The abdominal muscles are the cornerstone of fitness and are considered part of the body’s core for fitness. If you include core muscle training with a proper diet plan and exercise routine, you’ll excel at any goal you set for yourself. A strong core will also catapult your gains in the weight room, endurance, and aerobic milestones. I cannot stress enough the importance of this muscle group.
This entire area of the body is called the “Body Core”. Every time I do crunches, which is every workout I do, I include pushups, crunches, crunches, and flutter kicks as part of my resistance training. Core muscle training engages the chest, abs, and hip flexors. So, as I’ve preached and you’ll hear me say over and over again, you should have diet, resistance training, and aerobics as elements of your fitness plan.
If you’ve ever seen a picture of an anatomical view of the midsection of the body, you’ll see that there are no bones, ligaments, or tendons to hold your body upright. There are no bony structures, so strengthening your midsection is vital to keeping you upright and maintaining good posture. Good strong abdominal muscles and reduction in body fat can eliminate back pain caused by poor posture due to poor abdominal muscles.
Reducing body fat through an aerobic exercise routine is the main factor in having a stomach washout. I’m going to say this bluntly, if you have too many layers of fat in the core of your body and you do 100 sit-ups, you will have a very nice big tone muscle, but no one will see it because your strong abs will be under a thick layer of fat. Body fat needs to be less than 10% to look like a washboard.
It is well known that the goal of 10% or less body fat is easier to achieve for men than for women. Women will generally have 2-4% more body fat due to their genetics.
The menstrual cycle can be influenced by weight and body fat. Women may notice a change in their menstrual cycle if their body fat percentage is too low. This cycle is very delicate and the lack of menstruation is usually found in marathon runners because they are very thin.
Professional athletes emphasize having a strong core. If you pay close attention to most professional athletes, they have a strong core consisting of their chest, abs, and hip flexors. To name a couple of athletes that are examples of what I’m talking about are soccer player Terrell Owens and boxer Floyd Mayweather.
Work your abs throughout the day. Keep them taut while standing or at your desk at work, for example. Crunches can be performed in your chair at work or while driving your car. This is overlooked by many plans and just focusing on your posture and tightening your abs throughout the day will make you gains faster. Keep them tense while doing aerobic exercise as well. Again, while jogging or lifting weights, you can keep your stomach tight, flexed, and contracted.
Usually, people want to do a lot of crunches at once. I think it’s best to do several sets of fewer crunches at a time. The abs can be easily tricked. If you are cheating by doing your crunches, then you are cheating your abdominal muscles and Core. If you do 15-25 repetitions, you can focus on the crunch and contraction of the abdominal muscles.