Crunches will not burn lower belly fat
A disturbing thing is that a lot of people are still doing traditional crunches to burn lower belly fat. Unfortunately, they are not going to get rid of lower belly fat this way. To make sure you don’t fall into this trap yourself, here are the prime seven reasons why you should never do crunches:
1. Crunches will not help you lose any fat. How many crunches do you think it would take to lose a pound of belly fat? According to a study done by Men’s Fitness, you’d have to do approximately TWENTY THOUSAND crunches to lose one single pound of belly fat.
Why so many? The reason is there’s no such thing as “spot reduction” – losing fat in one specific area. You can only lose fat evenly over your entire body. And because crunches do not utilize the large muscle groups of your body, they will only burn a tiny number of calories and a miniscule amount of fat.
2. If you’re already overweight, doing crunches will make you look more fat. All that abdominal exercises can do – crunches included – is to build up the abdominal muscles. They’re not even very good at this especially when you’re already in shape, but they can build some muscle if you’re just starting and are overweight.
If you have a fat-covered belly, any muscle you build up underneath will be COMPLETELY INVISIBLE, hidden under the layer of fat. Also, it will yet cause the fat to bulge out, creating the impression that you’re actually more fat.
3. Crunches could be dangerous when they’re effective. If you’re overweight and the muscles of your core are weak, it’s going to be difficult for you to maintain correct form when you’re doing crunches. And if your form is bad, it’s just a matter of time before you start experiencing lower back pain and neck pain from doing your crunches.
4. Crunches are not effective in building abdominal muscle. Once you are lean and in good shape, it becomes safer to do crunches. Unfortunately, they are totally useless for building ab muscle. You might be able to do a set of 100-200 crunches before you’re exhausted but exercising with so little resistance is not going to build up your abdominals at all.
Imagine this: would you build up your biceps using just your empty fists, with no weight? Of course not! Likewise, doing hundreds of crunches will do nothing to put muscle onto your abs.
5. Crunches don’t build functional strength.
Georges St.Pierre
The crunching movement is very unnatural and is rarely used in any real situation. If you want to become more athletic or gain more strength in your everyday life, crunches won’t help you get there. MMA fighter, Georges St.Pierre, NEVER does crunches, and is in superb physical shape.
Another professional MMA fighter, John Howard, is one of the strongest guys in the game, and also never does crunches. He does explosive cardio and resistance training very similar to what is recommended in Six Pack Shortcuts.
6. Timewise, crunches are inefficient. To make the most of your available training time, you’ll want to figure out a way to get the maximum amount of muscle stimulation in the minimum amount of time. Crunches do not make good use of your time.
It can take you more than 3 minutes to do 200 crunches, and another 3 to recover. Conversely, by doing an exercise like isometric leg raises, you’ll get a superior workout in half a minute or less.
7. If they didn’t work for you in the past, they won’t work for you now either. If you’ve done crunches in the past, ask yourself how they’ve worked for you. Did you get your six pack abs? If you didn’t, remember that you can’t do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result each time. If crunches didn’t work for you in the past, they’re NEVER going to work.
It’s time to abandon what’s failed you in the past, and to move on to more effective ways of abdominal training.
What you should be doing in place of crunches to lose belly fat
1. You need to be following a workout program that trains your TOTAL BODY. This is the only way to lose weight, so that your abs will become visible in the first place.
2. You also need to have a NUTRITION plan in place that’s realistic and easy to follow. Without this, NO training regimen will do you any good – especially crunches.
3. You need to get to know the abdominal exercises that are infinitely more effective than crunches in losing lower belly fat or excess body fat in general. . Exercises such as the dynamic plank workout included in Six Pack Shortcuts, which build the muscle on your abs through increasing their stabilizing strength.
You also need to learn “explosive”-style ab exercises, such as the barbell twist, the medicine ball slam and mountain climbers. These exercises are MUCH more effective than crunches, and much safer, too.
If you’re ready to cut the nonsense and learn the exercises that will REALLY lose you belly fat and get your six-pack abs visible, get your Six-Pack Abs course now.
They’ve put together a course that shows you the exact exercises that dozens of people have followed to get six-pack abs. They also give you a simple and easy-to-follow nutrition plan that will help you get your six-pack. It’s simple, quick-acting and proven to work. It’s exactly what you need to FINALLY get your abs showing, and to get the ripped six pack abs that you really want.
There are many reasons why you should approach a new weight-training program with baby steps. You have to give your body a chance to get used to the new activity and stresses that the exercises are placing upon it. There will thus be less chance of you injuring yourself – and consequently hindering your progress.
