Why Doing Crunches won´t give you abs

Having abs or a six-pack is something that most people who start working out are looking for.

I have seen so many people (including myself) "killing" themselves doing hundreds of crunches every single day to get them and see no results at all and that's because doing just crunches, that particular exercise alone won't give you the desired results.

First of all, we need to understand that abs are made in the kitchen, not at the gym. 

Abs are 80% of what we eat and 20% exercise. So all those cookies, cupcakes, sodas that we love so much have to go if we really want to have a flat stomach and a great six-pack.

It is important to understand how our abdominal area works, one mistake we made is we don't do the muscle activation of that specific area. 

What is that you wonder? Basically, you need to contract your abdomen while doing other activities like running or lifting weights, if you practice a martial art while kicking.

It may seem obvious but so many people forget to do this while doing the rest of their workout routine. 

During all time you are exercising it is important to keep your abs contracted. 

Actually, you should be doing this even if you are not working out because it also helps to improve your posture.

Another mistake we usually made is that we only focus on one part of the abdomen is most of the time is the front, where the six.pack will be and this is wrong. 

In order to have a good and strong abdomen, we need to work our entire core area which is: the abdominal area or the front, obliques area or the sides and the lower back.

Cardio plays an important part to be able to get those abs you want because it will help you burn the extra fat in your abdominal area that will help you show the muscles. 

One of the most effective ways I found to do this is incorporate cardio between each abdominal exercise, for example, I do a set of 10-sec plank, then 30 sec jumping jacks, then 20-sec crunches, another 30 sec rope jumping etc.

Doing just crunches won't help develop the muscles or strength we need to mix a couple of different exercises to develop that muscle area. 

Like: planks and side planks, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, even push-ups, and squats will help you work that area. 

It is combining different exercises that will target different parts of the core that will give you the desired results.

One last mistake we all made is to believe that we can work out the abdomen every single day, this is wrong. 

The same way you only work once or twice a day legs or arms you need to give your core a rest day to, because you are already working on them while doing other exercises, so give them a rest once or twice a week.  

Don't overuse them, this won't give you faster results.

Lastly, To me, it is important to understand that the main purpose of working out your core or abdominal area is to integrate them with the rest of your exercises, make them the protagonist of every complex muscular action that you do while working out. 

Because it will give you a better posture improves your stability and you will see better results in your entire body. 

And if you practice sports like yoga, martial arts, gymnastics or anything and manage to do this while doing those specific exercises you will notice your technic will improve so much.

As always this post is merely informative based on my experience and things I have been learning through my years practicing sports and teaching, hope you found this helpful and don't forget to share your thoughts on the comments section.

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