Six Tips For Sexier Abs From An Experienced Gym Instructor in Santa Monica, PART 4

This four-part series provides detailed advice from experienced fitness experts on how to get the washboard stomach you’ve always dreamed of.

Welcome to the final installment of this four-part article series on how to achieve the sexy washboard abs you’ve always wanted. Before we take a look at the final tip provided by the experienced gym instructor in Santa Monica we’ve been speaking to, let’s take a brief recap of the points covered thus far…

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 1: Sit Up Straight! “The first place to start is to improve your posture. Align your ears, shoulders, hips and ankles with each other and pull your navel in towards your spine,” says this personal trainer in Los Angeles. “This will help you appear leaner and more confident. It will also improve lung capacity, thereby making you feel more energized. This is not to mention its obvious benefits for your back!” Holding in your stomach muscles as you move or sit throughout the day also helps train those muscles to remain tight rather than falling forward and looking flabby.

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 2: Workout Your Whole Body: “Train your body as a whole and don’t just focus exclusively on doing crunches and sit-ups. These exercises will tone your abdominals, but they won’t eliminate the layer of body fat covering them. The most effective method for toning your whole body is circuit training, which involves alternating bursts of resistance (anaerobic) and cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise.”

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 3: Assess Your Diet and Digestion: “In order to reveal the ripped abs hiding underneath your beer belly, you’re going to need to burn more body fat,” says the gym instructor in Santa Monica. “Do this by decreasing your energy intake (eating) and increasing your energy output (exercise). You don’t even need to eat a lot less, just eat smarter and healthier.”

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 4: You Don’t Need Fancy Gym Equipment: “You don’t need to spend a lot of money on gym equipment and props in order to achieve your fitness and weight loss goals. Turn your daily chores into a workout regime. Practice better posture and eat healthier. Walk more frequently. There is so much you can do short of spending your life on the treadmill.”

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 5: Slow and Steady Wins the Race: “Fad diets and extreme workout routines won’t help you achieve your goals,” explains the personal trainer in Los Angeles. “You’re looking at changing your life and your routines to help you get fitter and healthier and in order to do this sustainably, you should be slow and consistent in your approach.

What final thing can we do to look like an extra from the movie “300”? Let’s check out Tip # 6…

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 6: Be Realistic In Your Goal-Setting

In keeping with point # 5, you are unlikely to experience instant results, even if you are extremely disciplined with your diet and exercise regime. You mustn’t allow this to deter or frustrate you, because you’ll just slump into old, unhealthy habits. Be realistic in the goals you set for yourself.

“People must also realize that genes do play a role in body type. Some people hit the gym and the pounds peel off while others need to spend more time and efforts to achieve the same results,” explains the gym instructor in Santa Monica. “Never compare yourself to others. Your body may be a little more stubborn. Even some super skinny people struggle to get ripped abdominals because it’s in their genes to have a little extra body fat covering their stomachs.”

This doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to have a bloated belly… it just means that you’ll need to accept that, while you can improve your appearance, you’ll never be able to crush beer cans against your stomach. Which might not be such a bad thing after all!

Six Tips For Sexier Abs From An Experienced Santa Monica Gym Instructor, PART 3

This four-part series provides detailed advice from experienced fitness experts on how to get the washboard stomach you’ve always dreamed of.

Welcome to the third installment of this four-part article series on how to blast stomach fat and tighten your midsection to achieve the sexy washboard stomach you’ve always wanted. In our previous article, Part 2, an experienced Santa Monica gym instructor explained that in addition to improving posture, you should train your body as a whole and not just focus exclusively on doing crunches and sit-ups. These will tone your abdominals, but they won’t eliminate the layer of body fat covering them. He also explained that, to lose body fat, your energy intake (eating) will need to be lower than your energy output (exercise) and so you should assess your diet and digestion.

What else can we do to look like we could grate a carrot on our abdominals of steel? Let’s check out Tip # 4…

Tip for A Tighter Belly # 4: You Don’t Need Fancy Equipment

“Forget bands, straps, Bosu balls and fancy walking shoes… fitness companies are constantly spitting out new and improved products to help people burn more calories and get fitter and while these do work, with the right attitude and discipline, you can do it all yourself,” says the Santa Monica fitness trainer. “Props and fancy workout clothes are awesome to have and they can inspire you to train more frequently – they may even make your workout more effective, but you don’t need to spend all that money in order to tone your stomach and tighten your midsection.”

Simply improve your posture and pull your navel in towards your spine and you will strengthen your core and tone your belly without even taking a single step in the direction of the gym. Couple this with eating smarter and being more active, even if it is taking a 30-minute walk every day. Go on: get outside, rake those leaves, take the dog for a run, go cycling, do some chores, vacuum the house… all of these activities burn calories and fat.

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 5: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

“You’ve got to remember… there are no quick fixes. We all get seduced by fad diets and ‘How to blast 10 pounds of stomach fat per week’ advice columns,” says the Santa Monica gym instructor. “Sure, you can achieve some results with these crash diets/exercise regimes, but the results won’t be sustainable unless you are exceptionally disciplined, which most people aren’t. Rather be patient and plot a steady course of progression that will help you achieve great results that are permanent. Allow yourself to adjust to a new and healthier lifestyle that involves more frequent exercise and a healthier diet. Be consistent and take setbacks in your stride, because they will in all likelihood happen. Slow and steady wins the race every time!”

Stay Tuned for Part 4

Want to read some final tips on how to get that toned, tightened belly you’re after, stay tuned for the final installment of this four-part article series, courtesy of Santa Monica fitness trainers.

Six Tips For Sexier Abs From An Experienced Brentwood Gym Instructor, PART 2

This four-part series provides detailed advice from experienced fitness experts on how to get the washboard stomach you’ve always dreamed of.

Welcome to the second installment of this four-part article series on how to tighten your midsection and get closer to achieving the sexy washboard stomach you’ve always admired in your favorite celebrities. In our previous article, Part 1, an experienced Brentwood gym instructor explained that the first place anyone should start is by improving posture. By aligning your ears, shoulders, hips and ankles with each other and by pulling your navel in towards your spine, you can appear leaner and more confident and get more oxygen into your lungs, thereby making you feel more energized.

What else can we do to look more like the chiseled splendor that is Matthew McConaughey? Let’s check out Tip # 2…

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 2: Work Out Your Whole Body

“Loads of people make the mistake of excessively training their abdominal muscles in an effort to tone and tighten their midsection,” says the Brentwood personal trainer. “While this will make these muscles stronger, you need to eliminate the fat overlying your abdominal muscles if they’re to show through and doing ten thousand crunches a day isn’t going to do this.

“What you need to do is view your body as a system with each muscle group facilitating strength, dexterity and motion in a fluid way that leads to the next muscle group. You should focus on strengthening the systems that surround your body’s core in three-dimensions. Instead of doing an excessive number of sit-ups, alternate slow resistance exercises with bursts of cardiovascular workouts. Circuit training is a highly effective way to blast stomach fat and tone abdominal muscles,” explains the Brentwood gym instructor. “This is the kind of exercise that will get results.”

So, the take home message is not to exercise your abdominals in isolation, but to work your body as a whole, including your legs, arms, glutes and back muscles. Alternating between resistance and cardiovascular exercise helps your body burn more calories and therefore fat.

Tip for a Tighter Belly # 3: Assess Your Diet and Digestion

“Even if you have excellent posture and powerful abdominal muscles, you won’t have a ripped stomach if you have a layer of fat covering it all up,” says the Brentwood personal trainer. “Your body is a system and in order for you to burn fat, your expenditure of energy needs to be greater than your input of energy. In other words, you need to eat less and train more. This is the only thing that will reduce body fat and reveal those toned abdominals you’re hiding underneath your beer belly.”

Good advice for better nutrition would be to eat salads and protein for lunch and dinner and restrict your carbohydrate intake to breakfast, when you’re going to need it the most for your day’s exertions.

Stay Tuned for Part 3

Want to read more about this Brentwood gym instructor’s best advice for getting that toned, tightened belly you’re after? Stay tuned for the third installment of this four-part series to read tip # 4 and # 5!

Six Tips For Sexier Abs From Personal Trainers in Los Angeles, PART 1

This four-part series provides detailed advice from experienced fitness experts on how to get the washboard stomach you’ve always dreamed of.

There is something viscerally attractive about a flat stomach with defined abdominal muscles. It cannot be helped… a washboard stomach is the epitome of fitness and good health. And yet, one of the key complaints of Los Angeles residents trying to emulate the results of celebrities renowned for their stomach muscles – from Josh Duhamel to Madonna – is the fact that, in spite of their efforts, they simply can’t seem to get the toned stomach they’ve always dreamed of.

“It’s like the quest for the Holy Grail… every person sweating it out at the gym has the goal of tightening their stomach muscles. It’s one of the core muscle groups people focus on when training,” says a personal trainer in Los Angeles.

We see washboard abdominals everywhere; in celebrities caught topless frolicking on the beach, sports superheroes going for a morning run or models posing in their usual ensemble – mostly naked. A ripped stomach is sexy, but how do you get from flab to ab? We spoke to a weight loss expert in Los Angeles about his secrets to a sexier stomach and in this four-part article series we will be presenting his top six tips for achieving this goal.

Tip For A Tighter Belly # 1: Sit Up Straight!

You heard the man! One of the best ways to start your journey to a tighter midsection is to improve your posture and sit up straight. It’s a problem that many people suffer from and who can blame us? When you spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer, another two hours slouched in front of the TV and 24/7 staring at your cell phone; it can be difficult to remember to sit up straight.

“Just walking around Los Angeles, I constantly notice people with a terrible posture. Your ears and shoulders should line up with your body,” says the personal trainer and weight loss expert. “At no stage should you walk with your ears and shoulders ahead of your body. What this does is cause your stomach to stick out.”

For better posture, you should consciously adjust your body’s alignment while sitting at your desk, in your car, walking around, etc. Your ears should line up with your shoulders, your shoulders should line up with your hips and your hips should line up with your ankles.

“Also, suck your stomach in, so that your belly-button lies closer to your spine,” advises the personal trainer in Los Angeles. “A good posture doesn’t only make you look leaner; it also makes you look more confident and ambitious. With your shoulders back, you’ll find your lung capacity increasing and with more oxygen making its way into and out of your body, you’ll feel more energized. And, of course, you’ll be less likely to suffer from terrible back problems as you get older.”

Stay Tuned for Part 2

Want to read more about this Los Angeles weight loss expert’s best advice for getting that toned, tightened belly you’re after? Stay tuned for the second installment of this four-part article series to read tips # 2 and # 3!