Photo Copyright Ben Sutherland
A lesson in selecting the right variables to reach your goals
How many crunches can you do? Leg raises? Jackknifes? How long can you hold the front/side plank?
And how is that six-pack of yours coming along?
Yeah. Mine too. There have been periods in my life where I was doing thousand of crunches weekly. Never, ever have I had definition in my abdominals (this is changing lately).
Have you ever noticed that, over time, your stomach actually seemed to be getting larger *despite* all those crunches?
Yeah, me too.
The truth about ab exercises
They won’t give you great abs. Now, I’m not going to tell you I’ve found the secret and will sell it to you for $97. The point here is that ab exercises don’t give you ab definition because ab definition is determined by how much bodyfat you have.
If six pack abs are the outcome, the measurable goal is a reduction in body fat. How you reduce body fat… that’s a number of posts for another day. Great abs = low body fat. It really is that simple. If you’re looking for tools to add to your six-pack ab arsenal, they need to do one thing and one thing only: help you lose fat.
Crunches don’t help you lose fat. Leg lifts don’t help you lose fat. If you need to lose fat, don’t do things that don’t help you lose fat. Waste of time and effort.