Abs At Last

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Workouts for Abs

Workouts for Abs

Elsewhere on this site we've talked about why you can't get great abs through dieting or spot reducing. Does that mean that there are no workouts to flatten your abs? Heck no. Proper nutrition and multi-joint strength training will tone your body and burn off the fat, but if you don't do some exercises specifically for your abs, there won't be any muscle there to show off. So you do need to do workouts for abs. Specifically, you need to know which exercises to do, how often to do them, and how to do them. And 500 straight-leg situps a day, seven days a week is not the right answer.

As always, the authors of the programs reviewed here are the experts and will give you the specific details of an effective abs workout program. I can only summarize the key features of these programs:

Hundreds of Reps is Not the Answer

A limited number of reps, done properly, with additional weight if necessary, is far more effective than hundreds of reps. As Mike Geary in The Truth About SIX PACK ABS explains it, the entire abs portion of your workouts should take 3-5 minutes, no more.

Certain Abs Exercises are Dangerous

By now, most people know that the straight-leg sit-up is a dangerous exercise. But there are other abs exercises that are dangerous too, including some done on machines that you'll find at most well-equipped gyms. These programs tell you which abs exercises are safe to do, and how to do them correctly so you don't hurt yourself. It's hard to get six-pack abs when your laid up for weeks with a back injury!

Doing Abs Exercises Every Day Will Hurt Your Progress

When you have an effective abs exercise program, you don't need to work your abs every day. In fact, you won't be able to work your abs every day without overtraining them. Like the other muscles in your body, when trained properly, your abs need time to recover between workouts. Think: no more daily crunching sessions!

So now you know: you do still need to do workouts for abs. But they're probably not the kinds of workouts you are used to: the exercises are different, the frequency is different, and the number of reps is different. And that's good, because if your current abs workouts were working for you, you wouldn't be reading this page right now.