Crunchtime For Crunches - Six Pack Abs Workouts

Everyday I go to the gym I witness folks doing useless abdominal exercises. They truly have no clue that these dinosaur type exercises will give them a variety of lower back problems and never really get their abs to really pop!

These crunch-a-holics- pound out rep after rep of useless sit-ups, crunches, side bends, machine crunches, and many more big time wasting exercises thinking that the burn they feel will miraculously uncover their hidden six pack abs.

As much as it absolutely sucks to perform hundreds of crunches and sit-ups, people still run to the fitness center consistently and pound out rep after rep! Why? Because conventional wisdom says that feeling the burn from these types of abdominal exercises will help tone and flatten your abs.

Newsflash people...it won't.

Regardless of how intense the burn might be from crunches and sit-ups, neither one of these exercises is all that helpful in building rock hard six pack abs, and in fact, doing crunches and sit-ups is virtually a big waste of your precious time.

Here's why.

Crunches are resistance exercises, and just like any other resistance exercise, if you can do it for high repetitions (30 or 50 or even 100) reps it is practically useless to improve your body composition.

The best rep range for working the abdominals is between 10 and 20 reps. Anything more and you are probably wasting your time.

Now sit-ups may be somewhat harder than crunches, but they aren't that much more valuable. Plus, doing sit-ups can be risky because doing them puts pressure on the lower back and that puts you at risk for a herniated disc. Trust me, it is not worth it!

Both crunches & sit-ups are risky, boring, and not necessary to build rock hard six pack abs. In fact, there are many exercises that you may have never heard of before that work your core much better and shield your lower back from soreness.

Some of my favorite crunchless abdominal exercises are:

Rookie Level Mountain Climbers Plank Lying Hip Extension

Advanced Level Renegade Dumbbell Row Forearm Plank Hanging Knee Raises

Hardcore Level Sumo Deadlift to Curl Windshield Wipers L-Pullups

Put some spice back into your abs training and skip the boring, back-breaking crunches and sit-ups. The exercises listed are far more helpful, and much more fun. Plus, your lower back and neck will thank you in the end!