Nicki Waterman’s Flat Stomach Plan: The Ultimate Abdominal Workouts and Diet

Nicki Waterman’s Flat Stomach Plan: The Ultimate Abdominal Workouts and Diet
Nicki Waterman

Nicki Waterman, GMTV’s fitness presenter and the Inch Loss Island personal trainer, has devised the ultimate plan for achieving a flat stomach by following a simple workout routine every day. Her Flat Stomach Plan contains a healthy diet plan plus the key ab exercises to transform flabby bellies into super firm abs.

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A low calorie diet alone will not slim down your midsection- once the diet ends and you go back to your old habits, your body responds by regaining the weight and slowing down the metabolism. To really succeed you need to exercise the abdominal muscles too.

Nicki’s plan goes beyond the usual ‘sit-ups’ and ‘crunches’, with a range of workouts that tone all of the muscle groups needed for a flat stomach.

The programme is based around a set of workouts that get gradually more difficult, so readers can progress through the stages.

Nicki’s healthy eating plan is not a starvation diet, but a sensible, easy-to-follow guide to healthy foods that are good to eat, making it easy to understand and stick to.

The book contains a wide range of workouts- beginners, intermediate, advanced, the Fab Abs challenge, exercises to strengthen and support the back, workouts post-pregnancy, the belly-dancing workout as well as warm-up and cool-down routines.

Nicki Waterman’s

Flat Stomach Plan

The Ultimate Abdominal

Workouts and Diet

Contents

Cover (#u670636c7-e28c-5f6d-9ea8-681ce6134efe)

Title Page (#u31c235e7-f650-55dc-a2ef-f7f0f9282d46)

Introduction (#ulink_16869f6e-7b55-5bf2-93dc-475308da78c1)

How to Use this Book (#ulink_4132646e-74d8-58ad-ae33-73a85964041a)

Chapter 1 (#ulink_313c5f34-64f0-50a5-8f93-5d6b3af65abe)Warming Up (#ulink_313c5f34-64f0-50a5-8f93-5d6b3af65abe)

Chapter 2 (#ulink_09f882c6-ac94-50bd-81b0-1654295e784f)STAGE 1: (#ulink_09f882c6-ac94-50bd-81b0-1654295e784f)Beginner’s Curls (#ulink_09f882c6-ac94-50bd-81b0-1654295e784f)

Chapter 3 (#litres_trial_promo)STAGE 2: (#litres_trial_promo)Intermediate Curls (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)STAGE 3: (#litres_trial_promo)Difficult Curls (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)STAGE 4: (#litres_trial_promo)Tough Curls (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)Fab Abs Challenge (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)Cool Down and Relax (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)Preventing Back Problems (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)Exercise and Pregnancy (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)The Curl-Free Workout (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)Tone Your Tum with Belly Dancing (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)Diet – A Crucial Part of the Equation (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)The Flat Stomach Recipes (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Introduction (#ulink_0acc1d22-33da-557e-9f75-7a33a2e0da1f)

So you want to have a nice flat tum? Well who doesn’t? If you want to look in the mirror and see a tummy you would be proud to show, then the best way of going about it is to do the ‘curl’.

Of course, curls on their own aren’t a magic bullet to a wonderful new you. A firm tummy buried beneath a thick layer of fat will still protrude and look flabby. If you do the curl three or four times a week and don’t tackle the problem by any other means then, yes, you will still tone up your tummy (as well as improve your posture and help prevent backache). However, to really flatten your stomach and see the pounds drop off you need to take three steps:

1. Do the curl three or four times a week.

2. Do an aerobic workout every day.

3. Eat sensibly.

If you combine a regular abs session with healthy eating and an overall workout programme that includes aerobic activity, then not only will those pounds drop off, but your body shape will be transformed.

What is the curl?

So what exactly is the curl and why will it work for you? In simple terms, the curl is an exercise that tones up the abdomen by tightening and then relaxing the network of muscles of the stomach and waist – muscles known as the abdominals, or abs. And the stronger the abs, the flatter the stomach.

The most effective way of toning up the abs is to shorten the distance between your ribcage and your pelvis by repeatedly contracting the muscles in your abdomen. Sports science has shown that the best and safest way of achieving this is by using your stomach muscles to lift your upper back off the floor towards your middle (curl) and to lift the hips and bring them up towards your chest (reverse curl). The best method of defining the waist is to subject the abdominal muscles that run around the midriff to twists.

Achieving a flat, strong stomach may be your goal for the simple reason that it looks good, but it is desirable for other reasons too. Well-trained abs help to prevent lower back pain, as well as encouraging good posture, a well-aligned body and a general sense of well-being.

Like all the best modern workout programmes, abs training has a lot of sports science behind it. It is carefully devised, well thought-out and safe. And, as I pointed out before, the curl – or ‘the crunch’ as it is also known – is recognized as one of the most effective forms of ab training.

So how does ab training work?

Let’s start with a quick anatomy lesson so that you understand what is going on inside you. The pelvic girdle – the ring of bone that your legs are connected to – is the bowl in which many of your vital organs sit. To keep them in there and to protect them from harm, you need more than your pelvis, backbone and your skin – you need a firm wall of abdominal muscles. These muscles also give you the ability to bend forward and to twist from the waist. (At the back of the body are the back muscles, which, together with your backbone and ribcage, help support your frame and hold you upright. I look at these in more detail in Chapter 8.)

Your abdominal muscles consist of a thick layer – a sheet almost – of overlapping fibres that stretch downwards from your ribcage to your pelvis and wrap sideways around you from your spine to the front of your pelvis, like the interlocking fingers of both hands.

The main muscle is the rectus abdominus, which stretches vertically from the ribs (directly beneath your breasts) to the front of the pelvic girdle. The oblique abdominals start at your spine and wrap, in a forward and downward slant, around your body in two layers (internal and external) to the pelvic girdle. Finally there are the transverse abs, which fan out from the ribs to the pelvis across your lower abdomen.

Forward flexion – bending down