Looking to get flat abs with your fitness program? If so, you aren’t alone. This is one of the most common goals that many men and women who start working with a personal trainer.

If you’re interested in getting a flat stomach, there are a number of things that you should be keeping in mind as you approach this goal.

Using the wrong methods – as many men and women do, will lead to less than optimal results and will likely only leave you feeling frustrated.

Let’s take a quick peek at the top seven flat abs tips that you must remember for success.

The very first quick tip to remember if you want to get flat abs in a hurry is that you should aim to keep protein as high as possible in the diet, while also keeping your sugar intake on the low side.

Protein is what will help you spare lean muscle mass as you go about the dieting process while sugar will only spike blood glucose and lead to a rapid increase in insulin in the body.

Insulin is the storage hormone and when it’s high, you’re going to be at an increased risk of storing excess body fat.

Keeping insulin as low as possible on your diet needs to be a priority.

Next, also be sure that you are drinking enough water. Taking in sufficient amounts of water will help you cleanse the body and also reduce water retention, which can make you appear to look more bloated and puffy than you should be.

Drinking more water will also help to keep your hunger levels down lower as well, meaning it’ll be easier to go about your fat loss diet plan.

The third thing that you should be focusing on if you want to get a flat stomach is performing a full body workout.

Now, this is where many women go wrong in their approach to get flat abs. They start performing crunch after crunch after crunch, which will only lead them to waste time in the gym.

Instead, focus on full body movements. These are the ones that will burn the most calories, work the greatest number of muscle fibers, and help you see the fastest rate of fat burning possible.

You should be constructing your full body workout with squats, lunges, dead lifts, chest presses, bent over rows, and shoulder presses for best results.

If you aren’t sure how to perform these, consult a fitness professional for help.

On the cardio side of things, adding some interval training to your program is a very wise move. Interval training is going to spike your metabolic rate more than any other form of exercise and will help you see faster fitness improvements as well.

Interval training is quick and easy to do, so if you can add two to three, 20-25 minute sessions to your week, you will see rapid results.

Interval training is a more advanced form of cardio training however, so keep that in mind as you progress through. If you add too many workouts or start too early, you could end up injured.

Getting at least eight hours of sleep at night is the next must-do if you want to get a flat stomach. If you aren’t sleeping enough, you’ll tend to be more insulin resistant, which means you’ll have a greater chance of storing excess body fat.

While you must reduce the total amount of carbs in your diet plan to lose fat, you shouldn’t cut them out permanently.

Instead, adopt a carb cycling approach. By having some higher carb days in the week along with some lower carb days, you can increase your energy levels while dieting while preventing the metabolic crash that can sometimes occur.

Finally, the last tip to remember if you want to get flat abs is to use instability based exercises as often as possible.

These are going to be the movements that get your abs sitting up and contracting, seeing strength gains taking place.

Use these instead of regular crunches and you’ll make faster progress.

So there you have the primary tips to get flat abs in a hurry. Use these in your fitness program and you will be on your way to greater success.

Jack Wheeler is a personal trainer and owner of 360 Fitness in Red Deer.