Spring is here, Summer is coming, and Jeff Cavaliere has a simple daily exercise to keep your stomach flat. On March 22, 2026, he broke down his three-step guide to performing the vacuum exercise for a flatter stomach.
The vacuum exercise isn’t just a pose bodybuilders hit to make their midsections look tight; it’s also an underrated option for training the transverse abdominis, which wraps around the abdomen horizontally. This muscle often gets overlooked, leading Cavaliere to show how much it impacts the stomach’s appearance.
Cavaliere has decades of experience inside the gym. In addition to running his successful YouTube fitness empire, he served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the New York Mets. Flat stomachs are among the most sought-after fitness goals, so Cavaliere laid out how this simple movement, done daily, can produce results.
Jeff Cavaliere Breaks Down Vacuum Exercise for a Flatter Stomach
In the video, Cavaliere said the role of the transverse abdominis is to pull in during contractions.
“Why are we ignoring, when we’re looking for a flatter stomach, or a smaller waistline, why are we ignoring the muscle that does this? It runs horizontally. It’s called the transverse abdominis. Its job when it contracts is not to pull down, its job is to pull in.”
He explained that this exercise can be performed daily, regardless of body fat or time.
“For me, there’s an exercise that you can do literally every morning if you want to. Every day. Any time of the day. It will teach you how to engage this; it’s the vacuum. No, it’s not just reserved for Mr. Olympias and bodybuilders,” he shared. “And it does not matter what body fat level you’re at right now.”
3-Step Process
Below, Cavaliere outlined three simple steps to perform a vacuum:
- Step 1: Expand Rib Cage
- Step 2: Inhale Deeply
- Step 3: Pull Belly Button Toward Rib Cage
Step 1
Start by expanding your rib cage; Cavaliere says he always aims to lift the sternum up.
“Expand your rib cage. You get a big chest. Try to get a big open chest. I always like to say lift the sternum up.”
Step 2
Next, inhale a deep enough breath that you can no longer get any more air out:
“You’re going to take a big deep breath in, and then you’re going to exhale all of that out until you feel like you cannot get any more air out.”
Step 3
Then, pull the belly button towards your spine by sucking inward.
“You take your belly button, and you try to pull it back towards your spine. Because of the negative pressure that you’ve created by exhaling all that air, it almost acts like a magnet. It’s going to be easier to pull your belly button toward your spine like a magnet than it would be if you were trying to do it right now with a belly full of air.”
Not only should individuals learn how to activate the transverse abdominis, but it’s most important to implement these teachings during ab exercises, shared Cavaliere.
“You can’t just learn how to activate it. If you’re going to train your abs, you need to learn how to engage it during those activities. So if I get down on my back, what I see a lot of people do when they do their ab exercises is they lose complete control of that muscle.
They crunch up, and they push out at the same time; they are pushing their belly out, that is not engaging that muscle. That’s not cinching it down. I need you to be able to take the activation skills you learned there and do it when you crunch,” Jeff Cavaliere shared.
Over the years, Cavaliere has come up with different strategies to achieve a tight waist. He recently outlined his weighted 9-minute ab workout for a ripped six-pack. For the best results, Cavaliere offered three different difficulty levels to challenge anyone.
Cavaliere believes training the transverse abdominis is key to a more streamlined midsection. He is adamant that when performed daily, the vacuum exercise can have a significant impact on stomach flatness.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Reveals 15 Early Warning Signs of Poor Health and How to Reverse Them
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