Bodybuilding Myth #1 – Crunches Will Give You Ripped Six Pack Abs.
This is unarguable. one of the most common myths in the world of fitness and bodybuilding. The reason why most of the people don’t achieve those delusional six pack abs is because they hardly know the truth about what goes into building those strong abs. In order to carve out those caveman abs, you need to shed off layers of myth surrounding your abs routine. Let’s get this myth debunked –
What many of us hear regularly in and out of the gym –
“Increase repetitions and get ripped abs with crunches alone” – A random fitness instructor
“Man I’m gonna hit 100 crunches today to shed my belly fat” – A desperate newbie working on weight loss
“When I was young, I had strong washboard kind of abs and I achieved it with doing crunches regularly” – a man in his mid-50s walking it out on a treadmill
“As long as you hit crunches daily, you are not going to get fat” – your fitness partner
And the Truth behind building strong and ripped six pack abs –
Before knowing why spot reduction of fat is not possible, let us see how our body uses fat as fuel. A human body contains fat in the form of triglycerides which breaks down into glycerol and fatty acids that is used as fuel during training sessions. So, irrespective of which part of the body you are working on, the fat that is broken down as fuel can come anywhere from your body. One of the recent studies suggests the same – Spot reduction is not effective.
And hence, dynamic exercises involving more than one muscle group like Sprint, HIIT will do more good to your core than old-school lazy crunches.
How important a healthy diet is in building strong midsection – We all have been hearing, “Abs are not made in a gym they are made in kitchen”, since years. No matter how many crunches you do, if you don’t feed yourself a healthy diet then you’re diminishing your chances for losing stubborn belly fat and building up a strong core. A diet rich in protein, fibre, good fats and a right amount of carbohydrates will make you ripped six pack abs dreams achievable.
Move over simple lazy crunches and perform compound and total body exercises – Compound movements like Deadlifts, Squats not only activates your core but more importantly it also strengthens the abdomen muscles. Moreover, consistent weight training with proper rest period are some of the top hacks for adding muscle to your core.
And now when you have known the truth, it’s your turn to make the most out of it and build yourself beach ready ripped six pack abs.
