If you want to get a flat belly, there are certain exercises you’ll want to do.

Here are the top lose belly fat exercises to use in your exercise routine.

After all, to lose that luggage that you might be carrying around your midsection, it takes a combination of proper eating and proper lose belly fat exercises. If you just focus on one or the other, you won’t lose the fat you want to lose. If you do certain exercises to try and lose stomach fat, but you don’t change your eating habits, you’ll most likely just get a more muscular set of abs… but they will still be hidden by fat. Or, if you just focus on your eating and not doing some of these exercises to tone up your midsection, you won’t have that carved set of abs that look like they were etched in stone. So again, the key is to focus on both… good eating and doing some belly exercises.

This article will contain the 2 important areas to focus on to achieve the ab development and flat belly you really want.

Focus on these three areas and you’ll soon see a much flatter belly.

Step 1- Effective Cardio

You can have the leanest and muscular set of abs but if they’re covered by a layer of belly fat than you’ll never see them. In order to get rid of your belly fat and get that flat stomach, you need to do intense cardio as part of your overall strategy. Cardio is important because it will help increase your metabolism so you burn more calories at rest. Also, it will burn calories while you’re doing the cardio. Both of these will help you lose fat.

One word of advice. You can’t spot reduce your belly fat by doing ab exercises like crunches or sit-ups.

In other words, JUST doing lose belly fat exercises like situps or crunches will NOT produce abs.

You must burn off the belly fat first, in order to see your abs.

And you start doing it with intense cardio to burn off the fat in that area.

Doing exercises by themselves will not give you a flat belly.

You must also do cardio so you can burn off the fat covering your abs.

Three to four cardio sessions each week, 20 to 30 minutes each is plenty enough for you to start seeing results.

Stick with intense forms of cardio like jogging, running, the Stairmaster, Stairstepper, elliptical, jumping rope, or biking.

Swimming, hiking, and aerobics classes are also good forms of cardio.

For your body to burn the most belly fat possible, try and make your cardio intense, efficient, and effective. If running outside hurts your joints or gives you shin splints, run indoors on a treadmill. Try and get three to four intense cardio sessions each and every week. Do cardio for 20 to 30 minutes a session so you can start to lose the belly fat that covers your abs.

Step 2- Lose belly fat exercises

The way to build the abs and give them that six pack look is to do some belly exercises.

If you want to get a great set of abs, you need to do some kind of exercise.

Abs are muscles just like all others. So you’ll want to do some exercises to strengthen them and build them. Picture, in your mind… as you’re losing belly fat by doing cardio and eating well, you’re also building up your abs with your exercises. The combination of the 2 will give you those abs and flat belly you want.

The most effective lose belly fat exercises are:

Crunches. Simply lie on the floor, on your back, and bend your knees up to your chest.

Then, raise your head up to your knees and squeeze your abs as you “crunch” Doing crunches will make you work your abs more than sit ups. Sit ups are not the best lose belly fat exercises to do, since you’re using a lot of other muscles to complete a sit up. At least with crunches, you’re isolating your abs and working JUST them more.

Cable Rope crunches. This exercise is performed on the cable machine if you have one at the gym.

You take the tricep rope, go down on your knees, and bend over so your head goes towards the floor.

As you crunch down, you’ll want to contract your abs. It’s the same motion as a crunch, but instead of lying on your back, you’re kneeling and holding onto the cable. When you do these lose belly fat exercises on the cable rope, don’t swing too much as you’re bending down. That means you’re using your hips and not your abs. Just a slight contraction down until you feel your abs contract.

Leg raises – Lie flat on your back, with your hands tucked under your bottom. Stick your legs straight out, lift them about 5 inches off the ground, and then raise them up about 2 feet off the ground… keeping all the tension on your abs.

Lower your legs back down so they’re once again 5 inches off the floor and then repeat by raising them back up.

Seated ab machines – Most gyms have some sort of ab machine where you can do your belly exercises.

The biggest key to these exercises to lose belly fat is, don’t swing down too much and use your hips. Again, just a slight contraction down is all it takes to work your ab muscles. Any sudden or large movement means that your hips will start working instead of your abs.

Stability Ball Crunches- Stability balls are those giant rubber balls you see in most gyms.

You can actually do your crunches right on them. They’re great for strengthening your abs and lower back. Since you have to do your crunches while balancing yourself on the ball… they make you work harder. Simply lie down on a stability ball like you’re going to do crunches.

Your lower back should be resting on the ball.

Place your hands behind your head or on your chest and then bring your upper body towards your knees, contracting your abs.

Then lower yourself to the down position… keeping full tension on your abs.

Regardless of what lose belly fat exercises you do, the key is to also add cardio and eat well so you can get rid of that belly fat that’s covering your abs.

Doing all the exercises in the world will NOT help you get a flat and toned belly if you still have a bunch of fat covering your abs.

For the best results, do some lose belly fat exercises just twice a week and if you’re doing cardio and eating well, you’ll soon have that flat belly you want.

Source by Mark C Miller