Sculpt Your Abs (Without Sit-Ups)

If you want shredded six-pack abs, experts agree that you need to limit your carbohydrate intake, get plenty of sleep and minimize stress. And while you can’t spot reduce fat, you can focus your workouts to target muscle groups that can help sculpt your midsection and help your inner washboard shine through. It’s important to remember that there’s more to abs than just sit-ups.

In fact, according to the researchers at Harvard Medical School, you don’t even need to worry about sit-ups to tone your midsection. They suggest plank exercises, which recruit a better balance of muscles on the front, sides and back of the body than sit-ups, which only target just a few muscles. “Through dynamic patterns of movement, a good core workout helps strengthen the entire set of core muscles you use every day, leaving you with a stronger and more balanced body.”

Furthermore, training your obliques (located on either side of the abdomen between your hip flexors and your lats), will translate to a slimmer, more defined midsection—not to mention a stronger, more stabilized core. It will also land you those lower abdominal V-line cuts that are so lovingly referred to as “sex lines”.