Every bride wants to look beautiful on her wedding day. From the perfect hair and makeup to the perfect body. There are no exceptions and why should there be? Every bride should look absolutely gorgeous on her wedding day. It’s your day! We know you want to look perfect in your wedding dress and what better way to start then getting that stomach into shape.

Despite what everyone else may be saying, you must include a cardiovascular program into your workout routine if you want to flatten that stomach. 30 minutes of cardio a day can help trim the fat on that stomach. Cardio doesn’t have to be boring either. You can do many of your favorite activities and not even realize you just did a cardio workout! Try swimming, hiking, running, bicycling, jogging or rollerblading for a great cardiovascular workout that will help flatten your stomach. Don’t forget your warm up and cool down! If you’re not sure how much you should allow, try this: a 10 minute warm up, a 10 minute workout and a 10 minute cool down.

You will also need to add some form of strength training to your workout as well if you want to flatten that stomach. You can add strength training every other day to your workout regimen, but don’t skip out on the cardio when you do. When you begin strength training, you’ll want to concentrate on every part of your abdominal (stomach) muscles, which will include, upper, lower and obliques. Try starting out with about 12 repetitions of 3 sets per muscle area. If you’re not feeling any sort of burn, increase those reps to 15.   If it’s too much, decrease the reps. You want to feel a burn, not extreme pain!  

Some popular stomach exercises to try are:

Upper Stomach Crunches

Lying on your back on the floor, bend your knees and position your feet so that are flat on the floor. Position your hands so that they are on the sides of your head. Next, tuck your chin towards your chest and curl the upper part of your body forward, lifting your head, neck and shoulders up off the floor. Hold for a second and then return to the starting position. Repeat 12-15 times.

Oblique Stomach Crunches

You can work the obliques using the upper crunch exercise, but instead of curling the upper part of your body forward, curl it towards the right for the right oblique, hold for a second and return to the starting position. Repeat; only curl your body towards the left this time, for the left oblique. Return to the starting position. Do this for 12-15 reps, alternating left to right for each oblique.

Lower Stomach Crunches

Lie on your back on the floor. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Next, place your hands on the side of your body, so that your hands are resting flat on the floor, palms down. Keeping your upper body flat on the floor, lift your knees towards your chest, hold for a second and then lower your knees back into the starting position. Repeat 12-15 times.

The above are just a few exercises you can try at home to help flatten that stomach. If you prefer, you can head to your local gym and do the same amount of reps on any of the weight machines that are designed to work the abdominal area. Keep with the regimen and please don’t expect immediate results! Any workout routine will take some time before you see results.

Also, if you have never worked out before or have any kind of health problems, you’ll want to ask your doctor before starting any workout program! Happy Exercising!

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