By Arthur A. Burley 
Most people complain that their stomach toning exercise isn’t working. In a nutshell, most stomach toning exercises “fail” simply because they’re not complemented by healthy lifestyles. Below are the basics concepts behind effective toning your abdominal muscles.
FOCUS ON THE FORM, NOT THE NUMBER
Most individuals hurry though their stomach crunches, not minding their form. They end up straining their necks and eventually injuring their backs. It’s important to note that a stomach toning exercise is the last thing you’d want to rush. First and foremost, you end up wasting valuable time and effort this way. Secondly, it’s very difficult to recover from neck and spine injury. You might just end up losing more muscle mass in this manner.
Always remember, a good stomach exercise is one that concentrated the tension on your abdominal muscles, not your shoulders and neck. When you’re trying to pull yourself up, work your abdominal muscles. Never strain your neck and back just to sit upright. You don’t really need to sit up when you’re doing crunches. You can stop midway, as long as the pressure on your abs is consistent. Make sure that your chin isn’t touching your chest, and your back is kept straight. The hand behind your nape is supposed to support your neck, not pull it up further.
25 well formed stomach crunches is definitely more effective compared to 300 hasty ones. The catchphrase in an effective stomach toning exercise routine is “slow but steady”.
KEEP YOUR DIET LOW IN FAT TO LOSE WEIGHT
Even if you stick strictly to your stomach toning exercise routine, there’s no way that you can achieve a six-pack unless you lose the flab. Just because you’re doing stomach crunches doesn’t mean you can skip on the diet and eat anything you want. You need to lose fat to be able to appreciate the definitions of your muscles. If you’re doing crunches and binging on sweets, you’ll only end up looking more massive than you were prior to the workout. Remember, muscle mass and fat mass are two very different entities. Just because you’re gaining muscles doesn’t mean you’re automatically losing all the fat in your body and get a flat stomach as well.
TEAM YOUR STRENGTH TRAINING WITH FLEXIBILITY AND CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISES
A good way to lose the stomach flab is to do a well-rounded exercise plan. This means focusing not only on your stomach weight loss, but on your entire body as well. Spot toning never works, because your muscles basically work with each other. You will only end up injuring yourself if you focus on a single muscle group consistently. You should take the time out to work all of them. Cardiovascular and flexibility exercises are also necessary when you want your stomach toning exercise routing to work. Cardios help you unnecessary fat burning, while flexibility exercises help you release the tension you’ve built up from stomach crunches.
MAKE SURE YOU GET ENOUGH REST IN BETWEEN
It’s useless to do tone your lower abdominal muscles everyday. Studies have shown that too much strength exercises decrease muscle mass. Your body needs at least one full day of rest to recover from your last work out. Never conduct any type of strength exercise, including stomach toning exercises, two days in a row.