Because of our sections on fitness, health and well-being, we get a lot of requests for articles about dealing with bloating here at Breathing Prosperity, and it’s obvious many people suffer with this problem.

The other side of the coin, however, once you’ve reduced or eliminated the reasons for having a bloated belly, is to tighten the abdominal muscles to ensure you have a nice, flat belly. Some people have washboard abs covered by a bloated stomach, and others still have not exercised their abdominal muscles in more years than they can count. Ab muscles, however, are important for more then aesthetics: a strong torso will improve your posture and help with almost any physical task you perform, even if it’s just sitting or standing for hours.

Following are some of our best tips for creating and enjoying a flatter stomach:

• You know it – perform crunches. This mainstay is a must in any ab regimen for a reason – it works! The trick is to do your crunches right. While there are lots of variations of crunches which work effectively – and you should vary them to round out the muscle work you do – the basics should always remain the same. For instance, always tighten your abs before and during the crunch, and focus to ensure your abs are doing the work. Always breathe out during the lift and in during the lowering portion of the crunch – do not hold your breath. Do not let momentum carry you up and down – allow your flexed ab muscles to do the work of contracting and expanding your torso. If need be, consult with a local trainer or other expert to ensure you’re getting the most out of your ab workouts by doing them properly.
• Use an exercise ball. You can do many variations of crunches on an exercise ball, and you’ll get results much faster because a) your entire body, including all the little supporting abdominal muscles, has to support you during the exercises, and b) you have a much wider range of motion than when lying on a mat or a bench. For more information and specific exercises, see FreeExerciseBallTips.com. Bonus tip: Sit on an exercise ball while sitting at your computer or watching TV. Many women swear by this, as it forces your abs to balance and stabilize your body for long periods of time. Just be sure you keep your abs tucked in and your back straight to ensure you aren’t causing posture issues.
• Ad weights to your ab routine. By using dumbells, wrist weights or even exercise bands, you can add a little more resistance to your crunches, thereby getting better results in less time. Abdominal muscles adjust quickly to change and will cease to respond to the same old same old – shake it up as often as you can.
• Eat less fat. Pure and simple, junk you eat ends up on your abs and other not so desirable places. Keep your diet clean and healthy and it’ll take you a long way towards the beautiful flat stomach you want. Any athlete or fitness trainer will tell you that diet accounts for at least half of the results in any fitness regimen. Ditch the garbage, or at least begin making some healthy replacements as often as you can. For an eye opener and if you’re ready to truly get a jump-start on being skinny, try reading the book Skinny Bitch.
• Try some hard core ab routines, such as the ever-popular ‘The Truth About Six Pack Abs’and David Grisaffi’s ‘Firm and Flatten Your Abs’.

These tips will get you started on your way to the flat stomach you want to move from your imagination to your reality. Enjoy!