You’ve probably seen people in the gym who do hundreds of situps in each and every workout.
They sweat, pant, and slowly count the rep after rep after rep.
You could admire their effort, but very often, that effort doesn’t bring them the results they want.
You see, most of them are looking to get better, more visible abs.
And since situps are engaging to your abs, they think that situps are the best exercise to quickly get more visible abs.
However, that’s simply NOT true.
Keep reading this email and you’ll understand why situps won’t get you the six-pack you want (and what you should focus on instead.)
First, let’s talk about how fat burning really works.
The most important point about fat burning is that you CAN’T direct it, meaning that you can’t target any particular area.
It doesn’t matter if you’re doing situps or riding a bicycle.
Your body will get rid of fat ONLY if you burn all the other energy sources before that.
And it will burn fat all over your body.
So, the most important thing for shedding fat is your DIET which should keep you in a slight caloric deficit.
If you’re eating fewer calories than you spend, you’re going to burn fat.
It’s as simple as that!
Apart from that, situps are also not the best exercise you can do to strengthen your core and abs.
First, they’re hard on your back.
If you’re doing situps, you’re more likely to get nasty back pain that can prevent you from working out regularly.
But the other thing about situps is even more important than the back pain.
In short, situps are only targeting the top layer of your abdominal muscles, the part we usually call the "4-pack" muscles.
So it’s true that situps can sculpt your abs to a degree.
However, situps don’t engage the Transverse Abdominal Muscle (TVA) which is a deeper layer of the abdominal muscles.
And because of that, situps can’t really strengthen your core.
That’s why I don’t recommend them to anyone who wants to get visible abs while also strengthening the whole core.
There’s a much better exercise for that – plank.
Plank is an isometric exercise that engages the Transverse Abdominal Muscle.
It means that plank will both make your abs more visible (if you stay in the caloric deficit and burn off the fat) and make your core stronger.
And that’s exactly what you should be aiming for.
The combination of a lean physique (from diet) and functional strength (from planks) will make you feel like the best version of yourself.
Stay fit my friend,
Michael
Founder & CEO