Abdominal Exercise Is Not A Fat Loss Exercise

The purpose of an abdominal exercise is to strengthen the core, not to burn fat. Many people are confused about ab exercises and their results pertaining to fat loss. Performing ab exercises will not burn fat just in the ab area. The abs are a small muscle group and will not generate a caloric deficit like many larger muscle groups would under resistant training.

But this doesn’t mean that ab training isn’t important. When you perform your abdominal exercise, it will increase your performance in any and all of your other exercises and activities. Having a strong core is important for sports, weight training, and certain fat loss exercises. And to facilitate that, you need to follow a diet plan rich in protein and carbs. Moreover, when it comes to protein powders, you can save money with myprotein codes as well.

When training the abs, you can break down the exercises into three main areas…

  • Upper abdominal exercise
  • Lower abdominal exercise
  • Oblique abdominal exercise.
  • Abdominal Exercise For The Upper Abs

Crunches are great for targeting the upper abs. The crunch is basically performed like a sit-up except you do not lift your entire back off the ground. It is more of a partial movement of the upper torso that is raised off the ground. When performing the crunch, the upper abs are isolated and the hip flexors are not engaged.

Abdominal Exercise For The Lower Abs

I would have to say the hanging leg raises or hanging knee raises would be the best abdominal exercise for targeting the lower abs. The execution is not complicated to do but difficult to perform. All you have to do is hang from a chin-up bar. Either raise your legs up to at least waist height or raise your knees up to your chest.

If this abdominal exercise is too difficult to perform, you can do lying leg raises instead. For this exercise, simply lay on your back and raise your legs straight up until they are vertical.

Abdominal Exercise For The Obliques

For the obliques, I prefer a seated bar twist. This abdominal exercise really targets the obliques in a way that won’t build too much muscle mass. For the side of your abs, you want an exercise that will tone rather than bulk and I feel that a seated bar twist accomplishes that goal.

To perform this abdominal exercise, place a bar of some sort across your back. The lighter the bar, the better. Then take a seat on a bench or a chair. You want to twist your waist as far as you can. The tempo is extremely slow and you should feel a stretch for your obliques on every rep. The trick to this abdominal exercise is to feel the muscle contract rather than just going through the motions.

The Number One Abdominal Exercise

The best abdominal exercise isn’t a traditional ab exercise. It is a sprint. Most people don’t realize the abs are extremely stimulated during a sprint. It will strengthen your core muscles and burn fat at the same time. You are receiving the best of both worlds. In my opinion… If you could only do one abdominal exercise to build up your abs, it would have to be sprints.