Most people desire that nice, flat stomach that we see only in the movies or on the cover of magazines. So we work hard in the gym constantly striving for this physique but never get close to where we want. There could be some hidden factors and mistakes you are doing in the gym.
Hormones such as cortisol which are produced in the adrenal glands cause muscle breakdown and fat to be redistributed to our trunk (torso) and face which can make us look heavier than usual. So how can we stop the production of cortisol? There is many ways to do this, the first is to not have too much stress in our lives as this releases cortisol from the adrenal glands, performing stress relieving techniques and exercises such as yoga or Pilates can help with this. Making sure you attain at least seven hours of sleep a night is crucial as our body needs time to repair itself and regulate the function of our hormones. Don’t overtrain! Working out too much without sufficient rest might be doing more damage than good and is important that you have one day where you relax and don’t worry about anything.
Staying hydrated is essential with regulating our muscles which surprisingly are 75% water, and our body’s metabolism. For men it’s important to drink 3 litres or more and for women 2.25 litres or more. I recommend having a glass of water with some lemon with breakfast as it can help you kick start your morning. It doesn’t matter whether it’s cold or hot water though they do different things to our body. Hot water can make us feel fuller for longer whilst cold water can help increase our metabolic rate. Hydration is a crucial foundation for that lean body as if our body is dehydrated it will drop your resting metabolic rate which means you will burn less calories during the day and also loss of strength and work output.
Diet is super important for a lean stomach. There are many diets out there that guarantee a six pack in a month and some are true. But once you stop this diet all the weight somehow packs on again around you torso. A good guideline to have is small frequent meals throughout the day to help stabilize your insulin (another hormone responsible for glucose levels) secretion. It increases the fat utilisation in our body so we start to use fat as an energy source rather than carbohydrates or protein. It increases the energy our body burns through food which will increase our overall energy output. Foods to keep in mind and in the fridge should be high in protein to help maintain your muscle mass and keep you fuller for longer and high in fibre as this will help with the quality of protein absorbed in your body and in decreasing your abdominal fat.
There are also a couple of myths/mistakes that people do when training their stomachs and abdominals.
First doing a thousand crunches each day will not get you a lean stomach in fact it will cause your body to overtrain the abdominals which can lead to tear or chronic fatigue in that area. Most exercise professionals recommend 2 to 3 times a week at 12-30 repetitions.
A lot of people say that they feel the abdominals working when they are actually feeling their hip flexors working this is not an area of the abdominals and can cause tight hip flexors which will lead to postural imbalances. To hit those abdominals strong perform the exercise at a slow and steady pace and squeeze the abdominals through the entire range of motion.
Everyone always performs abdominals or any core exercise at the end of a workout, but if this is your goal why not perform them at the start of the workout? This is because our muscles are “fresh” and able to perform the best possible contraction. Another thing is the general population only perform upper abdominal exercises such as crunches. To achieve overall aesthetic of the mid-section you should also target the lower abdominals and obliques as well. If you want examples go see one of our qualified personal trainers.
A very big misconception that people have is that if you do tons of training and don’t watch your diet and cardio training you will get that nice flat stomach. WRONG!! You cannot out condition the dinner table, Healthy diet as stated above is important as well as cardio training to help mobilise the fat stores in your body.