Lose Weight: 5 Exercises to Target Belly Fat

Our lifestyles are sometimes difficult to reconcile with a healthy diet and regular sporting activity. Do you rather dream of a flat and toned stomach? Do not panic.

We offer you 5 simple exercises to do at home without equipment, to strengthen your abdominals. Up to you !

1 – COBRA OR BHUJANGASANA POSTURE

Lie flat on your stomach with your legs and feet together and straight, but without straining. Place your hands on either side of your body and lift your chest. Pay close attention to your breathing. Not only does this posture strengthen the abdominal muscles and the spine, but it also fights against constipation. In addition, yoga is known for its relaxing properties. It will therefore allow you to also relieve your stress, a factor that disrupts intestinal transit and promotes bloating!

2 – THE JACK KNIFE

With this exercise you mainly strengthen the lower abdominal muscles.

The position :

• Lie on your back. Your arms and legs are stretched out on the floor.
• Now extend your arms and legs towards the ceiling and if possible, touch the tips of your feet with your hands. Lower your legs and arms again, but do not place them on the floor.
• Make sure you stay balanced: this is where it hurts, because you’re working on stability using the strength of your abdominal muscles. 3 x 15 repetitions.

3 – THE VENTRAL SHEATH

The principle of this well-known exercise is to work in isometry, that is to say to carry out a muscular contraction long enough to obtain muscular fatigue significant enough for the exercise to be effective.

The big advantage of this technique is that you work the muscles both in length and depth, which allows you to tone your body without gaining volume.

The abdominal plank is the simplest and no less effective abdominal core exercise. To perform it, support yourself on the forearms and the tips of your feet, raise your pelvis to obtain an aligned leg/pelvis/trunk segment. Tighten your buttocks and tuck your stomach in to position your back, then hold the position for 15 seconds, then 30 seconds… If you do the exercise correctly and maintain the contraction correctly, your body should tremble. Be careful not to arch your back.

4 – CRUNCHS

As long as you don’t just do that, and you do them correctly, you can do a few crunches every week to draw out the superficial part of the abdominals. Keep in mind that crunches are not the cause of a flat stomach but allow you to shape and strengthen the visible part. Done poorly, there is a risk of damaging your perineum, lower back and even your digestive system, because this exercise puts the body under hyper pressure. Lying on your back, legs bent and feet on the ground, place your hands behind your ears, elbows apart, then contract your abdominals while pulling in your stomach to lift your shoulders off the ground. Keep your head straight, in line with your chest, and keep your gaze upward throughout the movement.

5 – LEG RAISES

With this exercise where only the legs will be moving, we strengthen the lower abs.

How to do ? We lie on our back, we place our hands on the ground on either side of the pelvis. We take off and raise our two straight legs (semi-stretched, for those who lack flexibility). Caution: ensure that the lower back is firmly placed on the ground and control the descent.