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Fitness

You Cannot Crunch Your Way to Abs: Science Says So

What's the best way to lose abdominal fat? Science shows us it is NOT doing ab exercises or buying late-night gizmos off the TV.

Tom Kelso

Written by Tom Kelso Last updated on Nov 22, 2021

When I give my Strength Training 101 presentation to new recruits at the St. Louis Police Academy, one of the questions I hit them with is this:

All other factors being equal, which of these three options would be the most effective in the attempt to reduce abdominal fat?

When I give my Strength Training 101 presentation to new recruits at the St. Louis Police Academy, one of the questions I hit them with is this:

All other factors being equal, which of these three options would be the most effective in the attempt to reduce abdominal fat?

  1. Abdominal crunches – two sets of 30 repetitions to muscular fatigue
  2. Abdominal crunches – four sets of 30 repetitions to muscular fatigue.
  3. Leg Press – two sets of 20 repetitions to muscular fatigue.

Inevitably, most choose the second option, a few pick option one, and rarely does anyone opt for the leg press choice. After all, if two sets of an abdominal exercise are effective, then doubling the effort must be better, right? The truth is option three is the correct answer, which completely stuns them.

Hey Mr. Kelso, I can’t recall seeing a late-night infomercial with some dude on a leg press machine trying to shred abdominal fat.

Performing two demanding sets of leg presses utilizes more energy as compared to two or four demanding sets of abdominal exercises. More muscle tissue is involved – thus ultimately more calories are burned – so it is the best option, all other factors being equal. Remember, to lose body fat, a calorie deficit must exist. Additionally, one cannot spot reduce body fat!

Infomercials and ignorance aside, a study was conducted at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to determine the effect of abdominal exercises on abdominal fat. 24 sedentary people (14 men and 10 women) between the ages of 18 and 40 years were randomly assigned to one of the following two groups: control group (CG) or abdominal exercise group (AG).

Anthropometrics, body composition, and abdominal muscular endurance were tested before and after training. The AG performed two sets of 10 repetitions on seven abdominal exercises, five days per week for six weeks. The CG received no intervention, and all participants maintained a similar diet throughout the study.

The results of the study showed… hang on now…  are you sitting down? … Ready?

There was no signigicant effect of abdominal exercises on body weight, body fat, android fat percentage, android fat, abdominal circumference, abdominal skinfold and suprailiac skinfold measurements.

Their epic conclusion was this: six weeks of abdominal exercise training by itself was not sufficient to reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat and other measures of body composition.

However, abdominal exercise training did significantly improved muscular endurance to a greater extent than the CG. On the post-test, the AG performed a significantly greater amount of curl-up repetitions (47 ± 13) compared to the CG (32 ± 9).

Wow!

Seriously, will we ever arrive at the day when those in the training world completely understand abdominal exercises are a poor choice for fat reduction? Probably not, as long as new abdominal devices and programs keep coming down the infomercial turnpike.

Fat reduction tutorial, time immemorial:

  1. Create a calorie deficit. Eat better foods.
  2. Perform high calorie-demand exercise. Involve the large muscles of the body.
  3. Train your abdominals sensibly, but understand you are working MUSCLE, not fat.
  4. Stay up late at night so you can laugh at the latest abdominal gizmo infomercial.
Tom Kelso

About Tom Kelso

Tom Kelso is currently an Exercise Physiologist with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. He also trains clients through Pinnacle Personal & Performance Training in Chesterfield, Missouri.

For 23 years he was in the collegiate strength and conditioning profession, serving as the Head Coach for Strength and Conditioning at Saint Louis University (2004-2008), the University of Illinois at Chicago (2001-2004), Southeast Missouri State University (1991-2001), and the University of Florida (1988-1990). He got his start in the strength and conditioning field as an Assistant Strength Coach at Florida in 1984 where he was also a weight training instructor for the Department of Physical Education from 1985 to 1988.

In 2006, Tom was named Master Strength and Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association for his years of service in the field. In 1999, he was named NSCA Ohio Valley Conference Strength and Conditioning Professional of the year. In 2001, he received an honorary certification from the International Association of Resistance Trainers (I.A.R.T.).

Tom possesses C.S.C.S. and S.C.C.C. certifications with the NSCA and CSCCA, respectively. Additionally, he is certified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board in basic instructor development and as a specialist instructor by the Missouri Department of Public Safety. In 2012, he became certified by the IBNFC as a Certified Nutrition Coach.

Tom has worked with athletes at the Olympic and professional levels, presented at various clinics/seminars, and worked several athletic-related camps. He is a strong advocate of safe, practical, and time-efficient training and has published a collection of periodical articles, book chapters, complete books, and user-friendly downloads promoting such.

Tom received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Iowa in 1981(It's great to be a Hawkeye!) and a Master's Degree in Physical Education from Western Illinois University in 1984. He was a member of the Track and Field team at Iowa and served as a Graduate Assistant Track & Field Coach while at Western Illinois.

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