The Abdominals: To Crunch or not to crunch, that is the question

The Abdominals

We have arrived in the New Year and there is no better way to get that six pack than laying on the floor and getting your crunch on. Everyone seems to decide that by crunching the fat it may just decide to wither away and boom there appears your abs. Well, let’s dive into the pro’s and con’s of doing ab exercises and if those 1000 crunches will get you that six pack.

First, we need to look at the abdominal anatomy and see what muscles lay beneath the surface. We have the rectus abdominals, which lay just beneath the surface underneath a sheath. These muscles are what really pop and define your abdominals into their six pack appearance. Then, we have the external obliques, which are located on the sides of your abdominals. The layer beneath uncovers the internal obliques, and these are also located on the sides of your abdominals. The deepest ab muscle is the transverse abdominis (abdominal). The transverse has the greatest effect on posture and it is vital to keep this muscle and all abdominal muscles strong and in balance. There are other intricate parts of the abs that help attach these muscles (linea alba, linae transversae & transversalis fascia).

Second, we look at just how many calories the average person burns in by doing crunches. For a 150 pound individual, they would burn an average of around 7 calories per minute. When comparing this to walking which is around 5 calories per minute and running which is around 11 calories per minute, crunching can burn a decent amount of calories. The one big factor is that these need to be done constantly, and most people can walk for at least 30 minutes. However, it is quite hard to do abs constantly for 30 minutes, and I would not a person to try this method.

Stay Tuned for Part 2, where we break things down even more and give you a killer ab routine!

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