Exercises for a Flat Stomach
There are two main groups of exercise that will give you a flat stomach.
First are the stomach muscle exercises that we are all aware of: sit ups, crunches, leg raises, twists and deadlifts. These exercises add muscle tone and size to your stomach, eventually resulting in the six-pack or eight-pack, depending on who you listen to.
However, a muscular toned stomach is no good if it is covered in a layer of belly fat. To get rid of it, you need to do aerobic exercises. That is a fancy way of saying exercises that last a long time and make you sweat. Running, cycling, rowing, walking, stepping, anything that gets you puffed and sweaty. But only go at a pace that gives you a light sheen of sweat. If it starts flowing off you, calm down a bit. At the same time, go just a little bit harder that you feel comfortable with. If you master this, the belly fat will disappear quickly.
Finally, make yourself a program and stick to it. Take a week off every 8 weeks, and try to vary the regularity of your program. For example: week 1 do muscle exercises on monday, tuesday and friday with aerobic exercises on thursday and saturday; week 2 do muscle exercises on wednesday, friday and saturday with aerobic exercises on tuesday, friday and saturday. This is keeping yourself out of the comfort zone on a different scale, and it works.
Also be aware that it's hard to talk about diet and exercise separately. If you eat 2000 calories of health food and do all the right exercises, but only burn off 1500 calories, you will put on belly fat. The extra 500 will turn to fat. Simple.
So before going out to buy an exercise mat and running shoes, either make sure you are going to burn off more calories than you consume, or eat less.