The Best Stomach Exercises,
and why crunches and sit ups
are only the beginning

If you ever asked yourself...What are the best stomach exercises?...in this article you will find all the answers.

Crunches and sit ups are only the beginning when it comes to creating a flat stomach.

Even though these are the most popular exercises for working out the abdominal muscles, there are many others that you can use.

The whole list of exercises you will find at the end of this page, but before choosing the ones that will produce the best results for you, it is very important that we talk about the spot reduction myth.

This myth implies that it is possible for you to burn unwanted body fat from the abdominal area by training your abs with resistance.

In reality this is impossible! Doing these stomach exercises will not make the fat disappear in this area. The best approach is to exercise all of your major muscle groups, instead of focusing only on your abs.

And this should be done only to maintain your lean muscle mass, and to keep your metabolism elevated while you are burning off unwanted body fat using cardiovascular exercise!

Cardio training is the only realistic way to burn off the unwanted body fat that is covering your six pack abs.

Your goal should be to shrink all of your fat cells in your entire body and reach an overall low body fat percentage.

In order to make this a reality, there are some very important secondary steps that you must take on a daily basis. These we will cover below.
If you want to have a flat stomach you have to aim for the creation of permanent fat loss.

To create irreversible, long term weight loss success, and reach your ideal body weight with a low body fat percentage, there are some very simple steps that you can take.

Here are the steps toward creating a lean, healthy body:

1) Eat four times per day, every four walking hours.

2) Eat your breakfast as soon as possible after waking up.

3) Every meal should consist of 50% natural, unrefined complex starchy and fibrous carbs, 30% lean protein, and 20% good dietary fat.

4) When creating your daily meals, make sure that the total calories are exactly what your body can burn during the day. This is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).

5) Drink plenty of water during the day. Avoid drinking too many calories from beverages. This is what keeps many from reaching their major health goals.

6) Use cardio training 3-4 times per week. And make sure to use easy exercises that are sustainable for life, like brisk walking.

7) Use weight training at least 3 times per week. Start with very simple exercises at home or in the gym, and find an approach that also can be sustained by you for life.
In the end, if you design an effective nutrition strategy, and an effective exercise strategy that you can follow on a regular basis, creating a flat stomach will become a reality.

Here are the best stomach exercises that you can choose from:

Stomach Exercises: Lower Abdominal Area:

1a) Lower Abs: bent knee abdominal hip raises, decline abdominal crunches, reverse decline crunches, flat bench abdominal leg pull, flat bench abdominal leg raises, hanging knee to chin raises, hanging abdominal leg raises, hanging knees to head raises, parallel bar abdominal knee raises, lying reverse abdominal crunches, abdominal flutter kicks, medicine ball leg raises, inverted exercise ball leg pulls, weighted hand to leg abdominal crunches

Stomach Exercises: Middle and Upper Abs Exercises:

1b) Middle and Upper Abs: abdominal crunch machine, abdominal cable crunches, barbell abdominal rollouts, abdominal butt raises, overhead abdominal crunches, legs on exercise ball abdominal crunches, abdominal crunches, exercise ball abdominal crunches, fingers to toes abdominal crunches, straight arm abdominal crunches, raised knee barbell crunches, abdominal sit ups, abdominal toe touchers, abdominal tuck crunches, medicine ball crunches

Stomach Exercises: Oblique Exercises:

1c) Oblique Exercises (Love Handles): flutter kick oblique crunches, fingers to heel oblique touchers, barbell oblique side bends, oblique crunches, oblique decline crunches, dumbbell oblique side bends, hanging oblique knee raises, elbow to knee oblique crunches, lying side oblique crunches, oblique plate twists, oblique twists, seated oblique barbell twists, lying oblique leg raises

As you can see there are many exercises from which you can choose. But remember that these exercises are not what you should be focusing on if you want to create a flat stomach.

To create a lean, healthy body with a low body fat percentage, just follow the seven steps that I wrote above. This is what can realistically help you to create permanent fat loss, and the stomach of your dreams will simply be a consequence of you reaching this major health goal.