abdominal challenges dont work

Abdominal challenges dont work

Infact they work as well as just doing a diet without exercising which has been PROVEN by the way to keep you fatter for longer because your metabolism slows each time you diet and lose muscle.





Heya my fitness tribe!

Personal Trainer North East / Newcastle

I have amended this blog as it's a good one.

 Loads of people posting about the 30 day ab challenge.......... sorry im gonna burst your bubble but you aint gonna get a 6 pack from doing it.There are far better ways of getting in shape- for example the 30 day burpee challenge if you are looking for one to hit the whole body.. 

1. - Everyone already has a canny set of abs fact! The reason you cant see your abs is all down to your body fat percentage. I don’t care if you can smash the 30 day ab challenge fully. If your body fat % isn’t low enough no one will be able to see what you’re packing underneath. 
For men, body fat should be around-12%; for women it should be sub-15% for the ab muscles to really pop. If you want to get your body fat down to 6-pack levels, make sure to incorporate a solid dose of high intensity cardio and a healthy, LEAN diet.  You CANNOT out train a crap diet.

2. "You cant crunch the fat away" Drill it into your Brain . There’s NO such thing as spot reduction. You can’t crunch off the fat covering the lower section of your abs — nothing about our physiology supports this misconception. 
The only way to strip the fat from your abs is by gradually burning it off from your entire body through cardio preferably HIIT( think sprinter not marathon runner), diet, and weight-training. Unfortunately, the fat covering the abs is usually the last to go and the first to come back, which makes getting/keeping abs all the more difficult. Stay persistent with a clean diet, resistance training, and cardio regimen and you’ll be able to maintain low body fat permanently. Abs require a lifestyle shift and a TON of discipline — not a quick fix. 

3 " You only do crunches" Crunches and sit-ups primarily work the top of the rectus abdominus, aka the 6 pack muscles. Even though building up the top is an incredibly important part of a stellar midsection, relying ONLY on sit-ups and crunches will cause the obliques, transverse abdominus, and lower abs to lag behind. Think of the transverse abdominus as a belt that runs around the waist and sucks everything in tight. Exercises like the plank can help build up the transverse and make the entire torso more compact. The obliques run diagonally along the side of the torso into the pelvis, which forms the V-cut that everyone craves so much. The key — variation always this also stops adaptation(reduced results or plateaus).
Incorporating bicycle crunches, hanging leg raises, and a variety of other ab exercises into your routine can help chisel out all parts of the core region, beyond just the rectus. 

4. Not increasing the difficulty enough - (This challenge does do this a little) This is huge. Your abs won’t grow past beginner levels unless you force them to. Muscles grow based on the principle of progressive resistance, meaning that you need to increase the weight lifted, the amount of resistance, or the difficulty of the exercise if you want to see any additional growth (or progress). If you want massive legs, you need to gradually increase the amount of weight squatted — ab development works the same way. When it comes to developing core musculature, crunches and sit-ups are extremely basic and provide minimal stimulation. Instead of simply doing higher reps of something basic (ab exercises should stay between 10-50 reps per set), upgrade it by adding a heavier dumbbell/weight plate/medicine ball, or permanently shift to more advanced exercises. 

For example, try crunches with a dumbbell on your chest, cable crunches, sit-ups on a decline bench, or the Lower Abs Trifecta. Adding a weight or more difficult angle can help make basic exercises significantly more difficult and kickstart brand new abdominal growth. Here is the primary function of the abs - not just the sexy muscles. The abdominal muscles provide 3 basic functions: stabilization, rotation, and deceleration. Let's look at each of these individually. 

1. Stabilization: We all know that in order for a tree to withstand powerful winds it must have a strong trunk. This allow for the branches to move in the wind and yet the tree stands firm and rooted. Our abdominals are no different than the trunk of a tree. It is no wonder that we oftentimes refer to the abdominal muscles as our trunk. When the abdominals contract it helps to stabilize and stiffen our trunk so that our arms and legs can perform their function. With weak abdominals we run the risk of injuries to the back and the extremities. Many times I have seen injuries to athletes that resulted from weak abdominal (core) muscles. Once good stability was reestablished, the athlete's injury was able to heal. 

2. Rotation: I think this is one of the most obvious ones. Our abdominal muscles rotate our trunk. Forceful rotation of the trunk, shoulders and arms comes from the hips and abdominal muscles. 

3. Deceleration: The abdominal muscles slow down rotation, side bending, and most importantly, hyperextension of the back. For example. you are playing basketball and your team mate throws the ball above your head. You reach up to grab the ball and are forced to bend backwards. If your abdominals are strong enough you will be able to avoid doing a back handspring and folding in half. Abdominal muscles also help to slow down rotation of the legs.

There is some evidence that a strong core can help to prevent ACL injuries. So remember, don't waste your time with machines and exercises that don't train the abdominal muscles the way they were designed. Now that you have a better understanding of how the abdominal muscles truly function, it will be easier to design a training program that is effective.

There are many good local boot-camps, one of the best North East Ones are run by Personal Trainer (Ex Army PTI) Glenn Hill in Chester le Street.

This was a long but good blog for more info please follow our blogs.

Glenn(the go to guy) Hill