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How to Strengthen Your Abs While You Cook and Clean

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When the holidays roll around, our healthy eating habits tend to fall by the wayside. All those pies, cookies, and cakes are simply too good to resist! What’s worse, holiday travel to see beloved friends and family members can leave us with little time for our regular workout routines. The solution? The top-rated Flex Belt ($155), QVC

This device, which can be used at work, while cooking, or even while watching your favorite shows, offers up a 30-minute workout that will tone, firm, and strengthen your abdominal muscles. All you have to do is strap it on directly over your skin and use the included remote to select one of 10 workout programs — the machine will do the rest. 

It works when you place three medical-grade gel pads on designated electrodes that are built into the belt to deliver electric pulses to the body — more specifically, to your belly button area and obliques. These pulses cause muscles to contract in a process known as electronic muscle stimulation. With intensity levels ranging from 1 to 150, results range from a mild tingling and slight contraction to the desired deep contractions that will simultaneously flex all of your stomach muscles, ultimately strengthening your core.

Flex Belt

QVC

Once you’re finished using it, you can simply roll it up and place it in the included carrying pouch until it’s time to use it again (it also comes with a power controller, a charger, a belt extender, and a user’s manual, as well as a limited two-year warranty). 

A consumer survey saw 100 percent of participants reporting that their abs felt more toned and firm after six weeks and 92.3 percent acknowledging that the firmness of their abs had been increased. While a 2005 study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine concluded that similar ab devices provided more than half of its participants with improvement in isometric abdominal strength. 

The FDA has also cleared the Flex Belt as a class II medical device to help those with impaired muscle function, such as stroke victims. 

Manufacturer’s recommend that you use it at least five days a week for maximum results, beginning at an intensity of 20 and working your way up from there. 

This belt has garnered fans all over the world, including Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars Denise Richards and Lisa Rinna, both of whom are spokeswomen for the brand. While users caution that the Flex Belt is not a weight loss tool, and will not lower the number you see on the scale, it has more than 500 five-star reviews on QVC alone with regard to its core-strengthening powers. 

“I am well aware that nothing replaces a traditional sit up, but this is a great product,” wrote one happy buyer. “I get my ab workout more than I did before I purchased it — and do my chores simultaneously. While it has not given me a six-pack, it has absolutely made my core stronger.” 

Raved another: “I look forward to using this everyday — can’t believe the change in my core.”

Find out more about how it works with the below video

Where to buy: $155, QVC 

This story originally appeared on our sister site, Woman’s World

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