Top 3 exercises to do for a flat stomach

It’s really important to know that doing abdominal exercises won’t help to get rid of stomach fat.

There are some great exercises that can be done (and I will tell you 3 of my favourites in this blog post) to flatten the stomach and contribute to toned abs but to get actually rid of the stomach fat you need to work on overall fat loss.

Short and sharp: Sit-ups and crunches won’t give you abs!

Here are my 3 favourite core exercises to do in the gym:

1.) Plank

2.) Hanging leg raises

3.) TRX pikes (or an easier version are TRX knee tucks)

But why don’t sit ups help with a flatter stomach?

• sit ups and crunches shorten the rectus (abs) which can lead to hunching which in turn makes you look like you have more stomach fat than you actually do; these exercises don’t help reduce the actual fat on your abdomen

• when trying to achieve a flatter stomach you want to look at exercises that lengthen the front of the body and strengthen your posterior chain (back of the body) instead of focusing on exercises that shorten the front of the body

• the reason why you hold stomach fat won’t be solved by doing abdominal work but is most likely linked to your cortisol (stress) levels or has another hormonal or dietary origin

• if you are continuously doing a whole lot of crunches and sit ups you will thicken the muscle itself over time which doesn’t make you have abs because it’s the fat you need to lose on top of your muscles rather than making the muscle thicker