THE BOYS' BRIGADE

It is important you find out how to get the sexy, toned tummy that you will flaunt with the season's hottest trends!

If you don’t exactly have a six pack right now, that’s fine. We’ll give you 25 tips which will help you lose weight, tone up and feel sexier in a few simple steps. We’ve got it all – the diet tips, the foods you should skip, the exercises that you should do, plus tips from a celebrity whose body looks bikini ready the whole year round.

Eat Muscle-friendly Food

Stock up on these when you go grocery shopping, and make sure you consume them every day as they will help you reach your goal faster. Apples will give you necessary fiber and make you feel full without adding calories, cottage cheese is a slow-burning fat which keeps the body fueled, and spinach is a great source of fiber and protein whether it’s raw or cooked.

Drink Coconut Oil

Plenty has been said about the benefits of coconut oil, and celebs like Bar Refaeli, Miranda Kerr and Angelina Jolie swear by it. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help with weight loss, and are easy to digest. It increases the body’s metabolism and speeds up energy burning.

Switch To Egg Whites

If you like eggs, make sure you have an egg white omelet from time to time. It’s low in cholesterol, unlike the yolk, and will give you necessary protein. Egg whites are also rapidly digested and they give your muscles the folic acid that they need. A bonus is that they take less time to prepare than a whole egg.

Skip the Salt

Putting too much salt in your food will make you thirsty, and eventually your body will start storing extra water just to keep up. Water retention is a common problem, and apart from being bad for your metabolism, it can also make you look fuller. Just remember those few days before your period, when you feel all bloated and two sizes larger. That’s water retention.

Sit Up Straight!

You’d be amazed how much the way your body looks depends on your posture. Standing and sitting in the right position makes you look leaner and longer. Also, permanently adapting a correct posture will help your back and stomach muscles work right. Slouching puts pressure on your back and makes those fat folds on your tummy more pronounced over time, not to mention the love handles. Sit with your weight distributed evenly on both sides, skip crossing your legs for long periods of time, and keep your back straight. Yeah, it gets kind of uncomfortable after five or ten minutes, right? That’s because we’re all used to sitting any way we like. The discomforts you feel are your back and stomach muscles getting busy even while you sit. Keep it up!

Drink the Right Amount of Water

Proper water intake is very important, but make sure you don’t overdo it. Consuming two liters, or 67 ounces of water a day is considered a healthy quantity. Your body will be hydrated throughout the day without retaining the extra liquid.

Be Patient

Depending on your dedication to working out and eating right, but also contributing factors such as genetics and your body mass index, you should be able to see results relatively soon. Your stomach will start toning up if you keep up the tempo, and if you’re lean by nature, you’ll see the beginning of a six-pack in 6-8 weeks.

Don’t Believe Quick Solutions

Do not buy into the pills, weird devices and other things that promise that by nightfall tomorrow, you will have Gwen Stefani’s tummy. Every plan with a well-defined goal takes time. Pills that promise weight loss only on your midriff, or TV Shop exercise devices that will make your six-pack appear in four and a half minutes are one of two things. Either really, really bad for you, or a straight out lie. Don’t fall for it.

Go Dancing

Any activity that involves your whole body is great for the middle part of it, since it’s your back and stomach that help you carry your weight around. Dance the night away, and make sure you do plenty of booty shaking and hip wiggling, since this works out your abs.

Go Swimming

Just like dancing, it involves your whole body. Join the local pool if this is your preferred form of physical activity, and you will get not only abs, but also arms and legs to die for if you’re diligent.

Tricks From the Bedroom

There are certain sex positions that double as exercises, according to “Fitness” magazine. Surprisingly, you don’t have to rush out in search of a copy of “Kama Sutra”, one of the best ab-related positions is the missionary. When your partner is on top of you, your abs work to absorb the strength of the thrust. Also try the arch, since it will not only work your abs, but tighten the muscles of your butt and thighs.

Pushups, Pull ups and Squats

These work out your arms, legs and behind, but they involve a whole lot of abwork too. Make sure you incorporate them into your workout routine for a full effect.

Don’t Do Five Thousand Sit Ups

Celebrity trainer Jackie Warner says that it’s not about how long your workout session is, it’s about how hard you work. Ten or twenty sit ups done right and to the max will give better results than five hundred done half-heartedly. So don’t worry about planning your whole day around a grueling session of sit ups. Do up to 50 in one go, but do them right.

Lift Weights

Weight lifting is important for every muscle group, since resistance training involves your whole body. Try arms first, and feel the muscles in your tummy burning. If you’re worried about overdoing it, lower the weight and increase number of repetitions.

Do Belly Dancing

If you’re into finding a new form of recreation, try belly dancing. The movements required to do the hip shaking will do wonders for your core, belly, back and love handles. Plus you will be learning some new, sexy moves to show off.

Nicole Scherzinger’s Tips

The Pussycat Dolls beauty shared her fitness secrets with Shape magazine. If you want abs like Nicole’s, do these exercises:
The Reverse Chop
Holding an exercise ball, extend your arms, and place feet slightly wider than your shoulders. Bend your knees slightly. Rotate your upper body to the left, twisting your torso, so that the ball is outside the left hip. Return to center, and then repeat to the right side. Do 12 to 15 repetitions, and then switch to doing these diagonally, bringing the ball from the lower left angle to the upper right, then alternate sides.
The Legwork
Lie on the floor face up, place your hands behind your head and bend your knees to a 90 degree angle. Bring your knees to your chest with an inhale, then exhale and bring them back up. Repeat for 15-20 times.
The Slow Sit Up
From the same starting position, bend your knees so that your feet are still on the floor. Extend arms and bring your head and shoulders up so your arms are pointing straight ahead of you. Lower and repeat. Do 20 repetitions.

Easy at Home Exercise 1

Lay on your back, bend your knees so that your feet are still on the floor. Lift head and upper back from the floor, and stretch your arms forward. With an inhale, move hands quickly up and down for five times, then another five while exhaling. Repeat in series of 10, and if your muscles start to cramp up, just roll over to your stomach and stretch.

Easy at Home Exercise 2

Lie on your back and rest on your forearms. Lift straight legs up towards the ceiling, and do not bend your knees until you’re finished. Start writing in the air with your feet. Again, don’t bend the knees, this is very important for your ab muscles. Write anything you like – letters, numbers, whole words. Each symbol should be an inhale, and when you exhale, bring feet back up to the starting position.

Easy at Home Exercise 3

Lie on the floor, knees bent. Put your hands behind your head, elbows out to the sides. With an inhale, sit straight up, and turn to both sides like you are checking if you can walk across the street, then lie back and exhale. Repeat in series of twenty, for as long as you are comfortable. Don’t forget to stretch afterwards!