Articles written by Devin Sherrington about health, wellness and fitness in regular column called Fit to Be Tried in the Daily News:

The Daily News - Fit to Be Tried by Devin Sherrington

Sit-ups. Sure, you've done a few. But you might be surprised to know getting the small waist you want is not just about working your abdominals muscles.

About 10 years ago the only exercise anyone ever did for a small waist were sit-ups. How many can you do? How many can you do in a minute? How fast can you get to a hundred?

The problem is sit-ups aren't the only way to get a small waist.

Some people like me, just aren't built to have a 28-inch waist. No matter how many exercises we do for our waist, it won't get to that size. But there are simple ways to make your waist look like it is shrinking.

Look at someone you think has a small waist. You're actually looking at their entire body and measuring it to their waist. So what their waist is in inches has very little to do with how big it looks.

For example, consider a bodybuilder with a 38- inch waist and huge shoulders. He looks like he has a tiny waist. In reality he has a fairly big waist, but the rest of him overpowers his waist, and makes it look smaller.

I'm not saying you need to go out and try to build bodybuilder shoulders. But building slightly more muscular shoulders will make your waist look if as it's shirking.

Here are two excellent exercises to build your shoulders.

Shoulder Flyes are done with a light dumbbell in each hand. Begin with your arms straight at your sides. Lift your hands up and outward, forming a T shape between your arms and your body.

Make sure the top of your hands are parallel to the floor at the top of the exercise. Do not raise your hands above your shoulders. Now bring your arms back to your sides, letting the weight back down slowly. Perform three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions.

Another good shoulder exercise is Shoulder Press. This can be done with a barbell as well as dumbbells. I'll explain it using dumbbells since it is harder, and requires more muscles.

Sit on a on a bench with a back cushion for support. A chair with no arms works too. Bring the dumbbells to your shoulders. Your palms should be facing forward. Your arms should be bent, and the weight should be resting against your shoulders.

Press the weight upward in at a slow, controlled pace. You should almost automatically move each dumbbell toward the other as you reach the top where your arms are fully extend.

Pause there for one second. Bring your arms back down by bending your elbows. Slowly allow the weight to return to the start position on your shoulders. Do three sets of 10 to 12 repititions.

Try these two exercises for a few weeks. I bet you'll be surprised how much smaller your waist begins to look.