Most people have this as one of their fitness goals. Wanting a flat tummy isn't uncommon, but actually achieving one, unfortunately, is. We know that sometimes, it's not for lack of effort though! You've probably just been going about it all wrong. That changes TODAY. Grab our free guide to read about what you've been doing wrong, and how to adjust your workout to actually GET RESULTS.

1. Flat Tummy
Guide

2. When I get a new client I always ask them what their goals are. The goals
range from fat loss to muscle building and toning to athletic performance.
This makes perfect sense…people are all quiet different…however almost
ALL of these people will mention one specific thing…one common goal…
everyone wants a FLAT and TIGHT stomach. Everyone wants an amazing
MIDSECTION. Lean and sculpted abs and obliques signify health, youth,
vitality and strength. The core is what connects the upper to the lower body
and is responsible for supporting the spine, rotating the body, maintaining
good posture and it is greatly involved in all physical movement. Sports
coaches and athletes know this which is why direct core work and indirect
core stability work are major parts of exercise programs. Much of this doesn’t
really matter to the average person though…what most people are really
concerned with is LOOKING good.
flat tummy guide
flat tummy guide

3. Midsection training, exercises and
techniques are plentiful on the
internet. Every single year new fads and
new sales hooks are introduced to the
midsection training market yet people
are more frustrated than ever with their
progress. This is too bad because
getting a flat and sculpted midsection
is actually quiet simple….yes I said
SIMPLE, but I didn’t say easy. It does
take work but the formula isn’t too
complicated. If you apply it you can
expect tremendous results that come
fast and consistently.
Below I will talk to you about the biggest
myths and mistakes people make when
training to get a flat belly and I will teach
you how YOU can focus on what is most
important so that you can FINALLY see
the midsection you’ve always wanted.
Although there are countless mistakes
that people make when targeting this
area I have identified the top three
myths I have seen over and over and
over again in my 20 years managing
gyms and training clients.
flat tummy guide

4. I know you think im crazy for saying cardio isn’t a great way to burn body fat
and before you stop reading and you write me off as a loon please allow me to
explain. Yes cardio burns a lot of calories…yes cardio burns more calories than
other exercise modalities when comparing time for time…yes cardio can show
someone some initial and encouraging fat loss. Those are all true and those
are ALSO part of the problem.
I am going to teach you something very interesting about your body…it is an
ADAPTATION MACHINE. It adapts to stresses and its environment constantly
and its goal is to keep you alive and to keep your body EFFICIENT. You see our
bodies evolved over thousands of years and during most of this time food was
VERY scarce. Through generations and generations the bodies that learned
to be the more efficient survived and this process happened many times. You
are the result of this process and you have a body that doesn’t know that food
is plentiful. Your body still adapts the way bodies did 100,000 years ago and
when we do lots and lots of cardio we burn lots and lots of calories. We do use
our muscles however when we do cardio we use our muscles in aerobic ways
which does not require much strength…it only requires endurance.
myth #1
cardio is a great way to burn belly fat
flat tummy guide

5. Lots of cardio sends the following signal…”become efficient with
calories cause we need to CONSERVE.” That’s right..cardio tells the
body to conserve calories. This process means your body learns
(in a very short time) to burn LESS calories when you are active but
especially when you are NOT active. In other words your
metabolism SLOWS DOWN. This is known as metabolic adaptation
and is a well known phenomena.
A great example of this can be seen with the popular show The
Biggest Loser. This TV reality show has obese contestants lose a ton
of weight through extreme high intensity cardio based workouts
with restrictive diets. Sure they all lose tons of weigh but almost all
of them gain it back with SLOWER metabolisms than ever before.
The key to TRULY burning belly fat is to SPEED up the metabolism
not to slow it down…and the best way to train the body so that it
adapts is to send a signal which tells the body to GET STRONGER.
Getting stronger requires more muscle which also burns more
calories….not just when you exercise but also when you just sit
there. Imagine that…living your life as you normally would except
you now NATURALLY burn an additional 200 or 400 or 800 calories
a day!!! I have seen it with my own eyes many times when I have
clients focus on building strength instead of cardio. This is all done
with traditional resistance training…in other words if you want to
get a leaner midsection you need to LIFT WEIGHTS.
flat tummy guide

6. Sometimes in fitness we hear the same advice so many times
that we accept it as truth. It becomes COMMON
KNOWLEDGE. This is true in so many areas of fitness training
but it seems to be especially true when it comes to how to train
the core. No doubt you have heard that the abs and muscles
of the core need to be trained with high reps. They are said to
tone and sculpt whereas training in lower rep ranges builds big
blocky and bulky muscles. This is frustratingly FALSE.
Training with sufficient resistance is the fastest way to
strengthen and develop all of your muscles including
the muscles that are under your belly.You’re
probably shaking your head…how could this be true
when we have been told for so long that high reps
are the key. In order to understand this we first must
understand MUSCLE FIBERS.
Muscles are made up of hundreds of thousands of
individual fibers…these fibers are what are responsible
for how your muscles move and contract…however there are
different TYPES of muscle fibers. Some are responsible for
endurance type activities like long distance running (Type 1)
and others are responsible for strength and power movements
like sprinting (Type 2). In fact MOST of your muscles are
comprised of these two types of muscles fibers. Knowing this
myth #2
not training with resistance
is important because the type 1 muscle fibers DON’T grow…
or at least they grow very little. Type 2 fibers change and shape
at much faster rates and they respond FAST in comparison to
their endurance focused counterparts. When you do set after
set of high rep crunches you are stimulating the WRONG
muscle fibers.This is why you see such slow or even no
progress even after hours of high rep ab and core work.
If you want to see results faster the
key is to train the muscle fibers that
will VISIBLY change the fastest and
the most. This means focusing on
LOWER reps ranges…10-15 to
be exact. Pick difficult exercises
that you can do with good form
and once you get good at them
and can do more than 15 reps
either add resistance (by holding a
weight for example) or move to a more difficult exercise. I love
seeing the looks on my clients faces after a few weeks of
heavier core work…they cant believe how QUICKLY their
midsections tighten up and sculpt simply by adding resistance.
If you want faster results with your midsection training start
going heavier…you will see and feel the difference within weeks.
flat tummy guide
“Training with sufficient
resistance is the fastest way
to strengthen and develop all
of your muscles including the
muscles that are
under your belly.”

7. 99% of all midsection exercises that are promoted in online training programs revolve around
training one main muscles…the abdominals. The abdominals are what give you a six pack and they
have two main attachments…the pelvis and the lower rib cage. Think of the abs as a large band. Its
job is to pull its two attachments together…it does NOT keep your stomach flat. This may sound crazy
but when you consider you house many of your internal organs in your midsection and that gravity
tends to make them “settle” near the bottom of that midsection you can see why a “lower stomach
pooch” is so common…even in lean individuals. The abs only have two attachments and aren’t
designed to hold everything in…that is the job of another muscle…one that is almost NEVER targeted
in training programs. This muscle is known as the tranverse abdominis also known as the TVA.
The TVA surrounds your midsection like a natural corset. It’s job is to stabilize the core and to KEEP
THE MIDSECTION FLAT. In fact if you suck in your stomach right now you would be using your TVA
not your abs. This muscle, when weak, allows the organs of the midsection like your stomach to
“pooch” out…but when its strong it pulls everything in nice and tight and gives the illusion of a smaller
waist. Weakening of the TVA is the main reason why women have such a tough time POST
pregnancy with tightening their midsection.This is because the TVA needs to weaken and loosen in
order to make room for a growing baby and it will stay weak if it isn’t DIRECTLY targeted with specific
exercises. The good news is that the TVA responds very quickly when trained properly. The
problem with this myth lies in the fact that most people simply don’t know how to train the TVA. The
cool thing is that its actually quiet easy…one exercise in particular is PERFECT for targeting this muscle.
myth #3
not training the muscles that truly flatten and “suck” the stomach in
flat tummy guide

8. Enter the vacuum pose exercise. With this
exercise, you target and strengthen the TVA
muscles and over a short period of time you
notice a smaller and tighter waist…even if you
don’t get leaner!! That’s the crazy part…I have
seen women lose over 2 inches around their waist
without losing a pound from proper TVA training.
Well…that is pretty much it. If you have a sensible
diet and you exercise the entire body properly
and you combine it with the techniques and
methods I described above you WILL see
better and faster results than you ever have
before. Learning HOW to send the right signals
to your body so that it adapts in ways that are
favorable for your goals is key. Get a faster
metabolism with weight training, train your
midsection with sufficient resistance and train
your TVA and watch what happens.
flat tummy guide

9. Sal was 14 years old when he touched his first weight
and from that moment he was hooked. Growing up
asthmatic, frequently sick and painfully skinny, Sal
saw weightlifting as a way to change his body and his
self-image. In the beginning, Sal’s body responded
quickly to his training but then his gains slowed and
then stopped altogether. Not one to give up easily, he
began reading every muscle building publication he
could get his hands on to find ways to bust through his
plateau. He read Arnold’s Encyclopedia of
Bodybuilding, Mentzer’s Heavy Duty, Kubrick’s Dinosaur
Training, and every muscle magazine he could find;
Weider’s Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Iron Man and even
Muscle Media 2000. Each time he read about a new
technique or methodology he would test it out in the
gym. At age 18 his passion for the art and science of
resistance training was so consuming that he decided to
make it his profession and become a personal
trainer. By 19 he was managing health clubs and by 22
he owned his own gym. After 17 years as a personal
trainer he has dedicated himself to bringing science and
TRUTH to the fitness industry.
about the author
sal di stefano