Ab Exercises for a Toned Tummy

The No-Crunch Zone

Use these creative core moves to strengthen and slim your tummy
By The Editors of Women's Health womenshealth

Bye-Bye Belly Fat!

The key to a sculpted midsection is using smart and effective stabilizing moves. But if your body fat is too high, it won't matter how wisely you work your abs—they won't show. That's why you need to add those moves to a full-body strength and cardio routine that will boost your metabolism, blast fat, and finally uncover those abs you've been working so hard to develop.

And while the exercises can be thrown into your workout at random, that tactic will get you just a fraction of their benefits. For full value, work on progression. Each pair of moves fulfills one of the three categories described in Reveal Your Abs—for Good!. You'll first master some basic stabilization exercises, and then do tougher variations of them. Then you'll advance to the dynamic-stabilization and integrated-stabilization moves.

Here's how it works: After a 10- minute dynamic warm-up, do the first pair of exercises as instructed, then finish with a total-body workout. Do this three times a week on nonconsecutive days for two weeks, then go to the next card. Repeat the pattern over eight weeks until you've used all four cards.

Adapted from The New Rules of Lifting for Abs: A Myth-Busting Fitness Plan for Men and Women Who Want a Strong Core and a Pain- Free Back, by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove (Avery, December 2010).


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