Looking for ripped abs Lose the crunches?
I love when people tell me that they’re unhappy with their “gut, tire, flab, big stomach” or whatever other nicknames they have for it and that they need to start doing some more crunches…
Well, this is probably the worst approach you can take to working on that “gut”. For one, doing crunches is not NEARLY going to provide the caloric expenditure you need to begin your journey of fat loss.
Looking Exercise For Fat Loss
And secondly, crunches are probably one of the most detrimental things you can do to the health of your low back, in other words, the likelihood of injuring your back doing crunches is high.
“You do enough sit-ups or crunches, I don’t care what back you have you’ll hurt your discs” (McGill, S. 2011) Stuart McGill is one of the leading authorities on spine biomechanics and back health.
And through his research on the spine has helped in many ways to reshape the way physical therapists and strength and conditioning experts train the trunk (core).
McGill compares the back to a wire hanger, saying if you want to break a wire hanger then you just bend it back and forth and sooner or later it’s going to break. Ultimately the back only has so many bends in it before it breaks.
In one study by McGill and colleagues, they tested the effects of situps on the spine of 12 young men and found that both bent and straight leg sit-ups packed over 3,000 N of force, or roughly 674 lbs., on the lower spine.
The discs that rest between are spine can obviously handle so much force over a lifetime.
Now back to the first reason why Crunches are a poor choice for losing fat around the mid-section.
The only way to lose weight is to increase activity and decrease caloric intake, therefore putting us into a caloric deficit, which will result in fat loss.
One question that often throws people for a loop is “if you had 2 people trying to get “ripped abs” and one of them did abs every day for 6 weeks while the other did squat every day for 6 weeks, who would have better abs at the end of the 6 weeks”?
Caloric expenditure is dependent on a variety of factors and can vary from person to person but one variable that remains true for all individuals is heart rate.
Try doing 20 squats and counting your heart rate (check out my tools section for instructions on this) and then try doing 20 crunches and counting your heart rate, it will be quite obvious which activity is more taxing on the cardiovascular system.
The only way to lose weight is to increase activity and decrease caloric intake, therefore putting us into a caloric deficit, which will result in fat loss.
One question that often throws people for a loop is “if you had 2 people trying to get “ripped abs” and one of them did abs every day for 6 weeks while the other did squat every day for 6 weeks, who would have better abs at the end of the 6 weeks”?
Well, of course, it’s the person who does squats every day!
The reason being is that the person doing squats is going to burn FAR more energy than the person doing crunches, therefore they will lose more body fat and unless you lose body fat, it doesn’t matter what your abs look like, I assure you no one will see them.Caloric expenditure is dependent on a variety of factors and can vary from person to person but one variable that remains true for all individuals is heart rate.
Try doing 20 squats and counting your heart rate (check out my tools section for instructions on this) and then try doing 20 crunches and counting your heart rate, it will be quite obvious which activity is more taxing on the cardiovascular system.
Squats have additional benefits when it comes to losing the “gut”, for example, there is something called EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption).
In addition to that, if you continue to increase your strength with the squats you can build lean muscle and with the addition of lean muscle comes increased metabolism and with increased metabolism comes additional caloric expenditure even when you’re sitting on your butt at work!
The exercise which essentially means that when you tax a muscle, the muscle continues to require oxygen beyond the completion of your workout, which results in ongoing caloric expenditure, even when your workout is over. (Scott, K. 2005).
In addition to that, if you continue to increase your strength with the squats you can build lean muscle and with the addition of lean muscle comes increased metabolism and with increased metabolism comes additional caloric expenditure even when you’re sitting on your butt at work!
The Real Purpose of the Spine?
If you try to think of one functional activity that looks like a crunch, you’d be hard-pressed to find it, in actuality our trunk is mostly designed to resist motion, not create motion.
For example, in a golfer during their backswing, there is very minimal motion in the low back but more so from the hip and the mid back, which is where it’s supposed to come from.
The exercise which provides us with the stability we need to complete the task. In short, the trunk is designed to stiffen and provide us with stability while our limbs (arms/legs) are designed to provide us with motion.
For example, in a golfer during their backswing, there is very minimal motion in the low back but more so from the hip and the mid back, which is where it’s supposed to come from.
Another example, which all of us can relate to is pulling something off a shelf, you will notice that your abdominal wall and trunk area “stiffen”.
The exercise which provides us with the stability we need to complete the task. In short, the trunk is designed to stiffen and provide us with stability while our limbs (arms/legs) are designed to provide us with motion.
So Now What?
1. You need to start burning calories! The following link will lead you to a list of activities that estimate caloric expenditure.
2. You need to reconsider your abdominal exercise routine! Below you will find a series of recommended exercise for maximizing the function of the trunk area.
The Exercise like this:
- Planks (Hold for 10-20 Seconds and repeat 3 times)
- Side Planks (Hold for 10-20 Seconds and repeat 3 times)
- Dead Bugs (Keep the back flat and reach back with one arm, while straightening out the opposite leg. Complete 10 repetitions and repeat 1x)
- Chops (Probably the best exercise you can do for the trunk! Complete 10-15 reps and repeat 2 times)
I hope the info benefits for you.
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