How can I tighten my stomache, i'm not fat, what exercises actually work?

Question

Allright, here's the thing I lost a bunch of weight, and now I am trying to get my body toned. My arms, and legs look great, but my stomache still looks bad. It's not fat i'm working with, i'm 5'1 and 110 pounds so i'm fine weight-wise. It's just extra skin that needs to be tightened. Anyone know exercising that will firm that up and get me nice abs? I need exercises that will actually work, I have about 3 months to get some nice abs. Email if you have a long list that SERIOUSLY WORK, my email is [e-mail]

Otherwise, please just reply here, thanks!

Answer 1

One word: crunches

Answer 2

just do crunches. every exercise you do with your stomach muscles pretty much does the same thing.

Answer 3

You should of been doing ab work while losing weight. Would have made it MUCH easier. Loose skin is very difficult to get rid of. A good exercise is hanging leg raises. It hurts like h**l, but could work for you. Just grab a pull up bar- hands slightly past shoulder width and slowly raise your legs up parellel to your hips (keeping legs together)

Answer 4

Contrary to some people's belief, doing crunches does not remove fat specifically from the mid region. However, doing ab/mid section exercises does develop the core. In order for the 'abs' or the 'six pack' to appear you have to remove the fat covering the abdominal muscles. I'll give you a brief outline of what to do. As for lose skin, I don't think you can actually do anything about it short of plastic surgery. Depending on how lose it is, it may fill up if your abs get bigger.

In order to remove the fat which is hiding the abs, you have to do some cardiovascular exercise. Generally 3 to 5 days a week with anything from 30 to about 45 mins of low or medium intesity exercise should decrease the fat. You can vary high and low intensity. Also cutting back on some unhealthy things (assuming you take the odd can of soda ;) will help too.

I've done a bit of reading and found that there are a few good excercises that target the core. One good one is the lying bicycle kick.

You lie on your back and bring your left elbow and right knee to meet on top of your abs. You then alternate with your right elbow left knee. Keep doing this for say 2 mins (or however long) then take a rest then repeat.

The crunch is the staple of all good ab workouts.To toughen it up try and hold your legs  in the air while doing it.

The plank is also great. Get into the pushup position except prop yourself on your elbows. You can also get on your knees and elbows and straigthen yourself out like a plank. Hold yourself like a plank till failure. Trust me, it kills.

if you go to the gym, try the captains chair. Ive seen Arnie and Serge nubre doing the chair. It is an excellent exercise, for all your obliques and upper and lower abdominals.

Lastly you could try doing a bit of jump roping, Rocky style. It is sort of high intensity training, that builds agility. You need the core to stabilise your body when you jump.

Remember that cardio and diet are more important than crunching, as only with less fat can you see the abs. In fact, concentrate on cardio more than ab workouts. Do cardio for say 4 days a week, and the other three days to a few ab workouts.

And dont worry too much about the sets or reps. Just keep it simple and work till you know you've given it your best.

Best of luck!

>>>>>>>>crunches alone are not very demanding, try to do the exercises i stated, they are much harder and rewarding

Answer 5

The trouble is, if it's just loose skin, that's like elastic that has lost its stretch, nothing you can do will make it shrink. I guess that's why people get tummy tucks.

Answer 6

Okay, so many of the people here are saying crunches - but crunches actually just put a layer of muscle UNDER your layer of fat.  My trainer taught me the best way to get leaner abs.

Yes, you should still do crunches, but also do leg lifts.

Lie with your back on the ground, like you would doing a regular crunch.  Depending on the intensity - extend your legs as long as is comfortable, drop (slowly, with control) and lift to 45 degrees from the ground, repeat this 15 times, then lower your legs and pulsate a couple inches off the ground (which means lift and lower, only smaller, faster movement).

Also, any kind of leg lift exercise standing up is great for toning the stomach and you wont even realize it.  Kickboxing, for example, is great for stomach tightening because every time you lift your leg to kick you use your core.

Good luck and hope this helps!

Answer 7

Static abs should do the trick. And try swimming.