You want that bikini-ready body—but the thought of doing a hundred crunches a day makes you want to reach for the Dove bars. Too often in the quest for a tight tummy we improperly do exercises that pinch our necks and shoulders, and compromise the lower back.

You can reach your goal of a tight middle without doing situps. As NFL yoga trainer Hilary Lindsay says, unless you need your abs to protect you like armor, you don’t need crunches. The solution is a series of yoga moves that builds strength in the core, where you need it as central support for your entire body.

So unless you’re planning a few rounds in the ring, start with this series of focused poses from Robin Whitney Levine of Intelligent Yoga in New York City. Do these moves in a series every other day of the week. Your entire body will thank you.

1. Cobra
Lying on your stomach, put your palms on the floor under your shoulders, fingers facing forward. Press the tops of your feet into the floor while straightening your knees and lifting the knees slightly off the floor. Lift your chest up and forward, keeping your arms bent along your body so you are reaching your chest, not your chin, toward the ceiling. Then straighten your arms. Lift and lengthen your abs and the front of your legs as you make sure to tuck your tailbone in. You should feel this stretching above the top ribs. Make sure your shoulder blades are together and down as if your body was hanging from your collarbone.  Hold for 5 breaths.

Advanced: You can move from Cobra into Upward Facing Dog to tone the abdomen even further. 

2. Twisting Prayer Lunge
From a lunge position with your right knee bent and stacked over your right foot, extend your left leg behind you. Bring your hands, with palms in prayer position, to the center of your chest. On the inhale slowly twist to the right, resting your left elbow on your right thigh. Do not collapse the side of the body onto the thigh (that is cheating). Pull the belly in but continue to breathe. This will work deep in your core, give you a spinal twist, and work your legs, Levine says. Stay for 5 breaths before switching sides.

3. Chair
“Chair combines very active squatting with really having to stay integrated through the belly and works all the major muscle groups from waistline to mid-thigh,” Levine says. Make sure to engage your abdominal wall (pull the belly button toward the spine) or else you’ll overwork your hip flexors.  From Mountain pose with your feet hip-width apart and hands by your side, standing tall, inhale and bring your arms up as your bend your knees deeply. Bring your sit bones back until your thighs are about parallel to the floor. Keep your upper body angled but upright by lifting the abdominal wall with a small tuck and lift of your tailbone. Doing this will alleviate some stress on the generally overworked hip flexors and promote length through the torso, both front and back. Lift and lengthen your arms, bringing your shoulder blades together to keep your chest and shoulders open. Hold for 5 breaths.