Back to Basics: Ab Exercises - The Myth of Spot Reduction (Day 11)

Good question presented by Min in the comments section, what kind of ab exercises should we do?

To answer this question, we need to understand the goal of doing ab exercises to begin with. If the point of you doing ab exercises is because A.) You have a flabby stomach and you want definition, or B.) Your stomach protrudes and you want it to be flatter, then my answer would be: Don't do any ab exercises.

The reasons for this are simple, and again go back to abdominal fat composition. But before I go into that, I want to touch on the issue of spot reduction, the idea that you can work fat off of a certain area of your body by just exercising that one area.

This is absolutely false.

That's right, all those stupid ab machines you see on TV late at night are completely useless to 80-90% of Americans.

If you continue to believe this myth you will waste a lot of time and effort with very little results. The reason for this is because the fat you have around your midsection is what's stored for your entire body. Our bodies simply prioritize these fat deposits to very specific areas as a response to a surplus of calories. Ladies are meant to have fat deposited to their hips and thighs first. Men are meant to have fat deposited to their midsection first. This doesn't mean that it ended up there because you didn't work out that specific area, and conversely, working out just that one area isn't going to make it go away.

The most effective way to get rid of this fat is by increasing metabolism through overall full body aerobic and anaerobic exercise (i.e.: running, swimming, cycling, weight training etc.). When you start exercising and watching your diet, your body's metabolism speeds up and you lose fat everywhere. When there is no more fat to lose from the other areas of your body, that's when fat starts to strip away from these high priority abdominal areas.

So don't waste your time doing a million crunches when there is a layer of subcutaneous fat cover your abs, it's completely pointless. No matter how well developed your abs are, you'll never be able to see them if they're covered by a layer of fat. (Likewise, if your stomach protrudes but is relatively hard, this is a sign of a high amount of visceral fat. Do TVA exercises.) Work the fat off first by increasing your metabolism through workouts and diet. Then when that fat is gone and there's only a thin layer of skin between your fingers and those stomach muscles, then you focus on shaping and sculpting your midsection.

With that said, if you're in the miniscule percentile of Americans who already have very little body fat covering their abs but still can't see definition, focus on weighted abdominal exercises. Abs are like any other muscle and they grow bigger with heavier weights applied. Sixpacknow.com has a great ab regimen for those looking to get into specifics. Click here.

Good luck!

P.S. I'll be posting my personal detailed diet and workout regimens soon (as this was intentionally what my blog was for). I've been pretty disappointed with myself in terms of what I've been eating because I haven't been very strict. That's going to change very shortly.