Brian (0s):
All right. Welcome to the Get Lean, Eat Clean podcast. I'm Brian Gryn and today we are exposing why your aine is completely wrong. Scientists have proven that you cannot spot reduce belly fat. So we're gonna go into that today and those a hundred daily crunches, they're not burning any belly fat zero and training abs every day that actually causes muscle breakdown, not growth. Today we're diving into what really gets you visible abs and spoiler alert, it's not what you really think. We'll cover the exact body fat percentage you need. Why compound lifts be crunches every time, and the three best exercises that are scientifically proven to be almost 300% more effective than traditional crunches.
Brian (44s):
Plus I'll ll tell ya exactly why the average person needs to lose HALF their body fat to see abs. Yes, that's half. So let's get into it.
Brian (54s):
Hey everyone. Today we're destroying the biggest AB admits that are keeping you from getting that solid six pack. And I'm not just sharing opinions here, we're diving into the actual scientific research that's completely gonna change the way you think about AB training for the rest of your life. So let's get into it. Let's start with the biggest lie in the fitness industry, and that's called spot reduction. The idea that doing AB exercises will burn the fat right off your belly. Well, here's what actually happens. The fat containing your fat cells exist in a form known as triglycerides. Muscle cells, however, cannot directly use triglycerides is fuel. The fat must be broken down into glycerol and fatty acid and free fatty acids which then enter the bloodstream.
Brian (1m 41s):
This means that fat broken down to be used as fuel during prolonged exercise can come from anywhere in your body, not just the part that is being worked the most. So researchers even studied tennis players, people who use one arm way more than the others through years and years of practice and tournaments. And guess what? They found no statistically significant difference between the right and left arms in term of fat thickness. Multiple studies confirmed this one study had people do exercises targeting the abdominals for six weeks and found that no reduction in belly fat. Another study with 40 women doing AB resistance training for 12 weeks found they had no effect on belly fat loss compared to dietary intervention alone.
Brian (2m 27s):
Next up, this idea that abs are somehow this magical muscles that need daily punishment. Well, this is wrong. You should treat them like any other muscle. The muscle tissues in the abdominals is the same as the muscle tissue in the rest of your body. All muscles need enough time to recover between workouts to allow for growth. Now what happens when you overtrain? Well, training your ABS every day could lead to deterioration of the muscle or atrophy, which is the exact opposite of what you want. The truth. During the recovery phase of exercises, muscles get stronger and more developed. So your abs are gonna need about 48 to even 72 hours between intense workouts, just like any other muscle group.
Brian (3m 10s):
So you gotta make sure that you listen to your body when it comes to recovery. And how many crunches should you do? A hundred, 200, 500? Well, no, here's what the science says. Treat your abs like any other muscle group. You wanna perform between eight to 15 reps per set for fatigue, for optimal strength and muscle endurance. If you could do more than 24 reps, you're either doing the exercise incorrectly or you're performing an exercise that's too easy for you. So you wanna stay in sort of that sweet spot of rep range. Why? Because the abdominals are made up of both a slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers, which respond to both low weight and high reps, along with heavy weight and low reps.
Brian (3m 53s):
So what about crunches themselves? Well, research shows that the poor old traditional crunch was found to be the worst AB exercise to keep in your routine. The best exercises, well research shows using an EMG to measure actual activation found that following exercises work a lot better. One is bicycle crunches. They activated 290% more ab muscle than traditional crunches. So lie on your back, hands behind your head to support your neck. Bring your opposite elbow to opposite knee while extending the other leg. Pretty simple. The key is the rotation through the torso, not just touching your elbow to your knee. Next is reverse crunches.
Brian (4m 34s):
Way more effective than regular crunches because they target the lower part of the abdominal wall. Lie on your back knees bent at 90 degrees and use your abs to curl your hips off the floor, bringing your knees towards your chest. The key is moving your pelvis, not just your legs. Imagine tilting your pelvis to bring your tailbone off the ground. Next, as I'm showing stability, ball crunches these isolated the abs much better by eliminating the hip flexor of being overworked here, lie back on the ball, supporting your lower back feet, flat on the floor and curl up about 45 degrees. Really stay engaged. And this ball's gonna give you a bigger range of motion than floor crunches because you can start in a slight extended motion.
Brian (5m 18s):
So why are these better? They either target different portions of your abs more effectively, or you can work through a greater range of motion and incorporate some type of rotation, all forcing your abs to work harder than just doing tiny crunches on the floor. Well, so what actually gets you visible abs? Well, one thing above anything else. For men to see abs, men typically need a body fat percentage between six and 12%. But most guys can start seeing definition at around 15% for women to have be between about 16 and 20% to see abs clearly. Now here's the harsh reality. If you do want a six pack, you're gonna have to drastically decrease your body fat percentage for about 10 to 12% for men, 11 to 13% for women.
Brian (6m 5s):
And the average woman in the United States has approximately 40% body fat while the average man has approximately 28% body fat. Now, I don't want you to get too caught up on this. Again, it depends on your age body type, your training experience, and also remember being healthy and vibrant and having, having energy doesn't all come down to just having abs. What I would recommend is perhaps get a DEXA scan, which is what I work with all my clients with when I first start out, just to see where you're at. This way you have your baseline and you can make small incremental changes to help slowly move the scale. And also your body fat percentage.
Brian (6m 45s):
I wouldn't get too caught up in showing ABS because a lot of people are professionally trained that do have abs. So it's all about just making incremental changes and making improvements in your body. But here are some science backed tips that can help you eventually down the road, maybe show some abs. Number one, focus on overall fat loss. So staying lean is more than just about doing crunches. Like I said, it's focusing on overall diet, eating whole foods, doing some cardio as well. Maybe some high intensity interval training and also finding out sort of what a a small caloric deficit would be and that can help as well.
Brian (7m 26s):
So there's a lot of different things that can entail helping you get to the body pap fat percentage that you're looking for. And number two is training ABS like any other muscle. Using 'em about two to three times per week, not daily. And using some type of progressive overload with weights and doing about eight to 15 reps for most of the exercises that you're doing for your abs. And you can mix the rep range up. Number three, don't neglect compound movements. Moves like overhead press, front squats, deadlifts and pull-ups hit the abs harder than most crunches will ever do. So every time you do these exercises, your core musculature contracts the stabilize and protect that spine.
Brian (8m 8s):
Here's some more recommendations on what you can do. Like I mentioned you before, bicycle crunches, slow control rotation, 15 to 20 reps per side. Reverse crunches, curl your hips off the floor. 12 to 15 control reps. You can do dead bugs as well. Opposite arm, opposite leg, 10 to 12 reps per side. Planks and side planks are a great one for that deep core stability. 30 to 60 seconds is plenty of time. 30 to 60 seconds is what I would recommend to start off at. And remember, progressively overload. Add some weight or difficulty over time. Don't just do more reps.
Brian (8m 48s):
Number five, honestly understanding your genetics. Research shows that how and where you lose weight is genetically determined. A lot of times some people store more fat in their midsection, others in their hips. This obviously is gonna affect whether your ABS show or not. Also, your body type build and how tall you are can affect it as well. So there you have it, the science back truth about abs. So let's stop doing hundreds of crunches daily. Stop buying these ab blasted gadgets. Stop believing you can spot reduce belly fat. Focus on your overall body composition through diet and smart training. Train your abs about two to three times per week with progressive overload.
Brian (9m 28s):
Include compound movements and be patient. This is a long game approach. So what add myths were you believing? Let me know in the comments below. Well, if you like this video and it helped you out, hit that like button and subscribe for more great fitness and health tips and I'll see you in the next video. Have a great day. I.
