If you're looking to get rock-hard abs, remember that proper dietary choices is your first step, but from there a comprehensive fitness program and targeted ab exercises will help you achieve your goal.
If you're looking to shrink and tone your belly, there's a better way to do it than trying to do crunches. In fact, research has indicated that doing abdominal exercisesalone -- even when performed five days a week for six weeks -- has no effect at all on subcutaneous fat stores and abdominal circumference.
In an op-ed piece for Forbes Magazine, Jennifer Cohen suggests using strategies that burn up cortisol instead. Cortisol is a hormone in your body that depletes lean muscle and holds onto fat in the abdominal region.