Training guide
A smaller, slimmer waist comes mostly from losing fat from your whole body. Ab and oblique exercises make your trunk stronger, but in trials they didn't take fat off the waist, and nothing safe shrinks it in a week. Part of your waist is bone, your lower ribs and pelvis, which no exercise changes, and that's a normal shape.
This guide covers what sets your waist size, what works and how much, smaller waist exercises and what they can and can't do, waist trainers and corsets, stomach vacuums, your ribcage, how to measure your waist, and how long it takes. If your waist is more than half your height, it matters for your health as well as your shape.
Six weeks of ab exercises on 5 days a week changed no fat measure or waist size in 24 adults, adding 12 weeks of ab training to a diet did no better than the diet alone in 40 women, and across 13 studies training a body part didn't take the fat off it.
Eat a little less (the NHS suggests about 600 calories a day less, losing 0.5 to 1 kg a week), move more (each extra 30 minutes a week of aerobic exercise took about half a centimetre off the waist in trials), strength train on 2 days a week, sleep 7 to 9 hours and keep alcohol within 14 units a week.
No study has measured waist size after oblique training, so this is an inference: the side ab muscles grew only a little in trials, and much bigger obliques were seen only after years of professional tennis.
We found no trial showing a lasting change in waist size. A hospital doctor's article says the effect is only temporary, and that long or tight wear can make breathing harder and worsen reflux; a tight belt raised acid reflux in people with reflux disease.
A review of the related hypopressive exercise found waist reductions only in studies with serious flaws, and couldn't recommend it for that.
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Your lower ribs and pelvis are bone: training can't change them. Pelvic width is largely inherited, and rib cages differ between people and between the sexes. Surgery to reshape the ribs exists and carries real risks.
Your waist takes in the fat under your skin and the visceral fat inside your abdomen, around the organs. Waist size predicts disease beyond BMI (body mass index) because it reflects that deeper fat, which is why NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) uses the waist-to-height ratio.
The six-pack muscle at the front, the obliques at the sides and the deep transversus abdominis, which wraps the waist like a corset. They hold your trunk, and their size changed only a little with training in trials.
Gas, food and fluid. Bloating is very common and can make your tummy feel full or bigger than usual, which is why a tape can change through the day.
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Your lower ribs above and your pelvis below. In 40 adults, women's rib cages were smaller relative to their height than men's, with more steeply angled ribs, and pelvic width was strongly inherited in twin studies. Training doesn't change bone.
Largely inherited: in twins, genes explained about 82 to 85% of the differences in trunk fat. Men tend to keep more fat at the waist and women more on the hips and thighs. At the start of the menopause transition, the rate of fat gain doubled while muscle fell.
The two six-pack muscles often separate during pregnancy (diastasis recti), and the gap usually closes by 8 weeks after the birth.
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Across 13 studies of 1,158 people aged 14 to 71, training one limb didn't take more fat off it than off the untrained limb, and the results were consistent.
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In 24 inactive adults, 6 weeks of 7 ab exercises on 5 days a week, with their diet held steady, changed no fat measure or waist size; their ab endurance improved. In 40 women with overweight or obesity, adding 12 weeks of ab training to a diet didn't reduce belly fat or waist size more than the diet alone.
In 116 trials of 6,880 adults with overweight or obesity, each extra 30 minutes a week of aerobic exercise took off about 0.56 cm of waist and 0.52 kg, fairly evenly up to 300 minutes a week. Across 25 trials, aerobic exercise cut waist size by 3.2 cm on average: 4.2 cm with vigorous and 2.5 cm with moderate exercise.
On its own, strength training cut body fat by about 1.5 percentage points, including some deep belly fat; the review looked at 58 studies and pooled 54. In 119 adults over 8 months, aerobic training took off more fat while strength training added more muscle.
In 61 women with obesity on a 6-month diet, fat under the skin fell everywhere measured, and proportionally more at the mid-arm and mid-thigh than at the waist and hips.
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The side ab muscles thickened a little with 12 weeks of ab training plus diet in 19 women. In 9 women, 36 weeks of Pilates raised their volume by 8% on one side. Professional tennis players' side ab muscles were 18% bigger on one side than the other after years of play. No study has measured waist size after oblique training.
On the same 14-day diet, 5.5 hours in bed instead of 8.5 cut the fat lost by more than half in 10 adults.
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The NHS suggests reducing your intake by around 600 calories a day and aiming to lose 0.5 to 1 kg (1 to 2 lb) a week. Our calories per day calculator works out a daily figure. If you're lean or also want to build muscle, a smaller cut keeps more muscle, as our body recomposition guide explains.
Build towards at least 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, such as brisk walking, cycling or swimming. More minutes took more off the waist in trials, up to about 300 a week, and vigorous exercise took off a little more than moderate.
Work all your major muscles, as the NHS advises: a squat, a hinge, a push and a pull, as in our 20-minute strength workout. It trims fat on its own and keeps your muscle while you lose fat.
Adults need 7 to 9 hours' sleep. Keep alcohol within 14 units a week, spread over 3 or more days: the NHS says regularly drinking more than it recommends can have a noticeable impact on your waistline.
Our oblique workout, once or twice a week: side planks for 15 to 40 seconds each side, half-kneeling Pallof presses 10 each side and suitcase carries 20 m each hand. Its own tip says it: this trains your obliques; it won't trim your waist.
Whole-body moves, as in our 20-minute strength workout, plus your weekly walking, cycling or rowing. Indoor rowing and the cross-trainer have starting doses on their move pages.
3D demoTreadmill walkingBeginner · Cardio machine
3D demoStair climbingIntermediate · A step
3D demoStationary cyclingBeginner · Cardio machine
3D demoIndoor rowing (rowing machine)Beginner · Cardio machine
3D demoElliptical trainerBeginner · Cardio machine
3D demoDumbbell goblet squatIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoDumbbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoPush-upIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSupported single-arm dumbbell rowIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoFarmer's carryIntermediate · A dumbbell + A kettlebellThese build a strong, steady trunk; in trials, ab exercises didn't shift belly fat or waist size. Use our oblique workout and core session B for the sets; the stomach vacuum is a control drill, not a waist shrinker.
3D demoDead bugBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee side plankBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSide plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoHalf-kneeling Pallof pressBeginner · A band + An anchor point
3D demoPallof pressIntermediate · A cable machine
3D demoSuitcase carryIntermediate · A dumbbell + A kettlebell
3D demoBird dogBeginner · No equipment
3D demoStomach vacuum (drawing-in)Beginner · No equipmentOur editorial plan, built on NHS and NICE advice, the trials in this guide and our oblique workout.
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The movement on the figure: Half-kneeling Pallof press
We found no trial showing a waist trainer changes waist size after you take it off, or removes fat. In 69 adults with overweight, a compression garment combined with goal setting and self-monitoring led to 1.3 kg more weight loss in 12 weeks; the authors linked it to changes in eating, and the garment's own effect can't be separated out.
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In a US hospital's health article, a liver specialist says waist trainers give only a temporary change, mostly by squeezing and by making you eat less, and that long or tight wear can make breathing harder, worsen reflux and bloating, and irritate the skin. She suggests a few hours at a special event at most, and stopping for more reflux than usual, food coming back up after eating, difficulty breathing or swelling in your legs. That's expert opinion, not a trial.
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In 14 people with reflux disease, a weightlifting belt pulled tight raised the pressure in the stomach, increased acid reflux about 8-fold and slowed how fast the gullet cleared the acid. The NHS says not to wear clothes that are tight around your waist if you get heartburn.
Two case reports linked tight waist garments with a blocked leg artery in a woman wearing a waist training corset after liposuction, and a bleed under the liver's outer layer in a woman wearing a faja corset. Case reports can't show how common this is, or prove the garment caused it.
Keep it to a few hours, loosen it to eat, and take it off for exercise, which needs full breaths. After liposuction or other surgery, wear only the garment your surgeon prescribes, as they direct (our suggestions).
Standing tall with your hands on your hips, you breathe in slowly, then out as far as it goes, drawing your belly in towards your spine, and hold it for a count while breathing lightly. It works the deep and internal oblique muscles rather than the six-pack.
There's no good evidence. A review of hypopressive exercise in healthy women found 5 studies: waist size fell, but the studies had serious flaws and the reviewers couldn't recommend it. Across 13 trials on the core muscles, 12 had a high risk of bias. In 12 women after a birth, a 4-week programme narrowed the tummy gap, while their abdominal circumference went up at follow-up.
As a control drill: 5 to 10 slow holds of a few breaths, once a day, is our editorial starting point. After a birth, draw in gently for control and comfort rather than sucking in as hard as you can, as our diastasis recti guide explains. In pregnancy, ask your midwife first (our suggestion).
No exercise changes the shape of your ribs or pelvis. Rib cages differ between people and between the sexes, and pelvic width is largely inherited. A wide rib cage or wide hips are normal frames.
Surgery to reshape the lower ribs exists. In a survey of 2,351 patient records from surgeons who do it, 3.7% had complications, including rare collapsed lung (0.17%) and pressure sores linked to a corset. It's outside what this site covers: speak to a regulated surgeon, not a gym (our suggestion).
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Our rib flare guide covers what posture work can and can't change.
NICE's method and the NHS's measuring steps; the timing is our suggestion.
Months. The NHS suggests losing 0.5 to 1 kg a week at most, waists shrank by 3.2 cm on average in trials of aerobic exercise, and fat came off the arms and thighs proportionally faster than the waist and hips in one diet study.
A tape can change by a centimetre or more through the day with food, drink and gas (our reading). That's why quick changes in a few days are mostly bloating and what's in your gut, not fat.
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Fat gain speeds up and shifts towards the waist, so the same plan may move more slowly then. Nobody can promise a smaller waist by a date.
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There's no workout that shrinks your waist on its own. The walking, cardio and whole-body strength sessions do the fat-loss work; the oblique and core sessions build your trunk.
A steady 30 to 45 minute cardio session at talk-but-not-sing pace: walk, cycle, row or cross-train, counting toward weekly activity guidelines.
40 minBeginner3 movesCardio machine, A wallA 40-minute walk alternating 3 minutes fast and 3 minutes easy, five times over: the interval walking tested in Japanese trials, built up from three rounds.
40 minBeginner3 movesCardio machine, A wallA 50-minute walk with hills, outdoors or on a treadmill slope: brisk on the flat, slower on the climbs, building from gentle slopes to about 6%.
50 minBeginner5 movesCardio machine, A stepA 10-minute routine for straight after a meal: an easy walk, a few simple standing moves from blood sugar trials, then a short walk to finish.
10 minBeginner6 movesCardio machine, A bench or boxA 25-minute standing cardio circuit with no jumping: marching, step jacks, sit-to-stands, punches, step-ups and wall push-ups, with a seated option for most moves.
25 minBeginner9 movesA bench or box, A stepA 25-minute interval session on a bike or rower: one-minute hard efforts with two minutes easy, building from 4 to 8 rounds.
25 minIntermediate1 movesCardio machineA full-body circuit of 8 stations: dumbbell squats, push-ups, rows, lunges, deadlifts and cardio moves, 40 seconds each, for 2 or 3 rounds.
35 minBeginner14 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA 20-minute full-body dumbbell workout: two supersets of squats, rows, Romanian deadlifts and push-ups. Twice a week covers the minimum dose.
20 minBeginner8 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxStrength moves first, then 20 to 30 minutes of steady cardio, with glucose checks built in. In one small type 1 diabetes trial, weights first kept glucose steadier.
45 minBeginner11 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA 25-minute oblique workout at home: side planks, a band Pallof press and a suitcase carry to hold your trunk steady, then slow Russian twists and side-lying crunches.
25 minIntermediate8 movesA band, An anchor pointA 12-minute core session for the sides and back: side planks, bird dogs, a band press that resists twisting and an optional one-sided carry.
12 minBeginner10 movesA band, An anchor pointA 15-minute beginner core workout on the floor: dead bugs, bird dogs, knee planks, side planks and curl-ups.
15 minBeginner6 movesNo equipmentResist a twist, then make one under control: Pallof presses, the press and turn, cable lifts and wood chops, with side planks and a carry.
30 minIntermediate9 movesA band, An anchor pointThe weight-loss plan is the main one. The body recomposition plan suits you if you also want to build muscle; the walking plan builds to 150 minutes a week from very little.
A 12-week workout plan for weight loss: three strength days, two cardio days and daily steps, building to 200 minutes a week, with honest results.
3 training days45 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week body recomposition plan to lose fat and build muscle: three strength days, cardio and steps, a small calorie cut, protein and honest timelines.
3 training days50 minBeginner6 days a weekA free 8-week walking plan for beginners: build to 150 minutes of brisk walking a week, with intervals, hills and two short strength sessions.
6 training days40 minBeginner5 days a weekA free 30-day walking challenge for beginners: five walks a week, from 10 to 25 brisk minutes, with rest days and a step target built on your own average.
5 training days25 minBeginner3 days a weekThree full-body home workouts a week with dumbbells or no equipment at all, plus walks and an 8-week plan to keep progressing.
3 training days35 minBeginnerThe same plan works. Men tend to keep more fat at the waist, so whole-body fat loss often shows there; our V taper guide covers the shoulders and back too.
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Whole-body fat loss trims your waist, and glute training builds your hips, which our glute guide covers. The width of your pelvis is bone, and largely inherited.
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The NHS advises avoiding sit-ups, planks and high-impact exercises to start with, and contacting a GP if the gap is still obvious 8 weeks after the birth. Our diastasis recti and postpartum guides cover the rest.
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The NHS advises avoiding lying flat on your back for more than a few minutes in later pregnancy, so do side planks from your knees and Pallof presses standing or kneeling instead of moves on your back (our suggestion). Pregnancy isn't the time to cut calories.
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The waist tends to gain around the menopause. Strength training and aerobic activity still work; our menopause guide has more.
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If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise.
For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; severe difficulty breathing; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining, or comes with numbness or weakness, difficulty speaking or loss of vision. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
If you have bloating with a swollen stomach and a stomach ache that is severe and came on very suddenly, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like ground coffee, or you have severe difficulty breathing. Don't drive yourself to A&E. During exercise, stop and get help for chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting, as our plans advise.
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If you have bloating with being sick, diarrhoea or constipation, or with a stomach ache; a high temperature, or you feel hot, cold or shivery; a swelling or lump in your tummy; a burning feeling in your chest caused by stomach acid travelling up towards your throat (acid reflux); or you can't pee, poo or fart. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
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If you feel bloated regularly, or have bloating with weight loss you can't explain or blood in your poo: the NHS says bloating that doesn't go away can sometimes be a sign of something more serious, such as ovarian cancer.
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See a GP if lifestyle changes and pharmacy medicines aren't helping, you have heartburn most days, or you also have food getting stuck in your throat, are often sick or are losing weight for no reason (our suggestion, from the NHS).
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Take it off, and don't wear it again, if it brings on more reflux than usual, food coming back up after eating, difficulty breathing or swelling in your legs (the signs the hospital article lists), sore or broken skin, or leg pain, coldness or numbness (from a case report). These are our suggestions.
Call 999 or go to A&E: loss of feeling or numbness around the genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
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See a GP if you think you have a hernia, a bulge or lump that may get bigger when you strain and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, you feel or are sick, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, you're constipated, you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you've suddenly become confused. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
The NHS suggests seeing a GP if your BMI is in the overweight or obese range and you want help to lose weight, your waist is more than half your height, or you have conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnoea.
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The NHS lists spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape, eating very little food, exercising too much, and having very strict routines around food among the signs of an eating disorder, and says to see a GP as soon as you can. Worrying a lot about one area of your body can be body dysmorphic disorder. Beat's helpline in England is 0808 801 0677, and our eating disorders guide has the other numbers.
We found no trial showing a lasting change after the garment comes off. A hospital doctor says the effect is only temporary, the one garment trial measured weight and paired the garment with eating support, and a tight belt worsened reflux in people with reflux disease.
Six weeks of ab exercises changed no waist or fat measure in 24 adults, ab training added nothing to a diet in 40 women, and 13 studies found no spot reduction. They build trunk strength.
No study has measured it. The side ab muscles grew only a little in trials, and much bigger obliques were seen only after years of professional tennis. A little more muscle under a smaller fat layer usually makes a waist look firmer, not wider (our reading).
The studies behind the claim had serious flaws, and in one small series after a birth, abdominal circumference went up. They're a fine control drill.
Fat comes off at the whole-body pace: the NHS suggests 0.5 to 1 kg a week, and each extra 30 minutes a week of aerobic exercise took about half a centimetre off the waist over months. Day-to-day changes on the tape are mostly bloating, food and fluid.
Exercise doesn't change your bones, and rib cages differ between people and sexes. Surgery to reshape the ribs exists, with complications in about 1 in 27 patients in a surgeons' survey.
Sweat is water, not fat (our reading), and we found no trial showing a belt removes waist fat.
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Lose fat from your whole body: eat a little less, move more, strength train twice a week and sleep well. Ab exercises build strength but didn't shrink waists in trials.
The ones that burn the most energy and keep your muscle: walking, cycling, rowing and whole-body strength training. Side planks, Pallof presses and carries build a strong trunk, but in trials, ab exercises didn't shift belly fat.
Only while you wear them. We found no trial showing a lasting change in waist size, and a hospital doctor warns that long or tight wear can make breathing harder and worsen reflux. If you wear one, keep it to a few hours.
There's no good evidence: a review of the related hypopressive exercise found waist reductions only in flawed studies and couldn't recommend it. They're a fine way to learn to control your deep tummy muscles.
No study has measured it, and the side ab muscles grew only a little in trials. A little more muscle under less fat usually looks firmer, not wider.
At the pace your whole body loses fat: the NHS suggests 0.5 to 1 kg a week, and waists shrank by about 3 cm on average in trials of aerobic exercise. Nothing safe shrinks a waist in a week; quick changes on the tape are mostly bloating.
Not with exercise: your ribs are bone, and rib cages differ between people. Rib surgery exists and has risks, including rare collapsed lung; it's a question for a regulated surgeon, not a workout.
Your ribs and pelvis set part of it, and where you store fat is largely inherited. That's a normal shape, not a problem to fix.
Whole-body fat loss trims your waist, and glute training builds your hips; our glute guide covers that half. The width of your pelvis is bone and doesn't change.
The same way. Men tend to store more fat at the waist, so whole-body fat loss often shows there first; our V taper guide covers the shoulders and back too.
Fat gain speeds up at the start of the menopause transition and shifts towards the middle while muscle falls. Strength training and aerobic activity still work; our menopause guide has more.
Less than half your height, for adults with a BMI under 35, as NICE advises. Measure midway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip, breathing out naturally; our waist-to-height ratio calculator does the sum.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
