First, let me ask you a question: have you been doing countless sit-ups, crunches and side bends hoping to flatten your stomach, but you haven’t noticed a bit of difference whatsoever?

Heck, maybe you’ve even resorted to trying out those “As Seen on TV” ab gadgets you saw on late night informercials, just to see if anything would make a difference.

No need to be ashamed… I’ve made this mistake myself.

In fact, I struggled for years before I finally figured out the truth about getting lean, defined abs.  (I sure wish someone had let me in the info I’m about to share with you before I wasted so much money on useless gadgets and dedicated so many hours to doing “ab-targeted” exercises.)

Here’s the thing about ab exercises that’s so misleading:  When you do ab-targeted exercises like sit-ups, your muscles get sore, which makes you think you’re strengthening your abs.  There you are, crunching away thinking it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be looking beach ready with your rock-solid core, right?

…Yet weeks after you’ve religiously been doing your ab routine, your belly looks just as bloated and squishy as it did before.  All that time and pain for nothing!

Here’s the TRUTH…

Most people think that abs are made to crunch, twist, and bend, but in reality it’s the complete opposite.  The role of your abdominal muscles is to prevent your mid-section from crunching, twisting, and bending.  Yep… you heard it right, your abs are a stabilizing force designed to resist movement in order to protect your spine.

So even though you “feel the burn” when you do crunches and other traditional ab moves, you’re actually putting unnecessary pressure on your back, causing much more harm than good.  These isolated ab exercises can cause lower back injuries by forcing your spine to flex too much, and they do very little to actually strengthen your abs!!

The bottom line: Ab-targeted exercises will NOT burn off belly flab OR strengthen your abs.  Instead, they will make your back weaker and more prone to injuries.

So then how the heck do you get ripped abs?

It’s a lot easier than you might think, once you know what (and what not) to do.

Here are my top three simple, insanely effective strategies (#3 is my top fat-fighting secret weapon!).  If you actually take my advice, I think you’ll be flat-out amazed at how quickly your belly fat will seem to melt away, finally revealing those washboard abs that have been hiding underneath for all these years.

Alright, let’s get to it…

#1 - Do “Core” Exercises Instead

If you want to get rid of that muffin-top and shrink wrap your waistline, you need to do exercises that hit your entire mid-section, not just your abs!  Your abs are only one part of your “core” and in order to go from having flabby abs to being tight and defined all the way around your middle, you must strengthen your abs AND all of the muscles surrounding them.

Here’s an example of one of my favorite core exercise you can do (I’ve got many more of these to show you later on, so stay with me).

To do this exercise, you’re going to start in a “plank” position (keep your body straight, don’t let your butt sag to low or stick up too high).

Next, raise your left arm out straight in front of you and raise your right leg straight out behind you.  Hold this position for 5 seconds.  Now switch sides.  Repeat 5 times.

The reason this exercise is so effective is because you are not only working your abs, you are strengthening your entire core, toning things up while helping to actually protect your spine!

This brings me to my next tip, which has absolutely nothing to do with exercise, but if you don’t take my advice on this one, you will NEVER get flat abs — no matter how many core exercises you do…