Jay, what’s the best exercise for your abs? I’ve done so many situps and crunches, but I can’t get my abs to look like yours! What am I doing wrong?
Ever since I started telling people that I’m a personal trainer, the first thing they ask me is if I can help them get rid of their tummy fat. Guaranteed.
Situps and crunches will only do so much for your core. True, they’re good at building strength and muscle, but they will not, I repeat, will not give you the 6-pack abs you covet. Why? Because these exercises don’t burn fat!
I am a great advocate for building strong abs, and you do that with targeted exercises such as bicycles, toe touches, and even crunches, for example. But to build truly strong and functional ab and back muscles, you must do exercises that engage the core as stabilizers.
What does that mean?
It means that you should have a steady routine that include planks, push ups, and pull ups! You must engage your core in everything that you do, from squats and lunges, to curls and presses.
To make your muscles “pop” (show off the 6-pack), you also need to have an effective cardio routine. Check out my posts on interval training here and here to get an idea of what kind of cardio I use with my clients.
We all know it’s bikini season, so get to the gym or wherever you work out and start paying proper attention to your core!
You make some great points. People don’t realize (or don’t want to realize) that the only way to see definition in your abs is to get rid of the fat that’s on top of them.
Core exercises are the best. I’ve found that lengthening my body as much as possible (like doing Y squats rather than regular ones) requires the core to work more (to keep balanced?), so that could also be helpful for strengthening the core.
I like getting in longer, less intense cardio sessions, but I was AMAZED at the results I got when I started doing boot camp (interval training). You’re definitely right about the effectiveness of that approach!