Article by Sarah Maxwell

I asked Sarah to share with us the best exercises to flatten our stomachs -these exercises are designed to flatten your tummy and improve your posture and core. They are small selection from the exercises in Sarah’s ebook  The Little Exercise Book for a Flatter Tummy. Looking forward to comparing notes!

The Plank Exercise

• Lie face down resting on the forearms • Place forearms flat on the floor • Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows. • Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels. Pull in abdominals and pull up your pelvic floor. • Start by holding for a few seconds and building up to 1 minute.

Abdominal Cycle Exercise

• Lie flat on the floor with your abdominals pulled in • Support your head with your hands and raise up from the floor to create a mild tension in the abdominals • Bring your knees up to a 45-degree angle and slowly go through a bicycle pedalling motion. • To make this exercise more difficult, raise your head and shoulders higher • Aim to do 20 cycles and gradually increase as you become stronger

Core Balance Rear Raise Exercise

• Stand with feet hip width apart • Keep your hands stretched out (like a plane) at shoulder level, fixing your right leg into the ground • Slowly start lifting your left leg off the ground, keeping the leg as straight as you can. Focus your attention on a point. • Aim to get your upper body parallel to the floor and hold this position for a few seconds. Make sure your abdominals are pulled in. • As you improve, you will gradually begin to increase your hold time • Lower the right leg and repeat on the left (you may find that you can balance better on one side but this will improve with practice)

For the full set of Sarah’s ‘flat tummy’ exercises, you can download ‘The Little Exercise Book for a Flat Tummy’ via her website (£4.99 to download)