The truth about rolling back the ab flab (getting beyond the crunches)

Six-pack abs -- everyone wants them, but only some know the best ways to get them. Contrary to popular belief, it's not just about staying loyal to the standard crunches. The secret to the six-pack is more complex and incorporates a healthful diet to reduce fat, cardio to get lean and let those abs show, and functional exercises that consistently engage the core muscles, which also involve the back. Those key abdominal muscle groups include the rectus abdominis (the ones along the front that comprise the six-pack); the internal and external obliques that flank the rectus abdominis and help the trunk rotate; and the deep muscle layer called the transversus abdominis that lends stability to the pelvis. Before being tempted by those late-night infomercials promising rock-hard abs in five minutes, read what these personal trainers have to say:

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Jon Baraglia

National director of personal training development for Bally Total Fitness:

The truth about abs is that you have a layer of fat between the skin and the muscle, and it doesn't matter how many crunches you do, if you don't cut down that layer of fat, you'll never see your abs. You have to do exercises that are high in caloric expenditures -- compound joint movements like squats, lunges, lower body exercises that recruit a lot of muscle fibers because they're incorporating more than one muscle group. The overall result is that you burn more calories.

There is no such thing as spot reduction. You're not going to lose fat in your midsection if all you're doing is crunches. Crunches burn very few calories compared with other things you can do.

People who aren't overweight [but still have that layer of fat] can bump up the intensity of their workouts. Also, a lot of people like to shy away from resistance training and focus on cardio, but resistance training increases lean muscle mass, and you burn more calories to maintain that lean muscle mass, so your body's daily caloric expenditure increases.

One great exercise is a simple bicycle crunch -- alternate bringing your elbow to the opposite knee. That rotation is good for your abs and obliques. Another good one is the captain's chair [an exercise using equipment that looks like a chair with no seat; the body is supported by the arms as the legs come up to the chest]. Your lower body is unstable, so when you bring your knees up to your chest, you have to call on all the muscles in the core. In the advanced version, the legs come straight up [at a 90-degree angle].