The Tummy Trifecta: 3 Pieces of Equipment You Need to Tone Your Midsection this Summer

A trim tummy may be made in the kitchen, but you're not going to find your 6-pack in the fridge. If you want defined, taut mid-section, you're going to have to sweat for it. By now, we probably don't need to tell you that crunches alone aren't going to cut it. While they can give targeted ab training, they aren't the best moves to get a stomach that looks strong as hell.

If you want more shredded looking results, try using these incredible pieces of equipment. They'll not only build your overall core strength, which will help prevent injury, but they will also give you the most bang for your muscle building buck. This increase in muscle means you’ll stoke your fat burning fire, and be able to uncover more of the good gains you sweat your ass off to achieve.

What equipment are we talking about? Read on.

The Challenger Minis

Whether you’re doing killer core moves like burpees,donkey kicks, clap split kicks, plank switch kicks or mountain climbers, these little pieces of equipment can deliver amazing results. Challenger Minis help improve your overall power and performance by grounding the movements while also forcing you to use more of the stabilizing muscles that are really showcased in a sexy, strong core.

Kettlebells

If you don’t already know about the benefits of kettlebell training, it’s time to educate yourself. Adding a kettlebell to your core training can be the difference between getting the definition and mobility you work so hard for, and getting jilted on your results. Kettlebells offer unbalanced resistance, which means your core has to work even harder to stabilize movement. The harder the work, the sweeter the gains!

Our favourite kettlebell moves for core include the kettlebell ab twists, kettlebell unders and kettlebell sit ups.

The Weighted Vest

If you’ve watched even a few of our workouts, you’ve probably noticed we’re pretty much obsessed with the weighted vest  — and with good reason. The weighted vest allows you to score hands-free, hardcore resistance when you do any move. This means you increase your overall muscle mass and, as a result, overall fat burn just by adding it to do any workout. You don’t even have to be targeting your core to see results show up on your stomach.

Remember: you can’t spot-lose weight. It’s going to come off where it wants to come off. What you can do is increase your body’s muscle mass everywhere and you’ll start losing fat everywhere  — including your stomach. Core work will definitely increase the condition of your mid-section and make it all marvelous and muscle-ly, but you’re going to have to free your body from excess fat if you want to see it. Hence, the weighted vest: you’re key to igniting your beautiful bod’s fat burning engines.

Ready to ditch the excuses and gear up? Of course you are! Try this free, full, workout on for size.