A flat stomach isn’t something worth pursuing because of how it will make you look. A waistline that’s in proportion to your height is one marker of being a healthy weight, and this simple string test can determine your waist-to-height ratio.

If you find out you need to trim the fat around your middle, the best place to start is not with the exercises on this page. You’ll want to begin by ensuring you’re eating a healthy diet, then undertake some workouts designed to help you lose fat. You can’t target fat loss in specific areas of the body, but by powering through resistance circuits like these that work a variety of muscles while also ramping up your heart rate, you’ll burn truckloads of calories and lower your overall body fat percentage.

Then you can turn to strengthening the muscles around your stomach and even begin the process of sculpting a six-pack. The good news is that having begun a fat-loss fitness regime, you have a head start on both counts. Compound exercises like thrusters and kettlebell swings work the midriff muscles along with many other areas of the body, making them a time-saving pick for those trying to strengthen their core.

But it’s still worth dedicating some time to exercises that focus on the muscles around your stomach. You’ll be rewarded with improved posture as well as performance advantages in whatever type of activity floats your boat – running, swimming, weightlifting or team sports.

To help you out we asked Joel Freeman, Beachbody super-trainer and co-creator of the Core De Force workout, to pick a variety of moves for beginner, intermediate and advanced gym-goers… and we’ve added a few of our faves too.

Beginner Stomach Exercises

Prayer crunch

“Lie on your back with your feet flat on the ground and knees bent,” says Freeman. “Extend your arms and bring your hands together between your knees. Curl your chin towards your chest, lift your shoulders off the ground and reach your hands as far forwards as you can. Lower your shoulder blades back towards the ground.”

Side crunch

“Lie on your back with your feet flat on the ground and knees bent,” says Freeman. “Extend both arms towards your feet. Curl your chin towards your chest, lift your shoulders off the ground, pull your bellybutton into towards your spine and reach one arm forwards to tap the heel of each foot, then the other, without lowering your shoulders back to the ground in between.”

Rope climb

“Lie on your back with both legs extended towards the ceiling, your elbows bent and your hands on your chest,” says Freeman. “Curl your chin towards your chest, lift your shoulder blades off the ground and reach one arm at a time towards the opposite foot – the sort of hand-over-hand movement you’d make if climbing a rope. Keep your shoulder blades lifted and core engaged throughout.”

Reverse crunch

This variation on the crunch most people are familiar with involves moving your legs to your chest, rather than raising your torso off the floor, and it’s actually the more effective of the two moves. That’s because it hits your entire abs region and the lower abs in particular, an area for which the standard crunch doesn’t do a whole lot. The reverse crunch is also easy to do correctly, while sloppy form often results in people who knock out a load of crunches having sore necks (rather than sore abs) the following day.

To perform the reverse crunch, lie on your back and raise your legs so your thighs are vertical and your knees are bent at 90°. Use your abs to draw your knees in to your chest and lift your hips off the ground. Hold for a second, then lower slowly.

Hollow hold

This isometric hold is a gymnastics staple and will help you build the strength to perform all manner of advanced moves in future. Lie on your back with your arms extended behind your head. Press your lower back into the floor and raise your arms, shoulders and legs off the ground. Hold that position, but if at any point your lower back leaves the floor end the rep – you’ll be doing more harm than good. That’ll probably happen pretty quickly when you first attempt the move, but work up to holding the position for 30 seconds at a time.

Knees to elbow

Start in the top press-up position with both hands flat on the ground under your shoulders and your body forming a straight line from your neck to your heels.

Brace your core and, keeping your hips square to the ground throughout, slowly lift one leg off the floor. Bend your knee to bring your leg up towards your chest until your knee and elbow touch. Maintaining the tension in your core, slowly move the raised leg back to its starting position. Alternate sides with each rep, and aim for three sets of ten reps each side – that’ll really have your stomach muscles working.

Dead bug

This is a great move for working both the upper and lower abs without putting pressure on your neck or lower back. Lie on your back with your arms extended above you and your knees bent at 90° and positioned above your hips. Simultaneously extend your right arm out behind you and your left leg forwards, then bring them back to the starting position. Repeat with the opposite limbs. Keep your lower back in contact with the floor throughout.

Intermediate Stomach Exercises

Bent-knees windshield wiper

“Lie on your back with your feet off the floor and knees bent at a 90° angle,” says Freeman. “Extend your arms out to the sides with your palms flat on the floor. Keeping your head on the ground and core engaged, drop your knees over towards the right, stopping 15cm from the ground. Pause for three seconds and then reverse the movement to the opposite side.”

Scissor kick

“Lie on your back with your knees bent towards your chest and your hands under your glutes,” says Freeman. “Curl your chin towards your chest and lift your shoulder blades off the ground. While keeping your lower back pressed into the ground, extend your legs, holding them 15cm above the ground, and begin to criss-cross the feet.”

Plank shoulder tap

“Start in the top press-up position with your hands directly under your shoulders and your feet hip-distance apart,” says Freeman. “Keeping your head, hips and heels in a straight line, and your core and glutes engaged, lift one hand and tap the opposite shoulder. Continue at a steady pace, alternating sides.”

Russian twist

The Russian twist is one of the best exercises for targeting your obliques – the muscles that run down the sides of your stomach and are essential to performing any kind of twisting movement. Sit on the ground with your feet planted. Lean back until your torso is at a 45° angle and raise your feet off the ground. Link your hands in front of your chest and then rotate your torso so your arms go all the way over to one side. Then rotate all the way in the other direction. You can make this move easier by putting your feet on the ground, or make it harder by holding a weight like a sandbag, medicine ball or light dumbbell.

Leg raise

This exercise focuses on the lower abs, making it the perfect foil to the classic crunch, which tends to work only the upper abs. Lie on the floor with your legs extended and together. Keeping your legs as straight as possible, lift them to point at the ceiling or as close as you can get. Lower, without touching the floor with your legs or feet, and repeat.

See related 

• The Best Abs Exercises For All Levels Of Gym-Goer
• The Best Core Exercises For All Levels Of Gym-Goer

Advanced Stomach Exercises

Dumbbell flutter kick

“Lie on your back with your knees bent towards your chest, holding a dumbbell by your chest,” says Freeman. “Curl your chin towards your chest and lift your shoulders off the ground, then extend your legs until they’re at a 45° angle to the floor and extend your arms towards the ceiling. Lower one leg until it is around 10cm above the floor, then alternate raising each leg at a fast but controlled pace, keeping your lower back glued to the floor throughout.”

Bicycle crunch

“Lie on your back with your hands behind your head and your elbows wide, and both hips and knees bent at a 90° angle so your lower legs are perpendicular with the floor,” says Freeman. “Curl your shoulders off the ground, extend your right leg and twist your right elbow to the outside of the left knee. Bring your torso back to the centre then and twist in the opposite direction, while switching which leg is extended. Continue to alternate at a steady pace.”

Dumbbell extension

“Lie on your back with your knees bent towards your chest and arms extended towards the ceiling, holding one dumbbell in both hands,” says Freeman. “Keeping your lower back pressed into the ground, extend your legs and move your arms behind your head, bringing your biceps towards your ears and keeping your legs around 10cm off the ground. Hold the extended position for two seconds, then bend the knees back in and bring the dumbbell back up.”

Abs roll-out

To do the abs roll-out you’ll need an abs roller or a barbell with two plates on. Get on your knees and hold the roller or barbell with both hands. With a straight back, extended arms and braced core, slowly lean forwards to straighten your body, making the roller or the barbell glide forwards for a slow three- to five-second count.

Once you’ve reached as far forwards as you comfortably can, get ready for the hard part: you need to roll back to your starting position. This is what takes the abs roll-out from a standard stomach exercise to something really quite taxing. After you’re back up, breathe, congratulate yourself for completing a rep and then go again. Never go further down than you feel your back can comfortably support. Aim for three sets of five roll-outs.

As we wave goodbye to the colder weather, we also wave hello to bikini season *gulps*. Fortunately, there's no better time to whittle your waist for tummy-baring tops and body-boosting swimwear. A few oblique moves can easily add some definition to your side, so try these simple exercises for a little extra va va voom!

These five basic yet effective exercises target the obliques (the side abdominal muscles). Shaping up this area does wonders in complimenting a toned tum and waist, so don't think that you've got the mid-section covered if all you're doing are planks and crunches.

All you need to complete this workout is a medicine ball, Swiss ball and a little bit of motivation. Use a medicine ball that challenges you to the fullest without compromising your form.

How To Do This Oblique Workout

Kit You'll Need

• 3-8kg medicine ball
• Swiss ball

Beginners Sets 2 Reps 10

Intermediate Sets 3 Reps 15

Advanced Sets 4 Reps 15

Ankle touches

Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Crunch your shoulder blades off the floor so that you are facing forwards. With arms straight and parallel to the floor, reach your right hand to your right ankle, then your left hand to your left ankle. Keep your shoulder blades off the floor throughout.

Leg circles

Lie on the floor with arms out to the sides flat on the floor for support. Hold your legs about 6 inches off the floor, extended. Rotate your lower body towards the left, bringing your knees in towards your chest. Lower to the right, keeping the knees drawn in, then extend them as your rotate back to the start. This should be performed in a circular flowing motion.

Leg twists

Lie on the floor with arms flat for support. With a medicine ball gripped between your lower legs, extend your legs towards the ceiling. Slowly lower your feet to the left until they almost reach the ground, then raise them to the start and lower to the right.

Plank circles

With feet on the floor and forearms on a Swiss ball, keep your body in plank position in a straight line. Make circular clockwise motions with your elbows for half of the set, then in the opposite direction for the rest of the set.

Russian twist

Sit on the floor with legs bent and feet a few inches from the floor. Hold a medicine ball close to your chest and lean back slightly. Twist your upper body to the right, then to the left, keeping the medicine ball close to your chest throughout.

This article first appeared in Women’s Fitness

The problem with sit-ups is it can be hard to tell whether you are doing them properly. Are you sitting up too high? Not enough? Should you have your hands behind your head or in front of you?

By incorporating a medicine ball into the humble sit-up you give yourself a tangible, physical target to aim for, while building upper-body strength as you take the weight of the ball. The heavier the medicine ball, the harder it will be and the more benefit you will get from the move. Be careful not to goo to heavy straight away though – trust us when we say you don't want to know what it feels like to have a medicine ball dropped on your nose.

Start with the ball in your hands with your hands and feet off the floor (see main picture above).

Crunch up to place the ball between your knees. Return to the start then repeat the move to grab the ball back.

THE COACH

Laura Garrod is a strength and conditioning coach at Full Potential, a specialist running and triathlon coaching company. She has over 14 years’ experience of training in endurance sports including rowing, long-distance running and triathlon.

THE GOAL

‘By doing dynamic exercises to strengthen your core, you’ll improve your balance and posture and decrease the risk of injury, and that will ultimately make you a much stronger and faster athlete, no matter your sport,’ says Garrod. ‘This session is not about getting a six-pack, it’s about making powerful upper- and lower-body movements smooth and stable.’

THE WORKOUT

‘I recommend doing this session at least twice a week, on a day when you have no other training,’ says Garrod. ‘Before starting the workout, make sure you have completed at least a five-minute warm-up of dynamic stretches, such as bent-over torso rotations and leg swings, to help increase the range of motion of your joints and muscles. Do the exercises back-to-back in a circuit style with a one-minute rest between each circuit. Aim for three circuits to begin with, progressing to five as you improve.’

Beginner: do each exercise for 20sec
Intermediate do each exercise for 30sec
Advanced do each exercise for 45sec

1 Gym ball pike Get into a press-up position with your shins on a gym ball. Engaging your core, raise your hips until the tops of your feet are on the ball, taking your bodyweight on your hands. Extend back to the starting position.

2 Side plank twist Start in a side plank position with your top arm raised. Bring your arm down and reach under your body, then return to the start position. Repeat for the prescribed time, then switch sides and repeat on the other side.

3 Back extension Lie on a gym ball with your sternum over the centre of it, keeping your feet on the floor. Engage your glutes and lower back to raise your torso. Lower back to the start position.

4 Russian twist Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet lifted. Holding a kettlebell in front of your chest, lean back slightly so your body and thighs make a shallow ‘V’ shape. Twist as far as you can to one side, then to the other.

5 Spider-Man press-up Start in a press-up position with your hands under your shoulders, body in a straight line from shoulders to heels. Lower your chest, lift one leg and bring your knee forward so that it touches your elbow. Go back to the start and repeat on the other side.

6 Lunge with rotation Stand with your hands together, held straight out in front of you. Step forward into a lunge until your back knee is just off the floor. Keeping your hips pointing forward, rotate your torso to one side as far as you can go. Turn back and step back out of the lunge to the start position. Repeat on the other side.