If you could choose between a lifetime supply of cream cakes or a washboard tummy, what would it be? I’m assuming you picked the latter, because it seems that women the world over are obsessed by firm ‘abs’.

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Turn on the TV before 7.00am any weekday morning and you’ll be bombarded with advertisements for ‘ab rock-and-rollers’ that are supposed to transform your gut from flab to ‘fab’. But, aside from the genetically gifted models who advertise these contraptions, the people doing the most crunches, curls and twists are often the ones with the least definition in their midsections. That’s because these machines don’t efficiently engage your abdominal muscles.

The good news – if you hate sit-ups – is that there are loads of exercises that target your tummy, and they don’t involve going anywhere near a floor mat. These moves use your own body’s resistance to guarantee a tough workout.

The first step to flatter abdominal muscles is making sure your abs are contracted during any workout, but especially during Pilates, yoga and strength training exercises. Basically, this means sucking your tummy in as far as possible and tilting your pelvis forward. Engaging your abdominal muscles during any resistant movements or aerobics (or even while you’re just walking around or sitting at your desk) makes your abs work harder, and protects your lower back too.

The muscle you really need to hit when you’re exercising is the transverse abdominis. This is the deepest internal stomach muscle, and it runs horizontally right across your abdomen. Its job is to apply pressure to the abdomen and keep all your organs in place.

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