ll get with conventional crunches.

Use a ball that’s light enough so you can do one set of each exercise without straining or arching your back. A good weight for ab workouts is a 4 kilogram medicine ball (just shy of 9 pounds). Start with one circuit and build up to three sets of the circuit. Use a slow, controlled movement for the double crunch and reverse crunch.

Double Crunch

Lie on your back, with your hips and knees bent as shown and your feet off the floor. Rest your hands lightly on your chest. Position the ball between your knees.

Exhale as you lift your shoulders off the floor and bring your knees toward your chest. Grab the ball with your hands and bring it to your chest as you inhale and

Return your shoulders and legs to the starting position. Transfer the ball back to your legs on the next repetition, and keep alternating ball positions for the entire set.

Seated Twist

Sit on the floor, your back straight but leaning slightly toward the floor, as if in the “up” position of a situp. Your knees should be bent 90 degrees, your heels about 15 inches apart and resting on the floor.

Hold the ball close to your chest, 2 rotate your torso to the left, and place the ball on the floor behind you. Rotate around to the right, pick up the ball, rotate left, and place it behind you.

Repeat eight to 12 times, then do eight to 12 more starting with a rotation to your right; that’s one set.

Keep your head in line with your torso throughout the movement. Perform this move as quickly as possible.

Reverse Crunch with Knee Drops

Lie on your back, hands resting on the floor at your sides, hips and knees bent 90 degrees, and feet off the floor. Position the ball between your knees. Keep your lower back on the floor throughout the exercise.

Contract your abdominals and pull your knees to your chest, then return them to the starting position.

Lower your knees to the left and return to the starting position. Drop your knees to your right on the next repetition, and alternate sides for each rep.