ShareDreaming of six-pack abs or a sexy flat stomach? Make it a reality. Starting now.
Before you think about dropping and doing a thousand crunches before you wake up every morning, consider this. According to researchers at the University of Virginia, you have to do 250,000 crunches to burn one measly pound of fat.
So that’s 100 crunches a day for 7 years, to lose one pound of fat. Hmmm, no thanks.
Forget doing crunches to flatten your stomach and lose the extra fat. Is it even worth dedicating a whole 30-40 minute workout to your stomach? No. Aim for 10-15 minutes max each workout. That’s plenty, especially when you’re tight on time.
Best Exercise for a Flat Stomach
I promise this will only be a short rant. The best exercise is not a magic trick or a crazy gadget you get from an infomercial — and now you know it’s definitely not a crunch. Forget long, slow running. Before you even get to training, take the time to dial in your fat loss nutrition. The best exercise is discovering how to shop and prepare healthy, clean food. Or finding someone to do it for you 
Stop pouring junk down your trunk. Like this guy –>
So what does it mean when I refer to “your core”?
The definition includes almost all muscles of the torso. The smaller deep muscles (transverse abdominus and multifidius) the larger muscles that maintain spinal control and pelvic balance (rectus abdominus, quadratus lumborum), internal and external obliques, erector spinae, the latissimus dorsi and iliopsoas muscles. In other words, abs, obliques and lower back.
Remember the core is your powerhouse for movement! This is where the magic happens, and nearly every exercise in the book requires some degree of engagement from your torso.
Train your core to improve performance in it’s main roles: it stabilizes, moves, resists movement and lends support all at once.
While these moves in the Top 5 countdown may not seem to directly target your abs like traditional crunch exercises, we are training your core by incorporating the movements where they do the most work (i.e. lifting and twisting motions while standing), which ultimately leads to sexy, ripped abs!
Enough with the anatomy lesson, let’s get rocking and count it down folks.
Top 5 Unconventional Ab Exercises
5. Plank/Side Plank
Perhaps this first one is not so weird for you. I’m obsessed with this exercise and you should get on board too! Unless you live on 
Mars, I bet you’ve heard of the plank or do them already. Great place to start.
Now, here’s the secret. When it becomes easy to hold for 60 seconds, it’s time to make progress. Too often I see folks trying for 3-5 minutes planks and I think this is a waste of your time. Challenge yourself. Make it unstable (i.e. raise both arms and legs off the ground at the same time – hahaha c’mon that was super funny).
But really, raise an arm or leg and remember to keep your core engaged and locked in position. Avoid shaking your hips too much – this is not a J. Lo music video audition.
4. Core Rotations
Improve your rotational ability and train your obliques at the same time with another of my favorite moves. As your body fat percentage drops, your obliques will become visible. Now that’s sexy results. You should feel this move in the side of your torso, not your back.
Get started with only your bodyweight, but if that’s too easy, progress by adding resistance using a cable, elastic or dumbbells. You can also add in a wood chop movement to vary the angle.
3. Glute Bridge
This is one of the “indirect” exercises I was talking about earlier. Great activation exercise for your glutes, and requires your core to work too. My clients used to complain: “Blah, blah blah what is this good for, I don’t feel anything…You are one crazy Aussie…”
For starters, stop cheating. If you’re not feeling anything, you’re doing it the wrong way. Focus on squeezing your glutes, and driving your hips to the ceiling. This will help integrate your legs with your lower back, and improve your overall hip mobility.
This move is simple yet super effective and can still be progressed to make it challenging. Add a TRX, stability ball or BOSU variation and you will see the difference.
2. Kettlebell Swing
What an awesome fat loss exercise! The rotation and swinging movement recruits all the large muscle groups to control the swing. But where is the control center? You guessed it, the core. Bonus.
Not only does this move hit your core, it’s a great fat loss exercise because it creates metabolic disturbance. This just means you will burn a ton more calories in less workout time, and in the period post exercise.
1. Overhead Squat
The grand champion! Definitely not your traditional ab exercise. But this move is the real deal when it comes to hitting your core. 
Practice your technique. Keep your weight over the arches of your feet and your arms straight overhead. When starting out, only use your bodyweight or hold wide grip with a broomstick. A great progression is with the TRX. Just a warning, make sure your technique is awesome before you start stacking the weights on.
If you’re doing it right you should feel tension in your abs. As I say to my clients… “Suck it up” which is a friendly KV way of saying “engage your core and brace it tight.”
The Final Word
There are many more core building exercises you can try, and I’m not saying there is no place for other ab exercises in an overall workout routine. But these multi-joint, functional moves I’ve listed will serve you best when trying to maximize your time in the gym, and accelerate your fat loss results.
As always if you have any injury concerns, check with your trusted health care professional before you try any new tricks that may cause a problem.
If you want to get a ripped, flat stomach and skyrocket your metabolism, here are the top 7 simple, step-by-step ab routines to replace boring, painful crunches you won’t find anywhere else.
==> Get 7 FREE Ab Workouts here
Progression is the secret ingredient to getting continued results, and not hitting a plateau on your fat loss journey! Challenge yourself, always try to improve and change it up to keep it spicy.
Now it’s crunch time. Or not.
Boy I’m cracking myself up today…
Your Coach,
KV
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