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Top 5 Myths about Six Pack Abs Busted
Who doesn’t want a set of six-pack abs? Every time you turn on the television or pick up a magazine, there seems to be a new system or way to easily obtain these glamor muscles. As you can imagine, with all the popularity that these muscles are receiving, plenty of information has hit the internet. Some of it great, most of it false and not helpful. Let’s take a look at the top 5 myths about building six packs and put them to rest once and for all.
- Crunches Are the BEST Six-Pack Exercise
Wrong. Sure, crunches should be a part of any advanced abdominal training program but this exercise is far from being the best and only option out there. There are plenty of other exercises to choose from that can activate the abdominal muscles to a greater extent, promoting better results. Here are just a few that have been proven to be better for you:
- Plank
- V-Up
- Bicycles
- Leg Lifts
- Exercises Are More Important Than Nutrition
Extremely wrong. You can perform as many repetitions as you like but if you are going home after the gym and following a terrible junk food-based diet, then you just wasted your time exercising. Nutrition makes up 70% of the results that you see in the mirror. That means if you want to see those abs shining through, you need to get your nutrition game on point.
- Cutting Calories Isn’t Necessary
Hate to break it to you but if you are over consuming calories each day, that puts you in a gain-focused state. If you want to see those abs pop out, not only do you need to clean up your eating but you also have to start chipping away at those calories. There’s no need to overdo it. You don’t need to starve yourself. You should be burning as many, if not more, calories as you eat each day.
- Exercising ONLY Abs and Seeing Results
Who would only want a shredded six pack while everything else around it looks terrible? We understand that abs are important to you but there’s no way to spot reduce and target only your abdominal muscles. You need to exercise the entire body as this will help maintain healthy muscle tension relationship. It will also help you burn more calories, promoting fat burn around your mid-section.
- Daily Abdominal Training is Necessary
If you know anything about muscle tissue, recovery, and the threat of over training, then you’ll know daily abdominal training is a really bad idea. The only people that can get away with daily abdominal training are those taking illegal substances that significantly boost muscle tissue recovery. Don’t be that person. Allow your abdominals a day or two in between workouts. This will ensure proper recovery without the threat of strain or injury.
Tell Us What You Think!
Do you know any other ab myths to add to this list?
Post them in the comments below!
1 comment
I’d add: You can lose fat in specific areas of your body. Spot weight loss is a big theme in fitness and a marketing strategy for many products that promise beautiful abs.
Imagine losing 1/5 inch both on your stomach and on your hips. The muscle structure on the stomach is more elaborate and will become more visible. At the same time, the fat loss on your hips will show primarily in the volume. In fact, showing fibers on the leg muscles is a domain of the bodybuilders with single digit body fat. Same works in reverse. If more fat is added to your body, the difference on the abs will be more visible. Hence, the appearance that you gained weight locally.
I wrote about the contradictory nature of six pack here: https://physcult.com/contradicting-nature-of-abs/