Flatten Your Abs -- Standing Up!

While you shouldn't ditch all your plank poses to firm up and flatten your midsection just yet, research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's recent annual meeting shows that you can cinch your waist-based oblique muscles and strengthen your belly by incorporating "functional standing" exercises into your weekly regimen and also into everyday life.

"Crunches are not as beneficial for real-life movement as functional training," Dixie Stanforth, a professor of kinesiology at University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement. "As people age, the core muscles of the abdominals, hips and also the back tend to shut down and lose functionality decade by decade -- and weaker abdominal muscles are one of the primary causes of lower-back pain."

Stanforth suggested starting in a basic standing posture and adding progressively harder modifications as you gain strength. She also said that if you already maintain a healthy most-days-of-the week core routine, simply add these into your workouts, or do them at the office or at home when you can grab a few extra exercise minutes.

"Floor-based crunches, standard bicycles for instance, are not as beneficial for real-life movements and they're also not convenient," she said. Experiment with these versions of functional training below that progress in difficulty. Try the moves while you're even watching TV! They also make a great warm-up for weight-lifting routines or cardio sessions since they stabilize the spine and protect your back, said Stanforth. She also suggested incorporating more standing functional leisure-type activities into your week, including surfing and Tai Chi.

Level One:
Stand facing a wall with feet shoulder-width apart and hands pushing into wall at full extension. Keep left foot on the floor, contract your abs and lift right foot up. Bend the right knee in back of you and open the leg out to the side. Then swing back into your midline and repeat several times.

Level Two:
Stand with legs wider than shoulder-width apart and point both feet forward. Reach both arms up around ears, trying to lift the ribs away from the hips and creating length in the spine. Reach one or both arms up and over to the right, and then the left, alternating back and forth several times.

Level Three:
Step right foot forward and lower right knee into a deep lunge with left leg in back of you. With right knee over right ankle, maintain your balance in your core muscles and reach right arm overhead, arcing to the left side of the room. Come back to center and repeat several times, then switch legs.

Check out this batch of functional, new ways to work your core.

Fitness expert Nicole Dorsey Straff is a Los Angeles-based exercise physiologist and author, and frequently writes about diet, health and wellness.