Like most people striving to stay fit, I’ve tried a wide variety of variations in both diet and exercise to meet my goals. Along the way, again like most people, I was sold on the necessity of ab exercises: Lots of crunches, leg raises, planks, and more.
No more was this more prevalent than when I was training with a personal trainer who was, self-admittedly, obsessed with abs.
Unlike a good personal trainer, this individual never did an assessment and/or questionnaire with me to determine my specific fitness goals, so I came out and told him: I have a closet full of expensive clothes, including some custom hand-made suits that I’d like to fit into again. Specifically, the pants were getting quite tight because my “spare tire” was expanding.
Training began, and what was his “solution”? Endless crunches, sometimes in excess of two thousand (yes, 2,000) per session!
In no time at all my pants became even tighter! To make matters worse, because he was all about building muscle and not losing fat, soon those expensive suit jackets didn’t fit anymore either because my chest had become too large.
When I challenged him on this, his brilliant answer was something to the effect of, “Build tons of muscle and then it will miraculously eat up all the fat.”
Well, there were two major problems with this:
First, recent research shows that the fat-burning ability of muscle mass has been greatly overestimated in the past. Sure, muscle burns calories at rest, but nowhere near as much as previously believed.
Second, even losing all the fat wouldn’t change the fact that I’d added a significant layer of muscle to my abdominal region, meaning those nice pants still wouldn’t fit!
Here’s another story to demonstrate the problem with lots and lots of ab exercises: One of the personal trainers at my gym is hot. Hot. Or, should I say, she was. At one point I thought she was pregnant because of the little belly that was developing. Then one day she was in the gym without a shirt on. (She was wearing a sports bra, not topless, you pervs!) And then I realized she wasn’t pregnant. Instead she’d built up so much muscle mass in her abs that it gave the appearance of a belly. Not attractive at all.
A while ago I asked a friend of mine who is a fitness guru, and in incredible shape, what he does to train his abs. His answer? “Nothing!” He said now and then he might do 8 or 10 crunches but that’s it.
Fast-forward to today. Earlier this year I was forced to take several months off from the gym due to a severe sinus infection and the surgery & recovery period that followed. Having gotten back into the gym in the past couple of weeks, I was obviously very sore after the first couple of workouts. But, even though I don’t do any direct ab exercises, my entire abdominal region was very sore.
Why?
It’s the result of doing sensible, proven exercises that work. Bench presses, flyes, pull-ups, rows, and the usual gamut of effective training. By doing all of the above with perfect form, slow & steadily, I engage my core considerably and my abdominal muscles come into play to stabilize my entire body, negating the need for any direct ab work like crunches, and in reality probably making them counter-productive since they’d overtrain the region.
So take it from me, just a regular guy trying to stay in great shape and not a self-proclaimed fitness guru or some kind of gym meathead: If you want to work your abs, don’t! Stick with sensible, safe, proven exercises routines, do them with perfect form, and your abs will hurt the next morning!
Yes. For most, training the abs is an exercise in vanity.
But there’s no denying that ab (or, more accurately, core) workouts are a good supplemental program for some athletes and casual fitness buffs. As a boxing fan, I can assure you that no boxer — amateur or pro — will ever amount to anything without regular, intense ab/core training.
For those folks who are trying to reach a goal other than looking good on the beach, excessive abdominal training slows down progress.
I just happened upon this website and I have to tell you…keep your fitness rants to a minimum. I actually agree with your assertion that one should not spend a great amount of time performing ab exercises, but come on…you thought a woman was pregnant and then found out it was just her ab muscles? That is beyond far fetched! It also seems to me you have limited knowledge on exercise physiology. Further, if you wish to take the risk out of working out…don’t workout! Every action has a risk attached to it whether you like it or not. Further, get rid of the flyes, they put your shoulder joint in an unbelievably prone position. Further, try taking some responsibility. If it bothered you that your “trainer” did not do an assessment, here’s a novel idea…get a new one that will! Amazing eh?
Pat obviously misses the point, Frank’s point is that good sound fitness advice should be made available to the “regular Joe” who wants to stay in shape and not the “mall-ninja” types as Frank says which Pat obviously is. Pat you are criticizing Frank for not having full knowledge of exercise physiology which is exactly Frank’s point, people are tired of hocus pocus trainers like you trying to over complicate things to keep people paying your inflated fees.
Thanks, John! Yes, you’re right, this isn’t about getting a college degree in physiology. It’s about communicating with regular people who have a family, kids, regular job, etc., who are interested in keeping fit. As a result I post what works and what doesn’t work for me. If someone disagrees, fine, but the problem is that the scam fitness industry “gurus” like Pat will come and try to discredit anything and everything that doesn’t put money into their pockets.
Funny thing is, the fittest guys I know do variations on the basics, like push-ups, pull-ups, and squats, and look better than these “mall ninjas” who are all about “getting huge” or whatever. These guys don’t understand that regular people with normal lives aren’t interested in “getting huge” or getting 4% bodyfat but rather just want to be in good overall shape without major sacrifices in their lifestyles, or paying out big bills to chiropractors and orthopedic surgeons.