Situps Suck

No matter what you call it-a six pack, a tight tummy or the core-everyone wants a welldefined, strong midsection.
Not only is it a crucial and often underdeveloped area in the realm of physical performance
and injury prevention, great abs also signal fitness, virility and strength to those around us.
In short, its an important step on the path to looking good naked.
How many people around you actually have this kind of midsection? Probably not very
many. Is that I dont have a six-pack, Ive got a keg joke ever really funny? Its more sad
than anything.
Why? Why is it that something that so many people want is so difficult to attain?
Consider for a moment the possibility that the conventional wisdom regarding abdominal
training and getting lean in general is, well, not actually wisdom. Its pluralistic ignorance.
Around two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Half of those are obese. That means really
fat. Not just a bit thick. And overweight aint too pretty either. Now, out of that one-third
that isnt overweight, how many of them are actually strong, lean and healthy?
When it comes to attaining this goal of a lean, strong midsection, the conventional wisdom
comes from the consensus of the majority. Think about that. The overweight majority. If
the method that was effective was the method that everyone used, wouldnt everyone be
lean and have the body they desired? Yes, they would. Or quite nearly.
The simple truth is that what everyone does is not what works.
What does the majority do when they want to lose weight, or get a leaner tummy?
Eat less. Run more. Do a bunch of situps and crunches.
Eating less. Wrong.
Running more. Wrong.
Situps and crunches. Hmm Also wrong.
First, one must understand that strong, lean abdominals are the product of two main factors
in combination. The first is the condition of the actual musculature. The second is the
degree of fat, both subcutaneous (under the skin) and intra-abdominal (around the internal
organs, aka heart-attack fat.). It doesnt matter how strong or well-shaped the muscles of
your abs are if you have too much fat to see them.

Subcutaneous fat will cover your abs, while intra-abdominal fat will distend your belly and
make it appear larger; as well as pose grave danger to your health. Doctors refer to intraabdominal fat as heart-attack fat.
In the pursuit of the elusive six-pack, one must tend to both muscular condition and body
fat levels. This requires a multi-faceted approach. There is no single answer.
There are quite a few solutions out there in the collective public mindset, and most of
them are BS.
Lets discuss a few of the major offenders:
Myth #1 Eating Less
A calorie is not a calorie.
The quality, quantity and timing of the food you eat all play a role in how it affects your
body.
One could eat the exact same number of calories and experience a completely different
effect by making different food choices. Its not as simple as eating less.
A common strategy for losing fat is to simply skip a few meals or deprive oneself of any
major calorie source for a certain period of time. This is the simple-minded Eat Less
strategy.
Your metabolism is the total expenditure of energy by your body in a day. It is the sum of
your resting metabolic rate, EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), the thermic
effect of food, and activity level. Its extremely important here to remember that the
majority of calories one burns in a day come from the resting metabolic rate, which is
affected by EPOC.
The idea behind skipping meals or just blindly cutting out calories here is that ones body
will burn, say 2,000 calories per day and by eating only 1,700 calories per day one will
burn precisely 300 calories each and every day from fat.
There is even a good deal of advice floating around using this sort of math that tells you
exactly how many calories are in a pound of body fat and how many calories you have to
cut each day to lose one pound of fat.
It doesnt work this way.
It may seem logical that one would effectively lose fat by simply eating less than ones
daily energy expenditure, but this is a flawed concept.

When one consumes fewer calories than ones resting metabolic rate, it will cause the body
to slow down because it lacks sufficient energy to carry out basic functions.
Your body is a survival machine. It doesnt really care whether or not you look good
naked. The purpose of your body is to adapt and survive. When you deprive your body of
sufficient energy, it will find another source.
In most cases of simple calorie deprivation, this source will be lean muscle tissue. The
body can survive a long time without excess muscle tissue, and the less it has, the slower
resting metabolism becomes.
If this happens, youll be left with less muscle; meaning less strength, a weaker-looking
body and an even slower metabolism than when you started. This means that it will be even
harder to lose fat than before. This type of metabolic damage can take a very long time to
correct.
The solution here lies in education. Its almost never as simple as just eating less of the
same thing. Its about the right food, in the right amounts and at the right time.
The right food choices will enable your body to build muscle, burn fat and live healthier
without crushing your metabolism. The most effective route to fat loss and physical
performance is through increased physical activity and an elevated resting metabolic rate.
Nutrition is a lifestyle. Its not a temporary fix.
Myth #2 Run More
Jogging is a great alternative to sitting on your ass on the couch while eating potato chips.
It certainly has a few health benefits. Its the best way to win a marathon, and pretty high
up on the list of activities one might want to engage in with a good deal of fervor if one
were to happen upon an unhappy rattlesnake.
Where it falls short, however, is in the area of fat loss.
Fat burning takes place in the muscles. A major determinant of resting metabolic rate is the
amount of lean muscle mass you carry. The only boost in caloric consumption that jogging
provides comes from temporarily elevated demand for oxygen in your muscles. That
doesnt amount to much.
A study titled, Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle
metabolism by A. Tremblay, JA Simoneau, and C .Bouchard compared the results of
twenty weeks of steady state endurance training to fifteen weeks of interval training.
In total, the endurance group burned 28,661 calories. The interval group burned 13,614
calories. Sounds like joggings the way to go, huh?

When the researchers measured the amount of body fat lost respective to the number of
calories expended, the interval training group burned 900% more fat than the endurance
group.
That makes interval training 9X more effective than steady-state cardio for fat loss.
There has been a good deal of postulating on why exactly this happens. It hasnt been
nailed down precisely yet, but researchers attribute a variety of factors.
The first is EPOC, the aforementioned excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.
Following certain types of exercise, EPOC elevates resting metabolism significantly,
meaning that the individual burns more calories after their workout. This effect can last for
up to 48 hours after exercise.
How much does jogging elevate EPOC? Almost zero.
There are several factors involved here. One is the relationship between lactic acid and
growth hormone. Growth hormone plays a substantial role in muscle growth, fat loss,
strength, and even slowing the aging process. Intense, lactic acid-producing workouts
performed correctly have been shown to elevate growth hormone levels by as much as
900%. (I dont know the specifics on how the interval exercise was performed on the
jogging vs. intervals study, but thats quite a coincidence.)
Another is something known as the neuro-endocrine response. This refers to positive
adaptations made by the hormonal system and the neurological system in response to
training.
Even the type of interval training done in the study, which was most likely simply interval
sprints, is a form of strength training. This is because sprinting requires maximal
recruitment of muscle fibers.
Strength is largely a product of the nervous system. Weve all heard of an adrenalinefueled mother pulling a wrecked car off of her child, or seen tiny Olympic lifters on TV
throwing incredible amounts of weight over their heads. They are strong because their
nervous system is recruiting an abnormal amount of muscle. In the case of the mother, its
a temporary effect due to extreme stress. For the Olympic lifter, its something hes trained
his body to do.
This affect is the same one that is elicited by anyone who trains for strength. The nervous
system adapts to become stronger by recruiting more muscle fibers more efficiently.
Strength training also up-regulates the hormonal system. Training that involves loading the
spine, such as squats, deadlifts and Olympic-style lifting has been shown to be especially
effective at this. Growth hormone and testosterone production both increase with strength
training while cortisol, a major fat-promoting hormone, decreases.

Its important to remember here that this does not mean that a woman who strength trains
will suddenly grow a beard and start talking like James Earl Jones. A woman on average
has about 1/10th the testosterone of a man, as well as an array of other different hormone
levels and ratios. The hormonal changes that take place with strength training are natural
and take place within the normal range. A womans testosterone and GH levels will
increase, but only to an extent that is normal for a woman.
Elevated testosterone and growth hormone, along with lowered cortisol all affect the way
your body processes calories. In this state, your body will be building more muscle and
burning more fat naturally. Combining this with a higher resting metabolic rate due to
EPOC creates a powerful synergy.
And it has nothing to do with jogging. Endurance training causes next to zero change in
EPOC, can actually suppress the neuro-endocrine system and elevate cortisol levels and
does not stimulate lactic acid and the consequent growth hormone levels.
Steady state running will also lead to decreased muscle mass. Your body doesnt need any
extra muscle to go jogging. Extra muscle just consumes extra calories, and your body, just
like when you try skipping meals to lose weight, would rather survive than look good
naked. By burning away excess lean muscle tissue, your body becomes more efficient at
running, and you get a lower resting metabolic rate. Congratulations.
Running is also a good way to wreck your joints. Women in particular are prone to knee
problems due to running because their wider hips produce what is known as a greater Qangle, which means that their legs are less perpendicular to the ground and the knee must
absorb lateral force for the tens of thousands of impacts that running will require.
If running is an aspect of ones sport, it is important to keep in mind the adage, Train to
run, dont run to train.
Myth # 3 Do Sit-ups for a Six-Pack
Consider for a moment just what it is that sit-ups involve. You are folding your body in
half at the hips. This is known as flexion. The only muscle in your abdominal wall that is
stressed during a sit-up is the rectus abdominus. The role of this muscle is to flex your rib
cage towards your pelvis. Try this real quick while youre reading this. Using your abs, pull
your rib cage down towards your pelvis. At best you moved a couple of inches. Now, what
is all that other motion for, and where is it coming from?
The muscles that actually flex your torso (lumbo-pelvic region) towards your legs are
known as your hip-flexors.
Due to the amount of time that the average North American spends in a chair in an alreadyflexed position, most people have chronically shortened, tight hip flexors.
This causes a number of problems.

Some of the hip flexors attach to the lumbar spine and their tension can lead directly to
lower back pain.
This also leads indirectly to lower back pain, as well as impaired physical performance,
through another factor known as reciprocal inhibition.
When a muscle contracts, your nervous system responds by automatically relaxing the
antagonist. For example, grab the edge of a counter-top or something similar and attempt to
lift it by flexing your bicep. Now, notice how your tricep relaxed when you did so. This is
reciprocal inhibition.
Due to reciprocal inhibition, tight hip flexors lead to overly relaxed hip extensors, primarily
the glutes.
An athletic movement is never the product of a single muscle contracting. Muscle groups
move in a coordinated fashion, like a symphony. This is referred to as a kinetic chain.
When a muscle in this chain is shut down or not functioning well, the body must find a way
around it by compensating with other muscle groups.
Via reciprocal inhibition, tight hip flexors lead to inactive, weakened glutes. This means
that whenever your body has to perform a movement involving hip extension, from a
deadlift to something as simple as getting out of a chair, it must compensate for the
weakened glutes by putting extra stress elsewhere. Now, the lower-back musculature has to
work overtime.
This makes for a low-back pain double-whammy.
But thats not all! Tight hip flexors also pull the anterior (front) aspect of the pelvis
downward, leading to a condition known as anterior pelvic tilt. Due to the anteriorly tilted
pelvis, the lumbar spine generally must curve more than normal in order for the individual
to stand up straight. This is known as lordosis. It places the lumbar discs in a vulnerable
position. Triple whammy!
The body is constantly trying to maintain equilibrium, and a change in one area generally
leads to further changes to compensate. When the lumbar spine is curved more than
normal, the upper spine will often curve further in order to balance it out. This is known as
kyphosis, aka hunchback. Kyphosis contributes to a variety of other dysfunctions, from
the scapulae and shoulder joints to the dreaded Turtle Head.
So we really, really dont want to overly tighten the hip flexors.
If situps tighten the hip flexors, why dont we just do crunches and take most of the hip
flexion out of the movement?
Crunches work the rectus abdominus without affecting any other major muscles. They do
this with a very light load, meaning minimal muscle recruitment. This means that with a

crunch, youre spending your time doing something that will result in zero neuro-endocrine
response. Consider for a moment the movement that a crunch involves. When does that
ever come up in an athletic movement? Never. In a real-world setting, the abs function as
anti-rotators. They transfer power, not generate it. So, with crunches, youre practicing a
movement with no real-world carryover.
Now, think further about what youre doing with a crunch. You are pulling your ribcage
towards your pelvis over and over. Do this once and consider what posture you are
encouraging here. Hello hunchback!
The way most people perform sit-ups and crunches is to bang out as many reps as possible.
The more reps the better. With a movement such as this with such a light load, one is left
with little option. This sort of high-rep training will eventually lead to muscle growth, or
hypertrophy. This isnt such a big deal for men, but for women, the effect is probably the
exact opposite of what youre going for.
A woman training abs is shooting for a sexy hourglass shape, characterized by a narrow
waist. Why would anyone in pursuit of this goal try to do so with a method that makes the
musculature of the abdominals, and thus the waist, bigger and thicker?
The Solution
So how does one effectively train abs without making the waist bigger or causing postural
imbalances?
First, train the abs using real-world movements. Train them to transfer power through
stability and bracing. Remember how we talked about using strength training to improve
strength via the nervous system? It works with abs just like any other muscle.
Training the abs as a single unit allows one to train every muscle in the abdominal wall, not
just the rectus abdominus; which runs down the front of the torso. The oblique abs on the
side of the torso play a major role in strength and stability, and when they are strong and
contracted they produce a dramatic narrowing effect on the abdomen. The transverse
abdominus is a powerful muscle which lies beneath the rectus abdominus and obliques and
runs horizontally. It is crucial for abdominal strength and has a tightening, corset-like effect
on the stomach.
How does one tighten these muscles?
This happens through a phenomenon known as tonus. Tonus is the resting state of tension
of a muscle. It increases along with increased innervation, which is another word for
strength via the nervous system. Tonus is increased as a part of the neuro-endocrine
response with specific strength training.
This sort of training involves relatively low reps with a heavy load.

The abs are a crucial part of the kinetic chain in almost any kind of spinal loading
movement. Deadlifts, squats, Olympic-style lifts, farmers walks and almost any kind of
overhead lifting all require powerful bracing of the abdominal wall to effectively protect
the spine and transfer power throughout the body.
There are also specific movements to target the anterior kinetic chain, of which the
abdominals play a central role.
Foot-Drop drills, planks and side planks, bar roll-outs, sledgehammer work, numerous
movements on Olympic rings, dragon flags and the slam-ball all fall into this category.
It is important to note that none of these movements encourage kyphosis, or a hunched,
rounded spine. They develop powerful abs along with a neutral, healthy spine.
These movements, along with many others, train the abs to stabilize the spine. A stable
spine is crucial for both performance and health. Weak, loose abs allow the spine to sway,
twist or curve excessively and not only sap power, but encourage numerous dangerous
compensations while exposing your spine to potential damage. They also just plain look
sloppy.