Big arms can certainly get you attention from your rivals; the kind of attention you have been waiting for your whole life. But with a bloated belly, there’s no purpose of putting all that hard work day in day out in the gym.
If it were between six pack abs and big arms, six pack abs would have an upper hand because a strong and ripped six pack abs can be a great source of respect as well as envy from other people.
And once you know the truth behind all the lies about six pack workout, it will be a lot easier for you to build a tight midsection (that every girl loves). Read along as we expose some of the famous six pack workout myths –
Myth 1: You Need To Do Hundred Of Crunches To Get Six Pack Abs
Nonsense! A Human body contains fat in the form of triglycerides which further breaks down into glycerol and fatty acids to give us the energy during the training session. So, regardless of which body part, you are working out, the fuel can come from anywhere. It further helps us to conclude that local fat reduction is not at all possible.
More than crunches, dynamic exercises like Sprints and HIIT work best for building strong abdominals.
Myth 2: Train Your Abs Daily To Get Great Results
The abs muscle or what one can call as the rectus abdominals is a muscle group very similar to your biceps, delts, pecs, lats and others. So like other muscles, abs also need due rest to recover and grow. If you train them on a daily basis, you will end up overtraining them.
It’s rather better to train abs no frequent than thrice a week and twice when your intensity is quite high.
Myth 3: Crunches Are So Far The Best Exercise To Build Six-Pack Core
Crunches, like hamstring curls for legs, lateral raises for medial delts and cable flyes for chest, isolates the abdominals. However, isolation exercises are not an ideal way to pack on muscles.
Exercises such as hanging leg raise, incline knee ups, incline sit ups and many others which work together with other muscle groups and produce a more electrical response in abs muscles are proven to generate best results.
Myth 4: Train Abs Consistently With A Top Class Six Pack Workout Routine and You Will Have What You Want
Irrespective of how efficient and incredible your six pack workout routine may look like, you cannot build a strong core without eliminating the layer of fat over your abdominals. If you have a body fat percent anywhere above 12, you will never see six pack abs no matter how strong your core is.
The simple rule of thumb says to shred away body fat to see your ripped abs.
Myth 5: Do More Sets And More Reps To Get Well-Defined Abs
As we said before, local fat reduction or spot reduction is not at all possible. There’s no way you are going to lose your love handles by doing 100+ reps of random abs exercise. What you see on covers of fitness and sports magazines are athletes and bodybuilders who have given enough focus on training as well as diet. The latter one being more significant.
And it’s rightly said,
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“Six Pack Abs are not made in the gym. They are made in the kitchen.”
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Myth 6: To Give An Aesthetic Look To Your Abs, You Must Include Side Bends in Your Six Pack Workout Routine
Side bends are one of the best exercises to ruin the illusion of broad shoulders and narrow waist. Side bends, performed with a heavy dumbbell, will pack on some mass on oblique muscles on the side of your waist. Ultimately it will make your waist look broad and shoulders narrow. That’s not what you want. Right?
However, if you are into sports like rugby and football which requires functional ab strength, then you should by all means look forward to including heavy side bends in your abs workout routine.
Myth 7: Simple Leg Raises are the Finest Ab Exercise
The only way your abs muscle will be put through more work, as we said before, is by teamwork between your hip flexors and core. Notably, in exercises like Leg raises, your core acts as a supporting muscle for most of the time and work is mainly done by your hip flexors. The simplified version states that your rectus abdominals do not get enough active work to generate best results.
Hanging leg raises and Incline knee ups are two of the many alternatives that will give you a great burn in the abs than leg raises. But hey, don’t forget to curl up those hips.
Myth 8: Ab Twists Will Kill Fat From the Side of Your Waist
Walk up to any commercial gym and you will see people holding a light bar across their shoulders and twisting from side to side. Many people believe it to be one of the most effective exercises to lose fat from the side of waists. Well, we are not sure of how helpful twists are for abs, but we are confident that it will cause you spinal injury sooner or later.
And we highly advise you to avoid all sort of exercises in which your lower body is stationary and upper body is rotating against the force.
Myth 9: You Have To Train Your Upper Abs and Lower Abs Different Way
Before we go any further, make it very clear that the rectus abdominals is a one long, continuous muscle group that starts from lower ribs and stretches till groin. There are no upper abs and lower abs as such. The names, upper abs and lower abs, are just meant to differentiate between different types of ab exercises.
Although it’s not possible to isolate upper and lower abs, the two sections will respond very differently to exercises that require torso to move towards the hip than the hip flexors towards the torso.
Myth 10: Training Abs On Machines Will Save You From Injuries
It may protect you from injuries, but it will never help you gain strength. You will get addicted to the easiest way of training and miss out all the opportunities to build muscles along with core strength. Remember, there’s no easy way to fitness. The only way you can procure your dream physique is by passing through lots of sweat and sacrifice.
Myth 11: You Should Not Eat Carbs If You Want Six Pack Abs
So far you would have heard a lot about why you should not eat carbs and how it can deviate you from your fitness goals. All lies!
Carbs form an essential element of a balanced diet and are very necessary to support body for optimal function. Having said that, it’s also crucial to know that majority portion of your daily carb requirement should come from whole foods and unprocessed items like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice and so on. Stay away from sugary drinks, cookies, cakes and of course white bread.
Myth 12: You Can Get Your Six Pack Look Like Top Fitness Models and Bodybuilders
The truth is that your genes decide your body structure. You can increase the size of your muscles by working out, but you cannot alter the basic layout of your muscles. The athletes and bodybuilders you see on screen have an advantage of superior genes which you may or may not have.
But don’t get disheartened because everybody whether with or without superior genes has to undergo a lot of hard work and consistency to build a top-class physique.
Myth 13: You Have To do A Lot Of Cardio Like 2 Hours A Day To Get Well Defined Six Pack Core
You should befriend High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for your journey to ripped six pack abs. HIIT, which can last for as little as 15-20 minutes, – is one of the best ways to decrease body fat and promote lean muscle gains.
Here’s your complete guide to HIIT – A beginner’s guide to High-Intensity Interval Training
Myth 14: You Should Hit Abs At The Beginning Of a Workout Session
Most of the compound movements like Bench Press, Squats and Deadlifts need the abdominal muscles to provide stability during the lift. Tiring out abs early in the training session will only increase the chance of injury and crude the performance. So it’s better to work abs at the end of the workout or at least when compound lifts are over.
Myth 15:One Killer Ab Exercises Can Get You Six-Pack Core Very Quickly
Not just one, but there are a bunch of different movements that can get you six pack core. However, none of them can be called as the best ab exercise. Know that, as you make progress, the exercises which once you used to be super efficient may not produce the same results now.
Moreover, you should never give a think about reaching your six pack goals quickly as there are no shortcuts in fitness. All those fat loss magic pills and secret exercises work only in fairy tales. Period!
