Most of us workout to get a flat stomach, and dream of six-pack abs. And we think that the only plausible way to achieve that elusive muscle tone is by crunching, crunching and more crunching. Payal Banka, the Lead Nutritionist at DietBurrp, helps us throw some light on the much debated issue of how to get abdominal muscles and where they hide.

Here’s what Payal Banka had to say:

For six-pack abs one needs to strengthen the abdominal muscles and lose body fat. Unfortunately there is no escaping cardiovascular exercise and weight (or resistance) training to lose weight in a healthy way. That aside, in order to strengthen your abs you will have to follow exercises related to both, the abdomen and the back. There are different types of crunches and other abdominal exercises that focus on the entire abdomen, from the upper to the lower sections. These exercises are ideal to strengthen your abdominal muscles.

However, training your abs without training your back creates an imbalance in the musculature that supports your spine. And these muscles are not just for show! Therefore,the best exercises for your abdominal muscles are the ones that force your entire core to go into overdrive to support your spine as well. Some exercises that do this are squats and lifts.

Some more exercises, other than crunches, squats and lifts, that will help strengthen both the back and abdominal muscles: Sit ups, jack-knife sit ups , leg lifts, static holds and side statics.

So, while crunches, squats and other abdominal exercises will strengthen your core, overall fat loss will make this strengthened core visible.