The Real Way To Shrink Your Waist & Train Your Core

This video is unusually good, because it very clearly shows (and explains) some important biomechanical differences that a lot of people miss (resulting, for them, in making things worse rather than better):

Working the right muscles

Crunches are ineffective for flattening the stomach and can worsen posture by shortening abs and pulling the pelvis forward. So, what to do instead?

Before continuing, let’s just mention that nutrition is crucial—no workout will help if your gut is inflamed or diet is poor. But this video is about exercise technique, so let’s press on to that.

The transverse abdominis (TVA) is your natural core stabilizer, keeping your organs in place and holding you upright. If it’s weak, your gut will sink down and outwards, no matter how many crunches you did (which usually train only the rectus abdominis). You can check on the current state of your TVA by doing the “string test”; tie a string around your waist, and then bend to pick something up. If it tightens when lifting something, your TVA isn’t activating. The goal is for the string to loosen as you bend.

With that in mind, here’s how to train the TVA:

Stomach vacuums:

• Breathe deeply in tabletop position.
• Exhale slowly through pursed lips with your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
• Draw your belly button toward your spine (without sucking in).
• Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

Pelvic tilt activation:

• Lie on your back, knees bent, hand under your lower back.
• Tilt your pelvis so that your back presses into your hand. Hold 10 secs, repeat 10 times.

Range of motion test:

• Lift your legs while maintaining back contact with the floor.
• Find your TVA-controlled range. If your back lifts, reduce the range.
• Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

Stabilization training:

• Bird-dog (horse stack): alternate extending each opposite arm and leg, in the tabletop position. Hold 10–20 seconds per side.
• Swiss ball/rings plank: train your stabilizing muscles by maintaining your posture on unstable surface. Hold 10–30 seconds with good control.

Swiss ball crunches:

• Full spinal extension over the ball.
• Crunch up and squeeze your abs.
• Do 2 sets of 10 reps.

For more on all of this, plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

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Visceral Belly Fat & How To Lose It ← if you have an undue amount of visceral fat, it’ll result in a larger belly despite not having squishable (subcutaneous) fat over your muscles. This visceral (i.e. of the viscera; i.e. surrounding your internal organs) fat is much more of a health problem than anything on the other side of your abs, and is important to take care of. But fear not, because here’s how 🙂

Take care!