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The body part of the millennium, that sexy landscape of bumps
and grooves which is a key factor to many folks being in the
gym. The six pack, the flat stomach, the tight belly, those
chiseled abs.
Give me a break, people. Remember when working out was about
your health? Remember that? Huh? No? Oh...
This is it. This is the information no one wants to hear or
read because it means responsibility and dedication, not magic
potions or god-sent gizmos. There is some good news though,
which I'll start with.
Truth #1: Abs do not need to be
"worked" everyday, or even every other day.
That's the good news. You're wasting precious time doing
those various crunchy twisty |
thingies every single day. Guess what? If
you hold that spine the way it should be held, proud and
stable, for every exercise you do and learn what your
mama told you about sitting up straight, you're gaining
a considerable amount of "core strength." But
who the heck wants "core strength," whatever
that is? We want ABSSS! Poppin' out everywhere like speed
bumps to heaven. Then work your abs like you would any
other muscle group, very hard and very proper but occasionally,
with good recuperation, not that sloppy, formless mess
that I see writhing on the floors or twitching in some
ab gizmo all the time.
You've got abs. In fact, if you workout well and consistently,
you probably have considerable ab strength. You don't
see them because they're hiding. They're ducking behind
your fat layer and can't be coerced out until the fat
goes away. NO AMOUNT OF AB WORK MAKES THAT FAT GO AWAY
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So doing them every day is just silly and potentially dangerous
in the long run. No muscle needs to be beaten up on like that.
Truth #2 If you are doing hundreds of repetitions,
you're doin' somethun' wrong.
Back to that formless mess. Aw, just see Truth #8
Truth #3 There is absolutely no need for a machine
or device, especially the junk sold through infomercials.
A small group of people are making truckloads of money off
the uneducated masses needing a quick fix. Their product will
not do any of the wonderful things they say. They are lying,
absolutely lying. Don't pay them to lie further. Imagine if
you bought some magical machine for every body part. You'd
have a big room of junk. A mini gym of dumbness.
Truth #4 Abs are part of a greater core and should
be trained within an entire trunk training program.
The only piece of equipment I'd recommend, outside of traditional
freeweight equipment, would be a Resist-a-Ball (or Fitball,
or gymball or physioball, whatever brand you or your gym owns).
Not any special piece of Ab Machinery. In addition to simple,
equipment-free exercises, a ball is one way to create trunk
strength and stabilization skills, which involves all the
muscles that support the trunk and lower spine, including
the abs, and which work synergistically with hip, leg and
back muscles. With a ball, or with standing cable or dumbbell
exercises that require strong abdominal function as either
a mover or a stabilizer, you'll have much greater and more
effective ways of training them then doing a bunch of crunches
or investing in an AbTerminator. When was the last time you
crunched in day-to-day life? It's not a motion we utilize
daily (if it is, you have a unique occupation), so why train
our abs that way when their #1 job is stabilization and balance,
often during dynamic situations. Yoga or Tai Chi are other
great trunk strengtheners. Yeah, I know these don't burn like
several thousand crunches do (which could be how your chiropractor
or doctor might put their kids through school, thanks to you)
but just because you wanna be ripped doesn't mean you have
to be stoopid.
Truth #5 (this is a biggie) There isn't a single ab
exercise, device or routine in the world that will reduce
the fat directly from the waist line.
In other words, ab exercises won't make your waist smaller!
Remember, they might be hiding, but torturing them through
some monster ab routine or on an infomercial gizmo does not
affect the fat around them at all. Hence such motivation will
not reduce the waistline.
Truth #6 Eating better is the number
one way to reduce the stubborn fat around the midsection,
not cardiovascular exercise, and definitely not abdominal
exercise.
Who wants to hear this garbage, just give me a Torso Obliterator,
a handful of pills and be done with it. This is the bad
news no one wants to hear. That's right, the absolute |
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best way to affect the fat around the midsection
is changing your eating habits. Yes, that takes real work,
not just the toil and sweat of a workout. Now don't get
me wrong, cardiovascular exercise will help put the body
in a calorie deficit and therefore promote fat loss from
all over the body, but studies have shown that the stubborn
belly jiggle responds best to diet changes. Sorry, but
I did say this takes responsibility and dedication.
Truth #7 The ab work generally done towards the
end of aerobics classes can be dangerous, if not just
a waste of time.
Way too much for too long. I counted over 600 reps during
the ab portion of a certain aerobics class. How on earth
can you maintain proper form and focus doing a giant slew
of twists and reaches and leg raises, all the to the beat
of a tape? |
Truth #8 Most people perform ab exercises ineffectively,
if not dangerously.
Hey, how cool am I? I just did three hundred crunches! Then
you, my friend, are doing something wrong. If the rest of
your weight workout rep range is about 8 - 15 reps, why should
your ab muscles follow different laws? Would you do 300 leg
presses or 300 bicep curls? Somewhere, maybe around rep 250,
why didn't you think "what the heck kinda waste of time
is this?"
Truth #9 You cannot target the "lower abs."
Lower abs is a geographic location, not an anatomical description.
Ain't no special muscles down there that are separated from
the rest. You may have acquired an unwanted attachment that
has become determined to set up camp on you lower midsection,
but since we've discussed in great length earlier how you
can't choose where that goo should melt from, "targeting"
this area won't do a lick of good. If you're working the "upper
abs," you're working the "lower abs." You might
not feel it as much but it's not a separate muscle group,
so it has to work whenever you do any ab exercise. Let's say
this again: there is no exercise that specifically isolates
the "lower abs," since there is no such thing! That
would be like saying you can target your lower biceps. Sorry,
can't be done.
Now EMS readings have shown that the inferior attachment (often
called the "insertion") of the rectus abdominus,
where the lower fibers attach to the pelvis, might kick in
a little more during certain portions of certain exercises,
but this cannot be consciously controlled (though some belly
dancers might want to argue this) nor is it a direct indication
that the lower fibers are going to do anything magical in
terms of hypertrophy or especially fat loss.
Truth #10 Beware of High Repetition, Unloaded Trunk
Twists.
Again, usually performed under the mistaken belief that this
"exercise" will somehow reduce those poetically
named "love handles." The good ol' broom twists
are not very effective, in fact they could do a good degree
of damage to the spine. I don't want to get into depth about
them, let's just say that this "exercise" doesn't
really work the muscles you want to work anyway (at least
not in the fast, uncontrolled and unloaded fashion most folks
perform it in) and even if they did, they still wouldn't burn
the extra pudding around the sides. Plus, bad forces against
spine. Spine no like. So stop it!
TRUTH #11 Learn Technique Before Adding Weight..
If you feel the need to increase the intensity of your ab
workouts, learn to do the exercises properly, which is an
easily skipped step. Your body weight will usually be sufficient
for many floor-based exercises, but if it's time to get up
off the floor, then start light and master form. Great, so
you can bend your spine with added resistance. Can you balance?
Are you in control of the movement? This is an area that trainers
need to greatly increase their knowledge in, because many
gyms across the world have trainers torturing people's abs
in silly and dangerous ways.
Written by: Chip Conrad
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