Best Exercises for a Flat Stomach
Get-Fit Guy looks at the most recent scientific studies to determine the two best (and surprising) exercises for a flat stomach.
I remember when I was 16 years old I saw an amazing contraption advertised on TV. It was a special device designed to hold up against your stomach while you engaged in a maximum abdominal contraction. It promised a fast six-pack and a mid-section that would surely turn heads at the beach. With my hard-earned money, I ordered the device and it arrived at my house a week later. I excitedly unwrapped it to find a cheap, plastic piece of equipment that I managed to break within a month. And unfortunately, my abs didn’t get any tighter.
Despite the unproven efficacy of made-for-TV stomach flattening, ab tightening and six-pack promising exercise devices, health clubs, home gyms, and exercise enthusiasts everywhere continue to amass everything from ab rollers to crunch machines to electrical muscle stimulators – all in the hopes of chasing the elusive flat abs.
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Do Ab Machines Work?
So do any of these ab machines actually work? The short answer is: yes – but much less than you think.
Here’s how:
In the episode How to Get a Flat Stomach, I explain that the best way to get a flat stomach is to include a workout made up of exercises that target all the muscles of your midsection, including your rectus abdominis (front of your abs), the external and internal obliques (sides of your abs), the transverses abdominis (bottom of your abs), and also the postural muscles of your low back. If you can somehow work all of these muscle groups into a single workout, then you can quickly, safely, and successfully get a flat stomach. In A Flat Stomach Exercise Routine I explain how to do a routine just like this.
But the problem is that most popular ab machines only target just one or a few of these muscle groups. And a few ab machines work all of these muscle groups, but elicit a very light contraction that isn’t strong enough to actually burn significant calories or tone stomach muscles.
Just a few examples of common ab exercises or ab machines that are “flawed” in this manner include:
-Crunches (only work the front of the abs, without a very strong contraction)
-The Ab Crunch Machine that you sit in at the gym (mostly just works your hip flexor “sitting” muscles, not your stomach)
-The Ab Roller machines designed to help you do better sit-ups and crunches without cheating (better than the crunch, but only work the front of your abs, and don’t provide much resistance at all)
-Bosu Balls and Big Exercise Balls (hyperextend your spine, which increases risk of low back injury, and only work the front of your abs)
What Ab Exercises Are Best?
It turns out that a recent study entiled “Systematic Review of Core Muscle Activity During Physical Fitness Exercises” actually looked at studies of just about every abdominal contraption that has ever existed, and compared them all. Most studies used electromyographic measurements of the muscles around your core. This allowed researchers to determine the actual electrical activity in the muscles. The higher the electrical activity, the higher the capability of an exercise to give you a flat stomach.
So (drumroll please) what were the 2 exercises that made the most muscles in your midsection fire with as much strength as possible? Crunches? Situps? A $197 device from an infomercial? Nope.
It turns out that the two best ab exercises can be done anytime, anywhere with minimal exercise equipment – little more than a basic dumbbell, barbell, kettlebell, or anything else that is remotely heavy. The exercises are:
That’s it! The squat simply involves holding a weight to your chest, placing a weight on your back or using your own body weight and sitting down in an imaginary chair without allowing your spine to collapse. The act of all those big and small muscles in your legs contracting combined with your big and small core muscles firing gives you maximum abdominal activation, not to mention a good calorie burn too. You can check out my episode on 13 squat variations for more tips on different types of squats.
You don’t need to go out of your way to do fancy ab exercises
The deadlift is relatively similar, but involves picking a weight off the ground, while using good form that relies on your hips and legs and not your lower back. You can simply click on either of the exercises above to see them performed by yours truly – with good form.
And not surprisingly, those clients have nice abs and a flat stomach.The nice thing about the results of this research is that you don’t need to go out of your way to do some fancy ab exercises or an “ab only” routine. You just include squats and deadlifts in your routine a couple times a week. Heck, in the same way that I have a pull-up bar in the door of my office that I do a few pull-ups on throughout the day, I have clients who simply keep a barbell or set of dumbbells in their garage and just step outside a few times a day to do a few deadlifts and squats.
Of course, as I also mention in the episode How to Get a Flat Stomach, even the very best flat stomach workout isn’t going to do much for you if those nice muscles you build are covered with a layer of nature’s comfortable camouflage – namely, fat. So here is where I recommend that you go read two previous articles to jump-start your understanding of how to mobilize your fat tissue: Which Workout Burns the Most Fat and How to Tone and Lose Fat in One Body Part.
If you have more questions about the best exercises for a flat stomach, paste them below or on Facebook.com/GetFitGuy!
For more tips on how to get the body of your dreams, plus how to work out for your unique body type, check out my book, Get-Fit Guy’s Guide to Achieving Your Ideal Body.
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