Vaughan’s ab authorities share their best tips on how to spring-clean your core.

Forget “spring has sprung.” These five fitness gurus want your spring to crunch, munch and sprint toward a more toned belly, and just in time for beach season. Jot down these foolproof tips and get ready to (finally!) carve out those abs you’ve always dreamed of.

1. Dwayne Delves, ISSA, CPT, Calisthenics Specialist, Boxing Coach
Body By Chosen
bodybychosen.com

The No. 1 tip for getting abs in preparation for summer is to WORK! A few crunches when you wake up and before going to bed won’t do it. The two main areas of work are training and eating. When you train properly and intensively, you will develop a strong core, but it isn’t until you start eating accordingly that you will see the results. Low-calorie and high-protein foods along with cardio exercises and core-specific training will get the outcome you are looking for.

2. Dimitri Giankoulas, CFP, ISSA, BTF
Pure Motivation Fitness
puremotivationfitness.com

The best way to get your abs showing is to eat and exercise for your body type. Once you know which type you are, you can tailor your energy toward a specific and efficient goal. Train full-body, compound movements and add skipping or cardio sprints to your rests. If possible, do 15 to 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio on an empty stomach in the a.m., and eat five or six smaller meals per day. Have protein, veggies and healthy fats at each meal, and just add healthy, whole-grain, unprocessed complex carbs (grains or fruit with skin) for breakfast and lunch. Crunches don’t work — dedication does!

3. Kevin High, BAHSc, NSCA-CSCS, NASM-CES
Life Time Fitness
lifetimefitness.com

Abs are made in the kitchen! The saying “you are what you eat” certainly holds true when it comes to abdominal definition. Focus heavily on eating clean, whole foods! However, consistent abdominal training, using a variety of tempos, repetitions, planes of movement and frequencies, is important as well. In short, there is no secret or magic trick to getting abs. Train your core daily. Use a variety of exercises to target lower and upper abdominals and your obliques. Aim for one or two exercises per section, with three or four sets per exercise. Rep ranges should vary from weighted exercises (eight to 10 reps) to body-weight exercises (20 reps).

4. Michelle McLean, Canfitpro, PTS, FIS
Pure FX Fitness studios
purefxfitness.com

For solid abs all year round, balance and consistency are key. You want to have a balanced diet and workout routine that will provide you with optimal results. My favourite way to stay lean and defined is first making sure I only put quality food in my body. Limiting the amount of processed foods and drinks helps keep my body fat low and muscle lean. My workout routine is simple: planks, crunches, rotations and lifts. Stabilizing the core is great for activating small muscle fibres and can easily be achieved by doing planks. Adding crunches and rotations will target the abdomen and obliques. To hit the lower abs I like to add leg lifts that can be done hanging or on the floor.

5. Paul Walker, CFPT, CPTN, ISSA
Integrity Fitness
integrityfitness.ca

Everybody has a different definition of being healthy. If your personal definition and goal is a super-tight waistline, my secret is the combination of a strict meal plan and metabolic training. I recommend a diet that is 40 per cent protein, 30 per cent carbs and 30 per cent fat. My favourite trick is using these macronutrient ratios and combining them with intermittent fasting to get really shredded. You need to train at least five days a week and include 20 minutes of high-intensity interval-training cardio. To really target body fat loss, metabolic training works best for my clients. Metabolic training uses large muscle groups to maximize calorie expenditure and eat fat.