It doesn’t matter if you want to loose weight or just be in better shape, I am sure you’ve always dreamed of having a “six-pack”. We all want a much toner stomach with well-defined abdominal muscles. What is there to be done to achieve the goal?

First of all you need to know that there are three major muscle groups that form the abs: lower abdomen, upper abdomen and obliques (love handles). The lower abdomen starts at the waist line and stretches below it, while the upper abdomen is located right below where the ribs end. And we all know where the love handles are located: on the sides of the abdomen.

It’s important to know the difference between the groups because we need to work all the groups, including the back to insure a good posture. However, remember that only cardio exercises burn the fat all over the body and you should mix cardio with certain exercises to achieve the perfect abs.

To tone the upper abs you should do crunches and elbow to knee crunches, while when you want to work on your lower abs you should do reserve crunches. To work the obliques, the bicycle crunches are the best.

Start by doing 1 rep of 10-15 crunches (of any kind) and then steadily increase the number when it becomes easier to do one rep.