Today’s article is the Truth About Ab Workouts. I hope you aren’t still doing hundreds of situps to try to get the six pack abs of your dreams. There are so many abs workouts out there and you never know which are the ones you will see results with. I remember in the past doing all those ab gadgets and machines and never getting anywhere. Thankfully I am no longer doing those. I’m just following through Craig’s Turbulence Training workouts.

Check out Craig Ballantyne’s Truth About Ab Workouts article below. It actually sounds a bit like what I did growing up. Hopefully this wasn’t your too. He will also give you a couple tips on what ab exercises are hurting your back and are dangerous exercises.

OK over to Craig Ballantyne with his truth about ab workouts.

The Truth About Ab Workouts

By Craig Ballantyne, MS, CSCS, CTT
=> http://turbulencetrainingworkoutreview.com/ttforabsdvds

When I first started lifting weights and doing ab workouts, I really didn’t know what I was doing. So let me tell you about some of the crazy ab exercises and training sessions I did back in the day involving ab crunches, sit-ups, and so many other ineffective and potentially dangerous exercises.

You see, I had started working out for the typical teenage boy reasons. I wanted to get big muscles to impress girls, and I wanted to get bigger, stronger, and faster for soccer and hockey.

My first ab workouts were done at the local YMCA after a few of my friends and I snuck in one night.  We were those kids who went from machine to machine, not knowing what we were doing, and annoying – and probably intimidating – all of the regular customers.

And for that, I apologize, and to make it up to you, I’m going to share some really great ab workouts after I tell you about the abdominal exercises to avoid.

After causing havoc at the YMCA, I started lifting weights in my parent’s basement after purchasing a traditional York barbell machine weight set. Every other night, when I was 16 years old, I would go downstairs and do a full body workout routine followed by 100 crunches.

I did that because that is what the workout booklet told me to do.

Eventually, after buying a few fitness magazines and reading about the ab workouts of pro bodybuilders and fitness models, I started adding sets and reps of different ab exercises to the list.  Soon I was doing hundreds of crunches, bicycle crunches, side crunches, and even sit-ups.

And while these exercises made my abs burn, nothing changed in the mirror. Well, at least not in terms of my abs. The weight machine exercises were helping pack on some muscle – in addition to the manual labor done at my after school job, and because of my teenage hormones.

Eventually I came to the decision that ab crunches and sit-ups were not helping me achieve my goals.  By that time, I was in college and had access to a fully equipped, state-of-the-art gym. Plus, the Stability Ball had made its entrance into the fitness world.

So at this time, I was doing ab workouts that used stability ball crunches, Russian twists, and decline situps, and while my abs were sore, sometimes my back was sore too.

Truth About Ab Workouts – Some Abs Exercises Can Be Dangerous

The problem with this approach and these ab exercises is that they are all potentially dangerous for your low back. Each of these abs exercises puts your spine in flexion or rotation, and research has shown that rotation and flexion are the exact movements that cause herniated discs in your low back. Ouch.

I was shocked to find this out, but as soon as I did, I removed these from your workouts. They should be used rarely, if ever, and the great news is that you don’t need these exercises if you want to build six pack abs or have great ab workouts.

So if you find your back stiff and sore, you need to stop those exercises immediately. As mentioned, one day I stopped doing all of these ab exercises in my workouts.

They weren’t helping or making a difference for my six pack abs, but they were hurting my back. So they had to go. In reality, as long as you are keeping the fat off with interval training, metabolic resistance workouts, and diet, you’re going to have sexy abs. You don’t need to do 30 minute ab workouts.

However, you do need to do certain ab exercises to protect your back and improve your performance in sports, lifting, and every day tasks. (Great abs even help in the bedroom.)

So here’s what you need to do now. If you’re a beginner, you MUST throw away all of the crunches and sit-ups that you are doing, and you’re going to switch over to stabilization exercises like planks, side planks, and this cool little exercise called “The Bird Dog”.

These movements will help you build up abdominal endurance – and a nice flat stomach – so that you are ready for advanced ab exercises.

When you are at that point, you’ll want to use “anti-extension” and “anti-rotation” exercises like stability ball rollouts, TRX fallouts, stability ball “stir the pot” movements, and many more that I’m going to share with you in an advanced ab workouts article.

Get started with the TT for Abs DVD workouts here

==> Order your Ab Workouts DVD Today!

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Certified Turbulence Trainer

OK that did sound a lot like what I have gone through. But like I said I am way past that. Most of my ab exercises are using a stability ball or bodyweight exercises you can do at home. They are a lot more fun then doing situps and you may even break a sweat.

If you go to the page you can watch a free video of Craig doing Workout A. Maybe you even want to give it a try.

Stay Motivated!

Darren
Lean Body Fitness Articles
http://leanbodyfitnessarticles.com

P.S. If you decide to grab this fabulous offer I’m going to throw in a few bonuses for you. Just go through the link above to purchase and then email me (darren [at] leanbodyfitnessarticles.com) your receipt number and I will sent you the Turbulence Training Interval Report and the Turbulence Training Hot Zone Fat Loss Program.

So that’s the Truth About Ab Workouts, hopefully this has changed your abs life for the better.

Order your Ab Workouts DVD Today!