Wrong concepts, opinions, rumors, and theories to flatten your Abs

1. If You Train Abs Everyday, You're Guaranteed A Six-pack.
This misconception was funneled through the bodybuilding world. Muscle tissue is muscle tissue. It needs to rest and recover just like your biceps or legs do. Build the tissue through exercise, burn the fat through diet

2. You Can Eat Pizza And Hamburgers And Still Maintain A Six-pack As Long As You Workout Right After You Eat Them.
This is another misconception. Following a diet, which contributes to muscle gaining and fat loss, is the key to uncovering those abdominal muscles. Go into your local fast food restaurant and look around - how many of people will you see that have an envious abdominal region? Odds are, none.

3. Sit-ups Build Abdominal Definition The Best.
Sit-ups are perhaps the worst exercise for strengthening our core regions. There are many sources that contribute to this belief but just a few simple reasons why it is incorrect. During a sit-up your main trunk flexor, the Iliopsoas muscle, does most of the work. This over facilitation often leads to lumbar lordosis, better known as, back pain. Want sturdy hips and a sore back? Do sit-ups.

4. Crunches Build Abdominal Definition Best.
Crunches are good but the last exercise we will do in our core-conditioning program. The overuse of crunch type exercises leads to a reduction in thoracic extension and contributes to bad posture.

5. People On Magazine Covers Are Born With Good Midsection's.
This misconception leads to many people trying to be like someone else. These models, men and women, are somewhat genetically gifted, sure. But many of them aren’t as healthy as they appear under their make-up and many others are also using drugs like clenbuterol and steroids.

6. You Should Do Twists With A Stick Or Side Bends To Reduce Love Handles.
These exercises can be dangerous if not performed correctly. I recommend taking them out of your routine, as you'll see in the exercise section, until you know enough about the spine to benefit from them. To reduce love handles you simply need to lose the fat. Our coreconditioning program will contribute to toning the musculature in this area; however, fat loss is again, stimulated only through diet.

7. If You Do Sit-ups With Weights, Your Abs Will Show up Better.
Doing sit-ups with additional weight leads to over strengthening the hip flexor muscles, not the upper abdominals. Want to walk around butt back and stomach forward? Neither do I.

8. It Takes Years To Get Great Abs.
Again you have to understand that everyone has abdominal muscles. You just have to train them with exercises in the proper order, with correct form and reduce the fat surrounding them by dieting. For some this may take only a few weeks, for others, a little longer. Different body types develop at different rates.

9. Machines Work Best For Building Abdominal Muscles.
This is a huge misconception. Isolating musculature incorrectly leads people down the road to becoming dysfunctional misfits! Machine training should be left to periods of rehabilitation only.
Every body needs to move and function as one cohesive unit, not in isolated parts. When you sit on a machine, the machine stabilizes the body. Odds are you never learned to integrate other musculature with abdominal/core movements, which leads to injuries, by unbalancing the body.

10. Constantly Eating Rabbit Food is Needed to Maintain a Defined Midsection.
Following a proper nutritional program designed for your goals is the only way to develop a defined midsection.

What's the best way to build abdominal muscles?

Answer: This is by far the most frequently asked question I get. Abdominal muscles are the most desired muscles that people (male or female) want developed and improved. Usually, the questions are followed by comments such as, "I do 100 sit-ups a day and I'm not seeing any results.” The outline of the information you need to improve your body in this region, which I often will refer to as the ‘core’ region. And this core musculature is made up of many different muscles and muscle groups. To target the entire core area we must address each of these groups and prescribe specific exercises. All that we do must correspond to improving not only aesthetics but also their natural function if you want results.

Exercise is an extremely important, however not the only factor considered when defining the midsection. Everyone has abdominal muscles; however, most of the population never sees them due to the “spill over effect” of fat hanging around their midsection. The trick or solution to finally viewing the abdominal region underneath is simply a core-conditioning program like this. If you want to see the core region and the six-pack, the fat has got to go. This is done through diet. The shape of what lies beneath depends upon your conditioning.

By making a couple of adjustments to your current schedules, you can have those rized abs you’ve always wanted within a couple of weeks or months in extreme cases, and not years as you might have expected.