Please don’t laugh when I tell you this. When I was younger (probably around 12 or 13 years of age),
I really wanted to look like an athlete. What I thought I had to do to get there? 200 abdominal crunches a day. When I survived the month of this, I started to increase it, obviously splitting it across the day making it 400 in total- 200 as soon as I woke up and then 200 before bed. I laugh to myself now when I think about this. I even recall watching music videos on MTV and really wanting to look exactly like Joss Stone and Rachel Stephens! (Hahaha!) I always admired their confidence in prancing around in a crop top and having the flattest stomachs I ever saw. The only thing in my head? Wanting to have a flat stomach just like them and me continuing to do these godawful ab crunches and not seeing any results.
Now I can laugh and put this down to immaturity, naivety and a lack of education. Not to mention the power and influence that the media (and now more social media) can affect the younger generation in terms of the influences of body image and what is attractive. But, what is not surprising is that there are still adults today who are reading shitty articles in ‘health’ magazines about the 50 different types of ab exercises to get a ‘flat stomach’ or even downloading apps such as ‘6 Pack Abs Fast!’ Are you smiling to yourself because you are one of those people? I will be the first to hold my hands up and say up about 5-6 years ago before I started weight training I had that app and was so convinced by it that I was hugely disappointed when I saw NO RESULTS after a month of being promised to have a full on 6 pack!
Firstly, let’s get one thing straight. I am someone that has achieved a full 6 pack so this is why you need to listen to me. Secondly, no, I don’t have abs all year round, nor am I lean all year round and I carry A LOT of fat around my middle when I’m not lean. This blog post is simply to clear up any myths and really get you thinking about what it really takes to get a ‘flat’, ‘toned’ stomach. Lastly no, it is NOT doing hundreds of crunches.
5 HOME TRUTHS
1. YOU HAVE TO BE SUPER LEAN to see abs or for your fat to disappear from your middle. Please bear in mind though our genetics do determine where we generally hold more body fat, (there are a few annoying women that are naturally flat around their midriff-I am definitely not 1 of those people!) Just remember, one person’s ‘lean’ is another person’s ‘big’ and women naturally hold more fat around their tummies, so it is much harder to get lean there. Like I said, the lower your body fat, the less fat you will have there-in the words of James Smith PT: “CALORIE FUCKING DEFICIT”.
2. You need to treat your abs like any other muscle group. Incorporating core exercises within your normal training routine (weight lifting specifically) you are consciously working them. Me personally, I only train abs once a week. Remember, you will only ever see my abs and ‘flat stomach’ when I am super super lean. Compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts all engage the abs without you even noticing. So, if you’re someone that hasn’t started weight training yet, hurry up and jump on the band wagon, the results will be phenomenal.
3. To get a 6 pack or look ‘toned’ around your stomach you need to build up those ab muscles first. The more muscle mass you develop there through appropriate exercises, the more defined you will look. As a reminder, you would need to drop a lot of body fat.
4. Nutrition: Did I already mention about dropping body fat? I know how frustrating it is, trust me. Even when I get lean, the last place for my fat to go is around my middle. Eating good quality food and being in a calorie deficit to drop weight over a prolonged period of time is when you will notice and see the difference. Taking monthly photos (frontal and side) is a good indication of progress.
5. Exercises I do to train the abs:
· Hanging knee/ leg raises
· V sits
· Dumbbell Russian Twists
· Ab rollouts
· Cable Crunches
· Stability ball Step offs
· Stability ball Knee Tucks
(The rest is me lifting metal and doing compounds).
The ABSolute Truth
Stop buying ab crunch machines, stop doing hundreds of crunches. To flatten your middle, lose the weight and train with metal. That is all.
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