If you are looking for ways to tone and shrink your belly, we can present you with a way that is much better than doing crunches.
Jenifer Cohen suggests strategies for burning up cortisol in an op-ed article for Forbes Magazine. Cortisol is a hormone which depletes lean muscles and holds on the fat in the region of the abdomen.
Reducing stress, which spikes the cortisol levels is very important for this process. Furthermore, there are additional strategies to this.
| Get proper sleep | Reduce or eliminate refined sugars from the diet | Slow down the breathing |
| Do exercise | Take vitamin C supplements | Consume fats which are found in walnuts, avocados and salmon |
Getting sufficient amount of sleep is essential, not only for normalizing the cortisol levels, but for regulating the circadian clock, which profoundly impacts your weight and metabolism.
What we eat determines our ability to eliminate excess body fat. So, eating processed junk food and fructose/sugar significantly reduces your chances of getting ripped and flat abs even if you try really hard. So you need to eliminate all forms of sugar and fructose from your diet, but increase the intake of healthy fats.
Fructose is hidden in a lot of processed beverages and foods, so it is almost impossible to avoid it. Nevertheless, staying away from processed foods and purchasing whole and organic foods, and preparing them yourself, is an excellent way of circumventing fructose.
PRIMARY DIETARY OFFENDERS
| Grain-based desserts like granola bars, cobblers, crisps, pies, donuts, cookies and cakes | Sports drinks, energy drinks and soda |
| Breads | Fruit punches and juice drinks |
| Breakfast cereals | Pre-packaged and fast food dinners |
| Processed and pre-packed lunches | Coffee beverages |
MOREOVER, THERE ARE FOODS WHICH ARE CONSIDERED HEALTHY, BUT THEY LEAD TO WEIGHT GAIN. THESE FOODS ARE:
| Salad dressings, sauces and condiments | Yogurt |
| Fruits high in fructose like mango, persimmon, watermelon, grapes, pears and apples | Diet snacks and foods |
| Dried fruits like apricots, figs and raisins | Instant formula |
| Enhanced waters | Teething biscuits and jarred baby foods |
BEST EXERCISE FOR FAT-BUSTING
Now that we have addressed the diet issue, doing exercise is going to help you stimulate fat loss even more. What you need to do is find the right exercise types.
The basis of my Peak Fitness routine are high-intensity interval exercises. This type of exercise positively affects the increasing muscle mass and improves the quality of muscle fiber.
EXERCISES WHICH TARGET THE ABS
If you want to train the core muscles efficiently, you need to incorporate a number of traditional, functional and stabilization exercises like:
- Traditional exercise like the standard crunch
- Stabilizing exercises like lying on the floor
- Functional exercise like working on a stability ball
- Extension exercises like lying on the stomach while your arms are stretched over your head. Next, raising the legs and arms off the ground simultaneously.
You need to keep in mind that proper diet is the first step to getting rock-hard abs, the second one is a comprehensive fitness program and exercises that are going to help you achieve your goal.