How to Improve a Flat Stomach for Men Through Yoga

Men commonly add bulk to their abdominal muscles with crunches, situps or heavy equipment at the gym. When you think of yoga for men, six-pack abs might not immediately come to mind, but yoga is a way to further enhance and flatten all of the abdominal muscles. Nearly every yoga pose requires you to engage the muscles of your core, protecting your back while lengthening and strengthening the stomach muscles.
Many yoga poses require abdominal strength.

Instructions

  1. Engage your abdomen throughout the yoga routine to activate the innermost layer of ab muscles, the transverse abdominis. Inhale deeply. As you exhale, pull your belly button in toward your spine, feeling your abdominal muscles tighten. Engaging your core will protect your spine while strengthening your abdominal muscles. For men, an engaged core ensures that all of the abdominal muscles are contracting during the exercises, resulting in long, lean muscles rather than only bulking up the top layer of muscle, the rectus abdominis.
  2. Create a routine focused on the abdomen. A well-rounded yoga routine will both stretch and strengthen the ab muscles, allowing them to become long and lean. Men can use their arm and shoulder strength to their advantage as they perform postures that flatten the stomach. Poses that require a great deal of arm and abdominal strength include plank, upward plank and side plank poses, sphinx and cobra and upward dog. Boat pose builds abdominal strength by lifting and holding your legs off the mat. Mix the strengthening poses with those that stretch the abs, like camel, warrior I, upward bow or seated twist pose to form a routine that focuses on the abdomen.
  3. Include breathing practice in your routine. Known as pranayama, a Sanskrit word loosely meaning, “expansion of the range of vital energy,” regular breathing practice circulates fresh blood and oxygen to your body’s organs, releases and reduces stress and strengthens your abdominal muscles. Begin by sitting in a comfortable position. Inhale through your nose, pulling the breath into your abdomen, chest and rib cage until you are full like a balloon. Slowly exhale through your nose, controlling the breath and releasing it first from the ribs and chest and finally the abdomen. Pull your belly button in toward your spine to release all of the air. Pause for a moment and repeat several times.

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