Summer is approaching soon and the holiday seasons are over, many of you are now working out and dieting diligently to lose belly fats around your mid section to get the washboard abs so that when you hit the beach come summer you are able to show off your chiseled bodies. The gals dream of fitting themselves into the nice bikini to show off their nice figure and the guys wants to show off their six packs and their lean and mean bodies.

When you are doing your abs workout, you have to remember that it is not possible to spot reduce the fat around the stomach, in fact, abs exercises alone do not help to lose belly fat because the amount of energy burnt is really negligible. Abs exercises will only help to build, toned and defined the abs muscles so that when you lose those fat the abs muscles that are showing are in perfect good form.

When doing abs exercises, in order to achieve maximum effect from each abs workout and to reduce your likelihood of sustaining back injury, you have to make sure to maintain correct posture at all time when you are doing your abdominal exercises. There are 8 guidelines that you can follow to ensure that your posture is correct.

1. Make sure your head is horizontal to the ground and centered over your shoulders

2. Bring your chest up

3. As you bring your chest up, relax your shoulders relax and not go up, that is, relax your shoulders down and back

4. Tighten your abs by pulling your belly button to your spine

5. When doing crunch, always roll your body up vertebra by vertebra

6. Align your knees with your second and third toes

7. Make sure your knees are not locked. There must always be a slight bend in them

8. Lay with your feet spaced comfortably apart (usually hip width)

Finally, remember that losing belly fat is an overall effort, in other words you need an overall exercise program with proper and balanced diet. Combine cardio training with resistance training is the most effective. You need a proper and balanced diet to help you lose fat – food when consumed in proper order is most effective in losing belly fat.  Ian Kuro