Situps are the worst way to get a six pack

A six-pack is perhaps one of the worst judgments by which to determine how healthy someone is.
Does situps = flat abs? Oh for sure, dude!! So, like if I was a world champion at situps I should have the leanest, meanest abs EVER! Right? Right?
Go into any gym across the country and you will see people crunching themselves into oblivion trying to find these abs… Without success.
If you did a bodyfat analysis of the recent world champion for situps – a man that did over 45,000 situps in 58 hours (according to the Guinness Book of Records) you would find that even HE still has some flab left on his belly!
If that does not give enough strength to the argument, I am not sure what I can do aside from take you into every abs and butt class in any gym across the world and show you the people doing that abs and butt class that have not abs nor butt to speak of despite their frequent attendance.
And yet the sit ups = six-pack is one of the foundational reasons upon which this fitness industry was created!
Six-packs are not a good judge of abdominal ability. Nor are they are good judge of actual health.
Left and right I see programs promising 6-pack abs in 4 weeks, 5 secret moves to give you a six-pack, 6-pack in a bottle of pills, 6-pack in an ancient secret passed down through chinese scrolls…
But if you go back to our friend with the unfashionable socks, you see he does not have that six pack… So if 45,005 sit ups is not enough, then what does it take?
You want 6-pack abs? Here’s some strategies that you see today that usually work to get the 6-pack ab look:
Four strategies to achieve 6-pack abs:
#1 Take amphetamines and party like a rock star.
Hopefully the amphetamines will override your bodies natural instinct to sleep and you will be able to stay active for extended periods of time and dance the night away, burning calories aplenty thanks to your increased activity and super-boosted metabolism (if you start talking like daffy duck you might want to cut back on the dosage).
Just look at all those models? They have 6-packs and they show them off every chance they get (of course, the sunken dark eyeballs and jaundiced liver indicate they are severely dehydrated and are going into liver shutdown – but who am I to judge – they want their 6-pack and they shall have it, no matter the price!)
#2 Start popping diet pills like candy
They can increase your metabolism, dehydrate your body, cause you to poop more, superaccelerate your livers ability to convert fat to calories and suppress your desire to eat. The perfect combination to help you create dramatic body change – as long as you never stop taking them… the second you do, your systems that are used to having a drug do the job for them will be asking for payback.. for a long time. So whatever you decide to go with, buy a lifetime supply and hope your liver, heart and intestinal system manages to keep from spontaneously combusting.
#3 Start counting calories and hope for the best
Counting calories does not equal lost weight. You might read plenty of diets that give a complete calorie by calorie breakdown – they are written for the general public – not for you. Weight Watchers is a program that is based mostly on calorie scores – some people claim great results, others claim none. The most important thing that the Weight Watchers program overlooks is our own individual biochemistry. We each respond differently to different food and calorie intake combinations.
Too few calories, your bodies metabolism will slow down.
Eat foods that your system has a mild reaction to (with no obvious symptoms) and the end result is poor digestion and weight retention.
#4 Do what the movie stars do
Movie stars hire trainers.. no, scratch that, they hire teams.
They spend time working out, eating right, sleeping right, hiding out and generally doing everything they humanly can to look good for their movie role.
For his part in the movie “Troy”, Brad Pitt spent 4 hours a day for 6 months working out hard-core. How good do you think you could look if you were able to put forth the same effort?) They also have nutritional programs, contracts and publicity events that they have to think about – did I mention that movie stars make pretty good money? How much would you workout for $20 mill?
Mind you, they also have fancy lighting, professional makeup artists, special soft camera lenses and know exactly for which days they need to look their very best.
FACTS TO REMEMBER NEXT TIME YOU HIT THE MAT FOR ABS TRAINING:
There is no such thing as spot reduction through exercise.
Doing ab work will not burn the fat around the abs.
You probably already have a washboard stomach.. you just have some laundry to take care of.
You might not be losing that last layer for reasons other than calorie intake (e.g. lifestyle/stress/allergic reactions to food/excessive exercise/poor sleep patterns)
A six pack does not equal good health. Plenty of people walk around with their six pack abs while the rest of their body/joints/internal organs fall apart around/within them.
A six pack just means someone has low body fat. It doesn’t make them healthier than you (or would you want to have a side by side health comparison to some of the more emaciated models in todays fashion world?)
A six pack does not equal amazing health. It is just something you want because you are have been trained by society to want it.
There. I said it. A six pack looks nice, but there are many other measures of health we should be focusing on other than what we look like in the mirror (mental/emotional/acceptance of self analysis, anyone?)
Some women drive their natural body rhythm into shutdown in an attempt to get a sixpack at the price of their future baby-making status.
Some guys get the fat sucked off their belly without really stopping to ask (A) how it got there or (B) what they are going to do to prevent it coming back.
Few of us define the picture of health further than to say we want the six-pack. It is achievable for many. But it requires work, nutritional attention and depending on where you are, a long term approach and determination.

