Crunches Don't Work! How To See Your Abs With Exercise
What's the best way to get six-pack abs?
Is it:
A) Crunches
B) Nutrition + Intervals + Weights
C) Some other "secret" ab exercise that can only be done with a $99.99 piece of equipment that is advertised between midnight and 4am?
Well, I'd cast my vote for B. Wouldn't you?
After all, how many hours of your life have you wasted doing hundreds and hundreds of crunches?
How many have you done without really getting the abs you wanted? Do you really need to do any crunches at all?
Could you imagine, having a six-pack without ever doing another set of crunches?
Most people can't, because they believe the following to be true...
"You should do crunches every day to get ripped abs."
In a word: Wrong! The most important factor in developing visible abs is a low body-fat percentage - really great abs are visible at 10% and less - and that won't come from crunches, since they burn few calories and works very little overall muscle.
You're better off doing intense workouts that trigger your body to burn tons of fat - like strength and interval workouts, full of high-intensity interval sessions and multi-muscle strength-training exercises such as squats, pull-ups, presses, and lunges.
As for direct ab work, first you need to focus on abdominal endurance and master the plank and side plank exercise.
There are many other tough total body ab exercises that you can use, including mountain climbers, stability ball jackknives, and Alligators. Sure, none of these involve lying on the floor or putting your back in risky situation, but they will help improve your abs. And that sounds good to me!
Once you have your nutrition in order, you've built up your abdominal endurance, you have a good strength training program, and you are doing intervals, only then can you justify spending 10 minutes 2-3 times per week on traditional ab exercises.
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Mens Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com
