Crunching your gut

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:33 Tuesday, 06 April 2010 22:37

If there is anything that says 'fit' its got to be a sixpack. For men the belly and gut can be the last places to shed fat. So gaining a real sixpack is often the final accomplishment of a strenuous exercise regime. In theory we could all have a sixpack if we just starve ourselves - but we'd lose muscle mass doing so and end up puny instead of pulverising. Achieving a sixpack and retaining muscle mass is the ideal goal.

Getting ripped in the abdominal area should be a two prong approach - dieting and working out. A body fat percentage of under 12% is normally required before the much sought after definition begins to appear in your ab muscles. Therefore reducing fat intake as much as possible (say 7-8% of your intake) is one half of the battle. The other half is building abs that are strong. Here we look at the bread and butter of ab building - the crunch and sit-up.

Abs - Not for wimps.

Perhaps the biggest myth out there is that by doing crunches and sit-ups you can lose fat around the stomach and develop a herculean six pack. Forget the infomercials. Its just not true. You cannot spot lose weight. Doing crunches will build abs, but it will not cause your weight loss to come from the ab area. Only your body gets to decide where the weight loss occurs from and the ab area is often last in line, particularly for men.

Consistency is crucial for ab building. Getting the food intake right this week and pigging out next next week just won't cut it. Nor will working out like a horse this week and rolling off the couch next week. Draw up your diet and workout plan and stick to it. It really is the only way!

Ab muscles recover quickly, much more quickly than our other muscle groups. So even if we work them hard today, its possible that we could blast them tomorrow too. Generally its wise to give every muscle group a chance to recover. For intense workouts give your abs at least a day to repair and grow. Remember that muscle growth occurs when the muscle is resting, not when your wobbling about the gym like a plonk with a weight that you were never going to be able to lift in the first place.

So whats the difference between a crunch and a sit-up? The primary difference is that when doing a crunch your lower back generally does not leave the floor. Sit-up's involve lifting your back off the floor.

With that in mind there are as many ways to do both as you can dream up. In our list below you can substitute sit-ups for crunches.

Decline Crunch - the decline gives added difficulty to the crunch. Avoid using the legs to crunch upwards - keep the focus on the abdomen. Crunch hard and slow.

Twisting Crunch - as you lift twist so that one shoulder is raised higher than the other. Gives added emphasis to working out the obliques.

Cable Crunches - From a kneeling/standing position and using cables, the body bends from the waist down. The hips should remain still. Avoid pulling the cables with your arms - focus the resistance on your ab muscles

Dragon Flag: Think Rocky doing his ab crunches on the bench. The hands clasp the bench behind the head and the legs are raised up laterally to crunch the core muscles. Very effective and very impressive. Concentrate on maintaining form in a slow steady movement. If you get really good, tape a couple of dumbbells to your ankles. That should crush whatever pride you've built up.

Hanging Crunch: Hang upside down from a bar and crunch upwards. Particularly impressive if you can pull it off.

Exercise Ball Crunches: Use an exercise ball to force the ab muscles to work harder keeping you balanced.  You can also grip the ball between your legs, rest your legs upon the ball as you crunch or place your back on the ball and crunch.

Weighted Crunches: Either hold a weight in your hands, on your chest or strap leg weights to your feet if doing crunches with your legs.