Diet of course plays a huge part in being able to get a flat stomach along with performing the right sorts of exercises for your abs you should soon start to see some difference to your midsection.

Having said that if you do stick to a healthy lifestyle whilst carrying out the 5-ab exercises below you should begin to see your stomach getting much flatter and fitter before summer finally does arrive.

Exercise 1 – Abdominal Backstroke

This particular exercise isn’t only effective at helping to target your abdominal muscles but will also help to tone up your whole core including the obliques.

In order to perform this exercise properly you must sit on a mat in a reclined position with your feet on the floor. Your knees should be bent and your hands should be resting on the floor beside the knees.

Now you need to circle one arm back behind you whilst remaining in the reclined position. It is important that you don’t recline too far back so that your feet are off of the mat as this then means that your abs won’t be engaged.

You need to be pushing yourself to complete 3 sets of 20 reps with both your left and right hands.

Exercise 2 – Side Plank Crunch

In order to target the obliques as well as giving the rest of your body a good conditioning this exercise will help. You need to lie on your side with not only your legs, but also your hips and upper body off of the floor. You need to make sure that your elbow is providing support to your body as you do this. However make sure that you don’t actually sink down from your shoulders.

Once you have lifted up your legs, hips and upper body you need to twist and rotate the upper part of your body towards the floor. Making sure that your legs remain off the floor and straight. You should hold the rotation for around 3 seconds and then return to the position you started in. If you really want to feel the burn you should be aiming to complete 3 sets of 12 rotations for each side of the body.

Exercise 3 – Leg Lift

This exercise may not sound very effective when wanting to tone up your abs, but it is. If you want this exercise to be really effective you must make sure that your keep your abs engaged at all times.

To carry out this exercise you need to lie on a mat on your back then you need to raise one leg in the air in order that it forms a 90-degree angle to your body. As you raise and lower each leg make sure that your abs are fully engaged at all times. If you notice that your back is arching as you do this exercise then this immediately tells you that your abs are engaged fully.

You raise and lower your legs in a scissor like movement, as this will really help you to work your abs. Also you should be aiming to complete at least 3 sets of 15 reps for each leg.

When done correctly by you not only will you be toning up your abs but the rest of the core muscles in your body such as the oblique’s, glutes, legs and hip flexors.

Exercise 4 – Jack Knife

Although this exercise may sound a little scary it isn’t. Again lie down on the on a mat with your arms above your head and resting on the floor. Now you need to lift your arms and legs at the same time so that they meet each other at the top and you find yourself in a kind of folded position. Once you have raised them as high as you can you now lower them back to the floor.

To ensure that you are carrying out this exercise properly don’t jerk your body or use your momentum to help lift your arms and legs up instead it is important that you use muscle strength only. Initially start of doing 1 set of 12 reps but over time you need to be building up so that you are able to complete 3 sets of 12 reps without any real problems.

If you keep at this exercise you will find that not only your abs but also your hip flexors will get in to better shape as well.

Exercise 5 – Lower Body Bicycle

When doing this exercise like the leg lift you need to make sure that your back isn’t arching as you carry this one out. If your back is arching then your abs aren’t engaged and they won’t become stronger.

To work the core muscles including your abs and legs you must like on a mat on your back and then bend your knees to a 90-degree angle. Now extend and then lower one of your legs forward so that it is parallel with the floor. Remember to make sure that you keep abs flat and engaged as you do this. Now hold your leg out straight for 3 seconds before bringing it back to the starting position. Once you have returned the leg to the original position do the same with the other one.

In order for this exercise to be truly effective you should be aiming to complete 3 sets of 20 reps for each leg.

Finally it doesn’t matter what exercises you do you need to make sure that you also are eating a healthy well balanced diet and following as active a lifestyle as possible. If you do then it won’t be long before you start to reap the benefits and have a body you can be proud of this summer.

Food 1 – Nuts
It is important that you eat only nuts which have the skins still on them.  These are particularly good as they help to build muscle and work like an appetite suppressant, so stop food cravings.

Food 2 – Beans
This includes such ones a soybeans, chickpeas, lima and kidney beans again these help to build up muscle, but also help to burn fat and can help to regulate a person’s digestive system.

Food 3 – Green vegetables including spinach.
These contain a number of different vitamin properties including A, C and K as well as minerals such as calcium and magnesium.  Plus provide good amounts of fiber.  All of which can help to neutralize free radicals in the body and slow down the aging process.

Food 4 – Dairy Products.
It is important that you only eat fat free or low fat dairy products.  Again perfect for helping to build strong bones and help to improve your metabolism which can help you to burn fat more easily.

Food 5 – Instant Oatmeal.
This should be of the unsweetened and unflavored variety and can help to increase a person’s energy levels.  Also great for helping to reduce a person’s cholesterol level and keep their blood sugar levels at the right level.

Food 6 – Eggs
The best way to ensure that you do not take in too much cholesterol when including eggs into your abs diet is by removing part of the yolk and using more of the white instead.  Again the ideal food for building up muscle and help to burn off fat.

Food 7 – Lean Meats
You can include chicken, turkey and other kinds of lean meat (pork, beef and lamb) and fish as well into this group.  Not only great for helping to build up muscle but ideal for helping to improve your immune system as well.

Food 8 – Peanut Butter
You should only include the all natural variety that contains no sugar as this not only helps to build up muscle but also burn fat.  Plus for men it is great for boosting their testosterone levels as well.

Food 9 – Olive Oil
Ideal for helping to control a person’s food cravings, but is great for burning fat as well as lowering a person’s cholesterol levels.  As with lean meats this oil and other similar ones can help to boost a person’s immune system.

Food 10 – Whole Grain Cereals and Bread
When trying to improve the condition of your abs these foods should be included in your diet as they help to stop your body from storing unwanted fat.    But you should avoid eating white bread, bagels and doughnuts.

Food 11 – Whey Powder
This food can be purchased at any good quality health food store or online and not only helps to burn fat but also again helps to build muscle.

Food 12 – Berries
Not only do we mean such fruits as raspberries and strawberries but you should be looking to increase your intake of other fruits such as apples and grapefruits as well.  Because they have large amounts of fiber within them they can help to reduce the number of food cravings a person has.

Above we have taken a look at the types of foods you should be including within your abs diet.  But it is also important that you take a sufficient amount of exercise each day as well.  Just by eating these foods alone will not help you to develop and improve the condition of your abs, they will just help you to lose the weight.

One important thing to remember when trying to get that six pack set of abs is that it all depends on genetics.  Some people just do not have the right body type to have abs like that.  If you do not have the body type, then you will have a difficult time getting the picture perfect set of abs that you can bounce a quarter off of, but you can come pretty close with a few simple tricks.

• One of the best things that you can do for your body is to get it into a regular cardio workout.  Keep in mind that you will have to work at it to keep the abs you get from working so hard.  Many women make the mistake of trying to just do exercises that will target certain areas but that will not help them to lose the weight around the mid section.  In order to get the full benefits, a full cardio workout will benefit you the most as your entire body will be toned.  This will help you to show off your new sleek and sexy abs.

• Your diet can play a huge role in the way your body puts on weight.  You want to be sure to try to stick with a diet that is healthy for you and is low in fat.  Most people will find that if they eat foods that are high in fat such as fried foods, then they will pack on a great deal of unwanted pounds.  You can make healthy alternative choices where your favorite foods are concerned.  It is said that you can get the best results from eating a low fat, vitamin enriched diet with a good cardio workout.

• You want to be sure that you keep your body hydrated.  Most everyone has heard the old saying that a person needs to drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water daily but most no one does that.  In order for your body to properly flush out the excess fat, it needs to be well hydrated.  It is said that you need 8 to 10 glasses of water that are at least 8 ounces each.  Without proper hydration, you can cause unwanted breakouts as well as water retention that can add a total of up to 10 pounds of water weight.  If you keep your body fully hydrated, you will force it to shed those unwanted pounds.

The greatest way of helping to lose the flat and gain a well toned set of abdominal muscles is through designing a workout that requires you to carry out body resistance training.  It is through this kind of training you will help to stimulate your metabolism which will help to increase the amount of fat burning hormones that your body can produce. 

Although workouts for your abdominal muscles are important it is vital that you do not do them every day.  Rather you should be exercising them in the same way as you do for all the other muscle groups in your body.  Therefore you should exercise them one day and then allow 1 or 2 days of rest so that you muscles are able to recover properly after they have been worked out.  Also when doing the exercises it is best that you only carry out between 3 and 4 sets of your favorite abs exercises and do between 15 and 20 repetitions of each set of exercise at a time. 

One particular exercise that is especially good for working on the abdominal muscles is known as the v-up.  This particular exercise works on all the muscles within the abdominal muscle group.  It has been specifically designed to not only increase the strength and tone of the muscles in this part of the body but helps to burn off fat.

Also because the abdominal muscles are the largest ones in the body they consume much more energy than any other of the muscle groups.  Therefore the more you actually work them properly, then the more energy is required to be supplied to them for them to do their job effectively.  By carrying out the exercises correctly not only are using these muscles effectively but you will find that your body is able to burn more calories as well.

What is also important is that not only do you need to carry the exercises properly, you also need to look at the techniques you are using whilst doing them.  The better your technique when doing the exercises then the stronger your abs will get over time.  But do not think that you can use the various gadgets advertised on TV to help improve your abs.  What you really need is a the right kind of diet and also you need to carry out some moderate to heavy resistance exercises on a regular basis.  But do not expect to see results immediately, as getting toned abdominal muscles will take you some time.

Although we have stated above that you do not need to use the fancy equipment and gadgetry shown on infomercials to help work your abs.  There are some pieces of equipment that you can use as part of your abs workout routines to make them a little more fun.  Below we take a look at some of the equipment that not only helps to improve abs but other muscle groups in the body as well.

Exercise Balls

Sometimes more commonly referred to as the Swiss Exercise Ball these are becoming a favorite piece of equipment not just for women but for men to improve their abdominal muscles.  The great thing about this particular piece of equipment is that not only is it inexpensive to purchase, but it allows you to carry out a number of different exercises that work not just on the abdominal muscles but others in the body as well.  Over time once you begin to use this piece of equipment on a regular basis you will start to notice that your abdominal muscles begin to get much stronger and your balance and posture also improves.

Abswheel

This particular piece of equipment may look harmless enough, but if used incorrectly can cause serious problems to your back.  What you need to do with this piece of equipment is place your hands on either side (holding on to the handles provided).  Then you roll it forwards to a position that you feel comfortable with, but do not roll too far forward or it will place additional strain on the muscles in your back.  Then all you need to do is roll it back until you are in the position that you originally started from. 

Balance Trainer

This kind of abs equipment does not look like anything else you would use for improving and toning up your abdominal muscles.  It comes with a flexible domed top and the base is flat.  This piece of equipment is designed to challenge how stable you are when using it and over time can help to improve the condition of not just your abdominal muscles but your back ones as well.  Used regularly over the coming weeks you wills ee that not only your stability but balance improves as the muscles in the areas of your body mentioned above become stronger.  The great thing about this piece of abdominal muscle equipment is that it does not require you to carry out any kinds of crunches in order to improve the condition the muscles either in your back or abdomen.

In fact many of the devices and abs gadgetry you see in TV infomercials are not in fact worth the money you spend on them.  Rather by carrying out abs exercises correctly you are going to lose the weight and help to improve the condition of your bodies muscles overall than you are ever likely to do with one of these machines.

The most effective types of exercises that you can use in order to improve, tone and condition your abdominal muscles will involve you doing some resistance training.  As with all the major muscle groups to be found in the human body (arms, legs and back) you will find that your abdomen ones react in a more positive way when you use resistance training exercises.

As well as choosing resistance training exercises you should also choose ones that will after only say 20 repetitions make your muscles feel fatigued.  It is these kinds of exercises that actually make sure that you are using your muscles in the correct way and so provide a much better result in the end.

The most effective of all the abdominal muscle exercises a person should be looking to improve their condition are the standard and combination crunch and the reverse curl.  But as well as exercising if you really want to see improvement in your stomach area you need to make changes to your diet.  What is the point of exercising if you continue to eat the same kinds of foods which have actually caused you to put on weight in the first place.  Below we provide some information on how you should carry out the exercises we have mentioned above.

The standard crunch requires you to lay on the floor on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent.  Then slowly you should start to raise your shoulders up off the floor and concentrate on getting our ribs to move towards your hips.  If you want to prevent your head from moving as your raise your shoulders then pretender that you have placed a grapefruit under your chin.  Initially you should place your hands on your chest when first doing this exercise but as your strength and energy levels improve you can start to place your hands at the side or above your head.

The reverse curl exercise which many people use to improve the condition of their abdominal muscles is specifically designed to help improve the condition of the fibrous material that surrounds the lower and side abdominal muscles.  As with the standard crunch you first need to lay down on the floor.  Then you need to bring your knees up towards your chest and your feet at this type should also be completely off the floor.  So really you should almost be in the fetal position, but at the same time your hips should remain touching the floor.  Once you have got into a position that you are comfortable with you now need to start raising your hips off the floor, but to do this you will need to contract your ab muscles, plus do not assist in anyway by pulling on your knees.  As your ab muscles contract so you will feel your knees even closer to your chest.  Also it is important that whilst carrying out this particular because of the position you are in you may find that your legs want to swing to one side or the other so you need to concentrate closely to prevent this from happening.

After a while you may discover that doing the reverse curl or standard crunch becomes much easier as your muscles begin to become stronger.  Therefore if you want to challenge yourself further and help to get your muscles much stronger and more condition then start to include the combination crunch in your abs workout.  This particular exercise is much more difficult as it requires you to carry out the reverse curl and standard crunch together.

But at the end of the day when it comes to improving the condition of abs you will find that you need to look closely at your body type in order to find a workout which will suit you perfectly.  So therefore it is important that you look at the various different types of workouts others are using and possibly try some before you find the one that is suited to you.  Doing this will then help to ensure that you reach your goal of having a great looking set of abs in the future.