Having flat abs after 30 is a little harder than it is in your teens and 20’s, and it requires different strategies. But fear not, getting flat abs can be done!
Here are three steps, and if you apply all of them at the same time, you will be amazed at how quickly you can see noticeable results in achieving great flat abs.
Why not take a tape measure right now, and measure your waist, then try these things for just a couple weeks? It would be a fun personal experiment!
Listen to the podcast version here:
3 Fastest Methods To Get Flat Abs
Method 1: Reduce Bloating
Let’s talk about bloat issues first. As we age, our diet and lifestyle often leads to some bloating in the stomach that fluctuates, but generally makes our stomach look bigger than it should be. Cutting down on this bloating can be the fastest, easiest way to have flatter abs!
To achieve that amazing flat abs, start by eliminating or at least cutting back on the following.
First, start with FODMAP Vegetables. The top offenders are:
- beans
- lentils
- artichokes
- asparagus
- onions
- garlic
But there are others worth checking. Just use the google searching “FODMAP vegetables” for a complete list, to discover if there are others that you think are causing you bloating problems.
The second biggest cause of bloating is the excess fructose included in fruits, as well as concentrated fruits and anything that has fructose added into it.
Fructose is a sneaky additive that is often in foods we wouldn’t even expect.
But the most obvious high fructose foods are:
- fruit juices
- sugary soft drinks
- dried fruits
- sweetened yogurts
To cut back on bloating, you really need to just eliminate these.
Third are all other types of carbonated drinks, even healthy drinks like sparkling water or Kombucha, and beer is the worst of them. It’s called “beer belly” for a reason.
Fourth is dairy. Many people don’t have the right enzymes or enough enzymes to really break down dairy properly and it creates gas and bloating in the stomach.
Fifth are sugar free products that have Sorbitol, Mannitol and Xylitol in them. Be a label reader and get rid of products that have those additives.
A Lifestyle Tip To Obtain Flat Abs:
If you want to enjoy some of these foods in moderation, take a probiotic, prebiotic, enzyme blend 20 minutes before you eat.
You may already take products like this, however they sometimes don’t have all three elements, prebiotics, probiotics, and enzymes, and even if they do, you may be taking them at the wrong time, or the product may not be very effective. Try them 20 minutes before a trigger food or meal, and if the product is high quality, it should prep your stomach for digesting the food with minimal gas and bloating.
Those of you taking our own Eat Anything Rx already know how life changing it can be to take a high end supplement like this 20 minutes before you eat, and how much it cuts down bloating and stomach pain after trigger meals.
For those of you who haven’t tried it check out these verified testimonials for yourself, see them for yourself here.
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Method 2: Shore Up Your Transverse Abs
Sit ups, crunches, and other popular flat ab workouts are great for the vertical muscles running up and down our abs. The ones that look so great on somebody with a six-pack.
But underneath that six-pack, there lies one of the main core muscle groups that contain and support our abdominal and lumbar region. Known as the Transversus Abdominis, these particular muscle group is the deepest layer of the 6 abdominal muscles.
They sit below the other ab muscles and go from the lower ribs to the pelvis.
Women, who had bore children, will especially benefit from focusing on this muscle group. As their tummies had been stretched in the duration of their gestation.
Pro Tip:
Doing simple exercises focused on the Transverse Abs is a great way to flatten your abs.
Assuming you are in reasonable shape already, you can work these muscles more often than larger muscle groups, because you don’t really “break them down” like you might your quads or biceps in a muscle building routine.
Instead, they are used in a constant, light movement all day long and respond well to frequent exercise.
The number one exercise to tighten these up quickly has many names, the worst of which is by the author Tim Ferriss, who calls them the Cat Vomit exercise in his book “The 4-Hour Body”.
Less fun but more polite names include Abdominal Hollowing or Cat Cow. However, this is a variation on the famous Yoga pose, Cat Cow. As you go into cow position, then expel most of your air, go into an aggressive cat, and bear down as hard as you can on your core while hunched like that.
The first time you do this, you’ll be amazed how much of a workout you get in 10 seconds. Don’t believe me? Try it right now! And speaking of which, you can do these any time.
Just 4-5 sets is a decent workout, which you can do daily! Although 3-4 times per week will be effective in achieving flat abs, as well.
Additional exercises that will tighten up these muscles are:
- side planks
- up and down planks
- shoulder tap planks
- bicycle crunches, done with focus and really good form
Work these into your regular routine and watch as your abs get flatter, just from strengthening these muscles that are allowing your stomach to sag more than it should.
Method 3: Core Work Improvements
This leads me nicely into my last point on flattening abs quickly. Core work needs to be done more often as we get older if we want flat abs.
They won’t come as a by product of workout classes, weight training, Pilates, or Yoga… they will only come from direct, frequent work.
For example, I used to plug core work in at the end of my workout plan. But more often than not, I always find myself getting tired, and just didn’t feel like doing it, so it didn’t get done.
I made a switch to putting core first, and that made a big difference. Also, some days I do core focused workouts as the whole workout.
Apple Fit and other fitness apps have excellent 5, 10, and 20 minute core routines. These routines can either be done as a standalone or as a warmup to other workouts.
A Summary On Getting Flat Abs Quick
So, to get flat abs quickly, here’s a summary of the whole plan:
- Start by eliminating bloating, that’s the fastest, easiest thing to do
- Work transverse ab work into your routine 3-4 times per week
- Raise the amount of time and energy you put into your general core work
This will pay off. Not only from the vanity aspect, but your whole body depends on a healthy core to perform well in any sport. Or, just in life!
And remember to download the Dirobi UnDiet, which gives a fantastic eating plan to go along with this.
