The Best Ab Workouts for Crop Tops

Photographed by Craig McDean, Vogue, April 2013

Alexander Wang’s cutaway white shirting, Balenciaga’s abbreviated tees, Kenzo’s scalloped navel-grazers: Flashes of midriff were ubiquitous at the spring 2014 collections, intended for the beach, the boardroom, and beyond.
In preparation for a bold sartorial move, we speed-dialed trainers Key Son (whose clients include Daria Werbowy and Marisa Tomei) and Justin Gelband (the man responsible for getting Victoria’s Secret Angels Miranda Kerr and Candice Swanepoel runway-ready) to discuss the secrets to a flat, toned stomach.
Before dispensing any advice, Gelband is quick to preface that “there’s no quick fix” to a perfect body. In place of extreme dieting and frantic last-ditch sit-ups, he believes that being crop-top ready is “a way of life.” In fact, according to Son, if you really want to nail a midriff-baring look, the best plan is to “stay within striking distance of your best shape year round,” then kick it into high gear at least ten days before a big event with an intense workout regimen (which, for his star clients, may involve up to as many as 600 crunches per day).
That said, there are a few fast-track solutions that can help. Dietary modifications, like cutting back on carbs, dairy, alcohol, sugar, and artificial sweeteners, will help decrease bloating. Son also suggests the straightforward act of preparing your own meals is “a really good habit to help you stay in shape in the long run, because you’ll know exactly what you’re eating.”
As for stepping up your fitness routine, outdoor workouts will get you in the mind-set of looking your best in the sun. Gelband encourages his clients to get their heart rates up at the beach—playing volleyball, soccer, or running on sand, which will force your body to work a little harder to maintain stability, thus “leaning out your legs like crazy, activating your stomach, and building your metabolism.”
“Crop tops look better on people who move with efficiency,” says Son, who suggests sticking to exercises that use your own body weight to sculpt and tone “and isometrics” in high repetitions. He prescribes a three-part routine that begins with at least 100 traditional crunches. To target the lower abs and hip flexors next, he suggests doing 40 modified leg lifts, an exercise that involves lying on the floor with your knees bent and feet on the floor and your arms resting by your sides; draw your midsection in, tighten your stomach, and raise your knees upward and inward toward your chest until your tailbone raises off the floor in a controlled reverse-crunch movement. Lower your hips back to the ground and repeat. Son recommends finishing with 20 oblique-toning twists for a tapered waist, which involves standing with your feet hip distance apart, arms held straight out in front at shoulder height, and rotating 180 degrees slowly from side to side.
Form is key, says Gelband, who is known for coaching his clients through slow, precise exercises like bent-arm planks to tighten their figures. He would rather see his clients “do twelve perfect repetitions than fifteen incorrect ones.” Last but not least, he says, on the day of the big reveal, before leaving the house, “take a freezing cold shower for three minutes. If that’s the only time you have, you will feel physically tighter than you would have otherwise.” Finally, while dining in your Carven crop top: shoulders back, navel in—and whatever happens don’t slouch.