Six pack abs.
Did that grab your attention? Ask 100 guys what their biggest fitness goal is and you’ll hear those three words from 99 of ‘em.
Abs are one of the Trifecta of Glamour Muscles that guys obsess over, along with pecs and biceps. But they are a poor indicator of health and strength. And most women are more attracted to guys with broad shoulders, low body fat, and strong glutes, making these muscles the sort of thing that guys needlessly obsess over.
Now, don’t get me wrong. A strong core IS vitally important. Almost EVERY movement you do in your day-to-day life requires your midsection to be strong enough to stabilize your entire body. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it… and most men are doing it the wrong way. If you’re looking for the best abs exercise, you’ll find it here…
Crunch, Crunch, Neck Sprain, Crunch…
Crunches are NOT the best abs exercise. In fact, they are one of the worst.
One of my favorite Fitness Myths is that in order to get a six pack you must train your abs every day with endless crunches, sit ups, etc. Much like training each muscle group individually to exhaustion is total crap, this myth – like most others, from old bodybuilding lore – is no exception.
The human body is perfectly designed for compound movements. By moving our bodies in the way they are best suited, we can build the strong midsections we are striving for efficiently and without risking injury.
Doing hundreds of crunches every day will waste your time and give you innumerable neck sprains. There’s gotta be a better way…
Get Your Diet On
You can’t out-exercise a poor diet.
You could have the strongest core in the world, but if you have a beer belly, you’ll never be able to see it. If you are looking to get a strong-looking midsection, your first step is to eat a diet of real food instead of “food products,” which will promote fat loss automatically… NO calorie counting required!
Exercise the Smart Way
Every complex movement your body does requires your abs to stabilize your body between the hips and chest. Translation: if you are doing lots of squats, deadlifts, presses, pull ups, and the like, you probably don’t need to add any more ab work to your routine. These are truly the best abs exercises.
Hell, even TMuscle (a bodybuilding hub and not the kind of place I’d send my readers to for advice on efficient health tips) has recently named the pull up as one of the best ab exercises!
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t plug high-intensity interval training (per usual) for it’s spectacular ability to put your body into long-term fat-burning mode with just a few minutes of exercise every week.
And Finally… The Best Abs Exercises Revealed!
Okay, so Darrin hates isolation exercises. What else is new? OF COURSE I’d recommend ditching the ab work and focusing on the big lifts to automatically get all the results you want, right?
Well, the core is such an integral part of the human body, if there’s any muscle group that’s worth isolating, it’s the abs. Truth be told, there are a few good exercises you may want to focus on.
The Plank
The main reason I don’t like crunches and sit ups is the tendency to strain your neck with so many repetitive movements, along with the possibility of back damage long-term. It is for this reason that I prefer isometrics when it comes to ab work. Isometrics can be thought of as the opposite of plyometrics, which emphasize explosive power. With isometrics, you hold your body in a static position for as long as you can.
Planks are an isometric hold similar to the starting position of a push up, but lowered down onto your elbows. See if you can do this for 3 minutes!
L-Sits
Another great isometric exercise is the l-sit. You may want a pull up bar, dip station, or rings for this, but the true minimalists can get away with just lifting themselves off the ground. No matter how you go around doing it, the jist is to hold your legs straight out in front of you as long as you can. Again, you are a rock star if you can do this for 3 minutes.
Ab Rollouts
Okay, I’ll admit, this is one of the most “un-LMVM” of the exercises I have advocated on this site so far, but even I gotta admit they’re pretty effective. You won’t catch me doing too many of these (I’m a much bigger fan of the isometrics), but they are light years ahead of crunches and sit ups, and are much safer for your neck and back to boot.
Three Easy Steps to Rock Hard Abs
Wow, that headline sounds like an infomercial! Nevertheless, let’s review the three steps to efficiently building core strength:
- Eat a diet of real food: Heavy on the fresh meat and veggies, low on processed foods.
- Do big movements: Compound exercises require you to engage your abs, getting an excellent ab workout without needing to focus any extra time on it.
- Do HIIT: Interval training beats out steady state cardio by effectively transforming your body into a fat-burning machine, even when you aren’t working out!
These three tips are all the most of us will ever need. But for some extra credit, throw in low-impact exercises such as planks, l-sits, and ab rollouts. And you’ll end up the envy of every guy who’s dropped some serious dough on crazy ab machines only to get no real results. There may be no one “best abs exercise,” but the three I outlined here are strong contenders for that title.
I'm a science geek, food lover, and wannabe surfer.
{ 8 comments }
Darrin,
As usual, I’m 100% in agreement with you. I’m a fan of planks and renegade rows. I like to incorporate side planks in additional to the standard. Every once in a while, I do some hanging leg raises as well. Like you said, if you’re doing compound exercises, especially with heavy weights, you’ll get almost all the ab work you need.
Dave
Well I do agree with what you say.. if everyone followed your points and it will happen … but what I can’t understand why do so many people still have trouble getting any abs? Beats me!
At my gym I would say 95% haven’t got 6 pack , of that 60% still look out of shape and I’m talking about regular goers.
But if I had to guess Its the diet is the real key
Great advice as always Darrin. I always look forward to your articles, you definitely have a unique angle on health, fitness and lifestyle. One that is very welcome.
Planks are my go-to abdominal exercise. I love that they target and condition your abs by training the core to function as a unit rather than individual muscles. And I actually like doing roll-outs, but I don’t have an “ab-roller”, I use a stability ball instead and it works just as well.
I have to agree, diet really is much more important than crunches for getting a nice lean midsection. But eating clean and focusing on functional movements isn’t as “glamorous” as doing a Rocky montage when at the gym 🙂
Darrin,
Spot on article! I ditched crunches a while ago and now, focus on hanging leg raises, planks, and renegade rows for ab work. I also agree that diet is way more important than any exercise you can do when it comes to ab definition.
Alykhan
@Dave:
I do yoga occasionally and side planks are always a pose we get to. They are really tough as well!
@Raymond:
I’m guessing the problem with most gym-goers is they work hard at the gym (if they’re not sitting around watching TV), get hungry, then go home and eat garbage to undo everything. Getting a six-pack is about 90% losing fat and only 10% strengthening your ab muscles. And since diet is the main determinant of fat accumulation, it stands that it’s likely the reason why people who spend hours in the gym every week get little to show for it.
@David:
But it might be worth it to show up at the gym in a grey sweatsuit and Chuck Taylors to do your very own Rocky Montage! An ab roller may or may not be worth the investment. The video shows how to do the same exercise with a towel on linoleum floor. And Ross Enamait’s website has DIY ab roller instructions.
@Alykhan:
In day-to-day life, our core muscles are used primarily for stabilization and only rarely for flexing our torso every which way. So it just makes sense to me that isometrics exercises are gonna be more effective.
Darrin,
I never was much for doing direct ab work. I think from my days of powerlifting, I have a pretty good core. I started doing planks, side planks, and stability ball rollouts for the last few months and really like these exercises way more than crunches!
I don’t even know what they are called, but I also have been doing side planks with my feet on a bench and my arm on the floor. I then bend my hips and let them touch the ground and then straighten out again. These are pretty awesome after around 10 reps or so. I guess they could be called dynamic side planks? Any ideas what they are really called?
Kelly
Great post but the problem is that most people either don’t know what it takes to get abs or they are always wanting the shortcut. Diet and weight loss is the only way to have visible abs. All the other exercises and stuff just help to build and strengthen. You want to see your abs then cut the calories.
-Thomas
@WaistHipsandThighs:
Most definitely. Getting six-pack abs is 90% about losing fat and only 10% about strengthening your ab muscles. I’d recommend a diet heavy on unprocessed meat and veggies over caloric restriction though. It’s far easier to lose fat that way and doesn’t rob you of all your will power. I mostly rely on “the big lifts” to work my core muscles, but will do some isometrics such as planks and L-sits for a change every now and then.
Comments on this entry are closed.