Workout/exercise Myths

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Myth: Doing lots of situps and crunches will give me a six-pack.Fact: Crunches can only help to strengthen your abdominal muscles. There is a layer of fat covering your abs so if you want to see them, you have to lower your bodyfat levels.Myth: Buying those ab machines on TV media will give me a six-pack.Fact: Same as above, and you can only achieve lower bodyfat-levels through a good, clean diet, lifting heavy and doing enough cardio. The ab machines are useless. Use that money instead on a gym membership and good food.Myth: Doing such-and-such exercises will help tone and sculpt my body.Fact: There is no such thing as toning. There is no such thing as sculpting. The muscle either grows or it doesn't. For a more defined look, your muscle has to be bigger and you have to have lower bodyfat levels.Myth: Doing such-and-such exercises will help make my butt smaller.Fact: There is no such thing as spot reduction. You cannot choose where you lose bodyfat from. It usually firstly comes off from the place you last put it on, and the first place you put it on is usually last to come off. If you want a specific place to have less fat, you have to keep eating clean, lifting heavy and doing cardio.Myth: (Women) I don't want to lift weights as I don't want to look manly and big and bulky.Fact: The pro women bodybuilders you see all take steroids to get to that size. Normal women do not have the right hormones to get big all by themselves. A female personal trainer once said that she lifts heavy like the boys do, but all she does is get smaller and smaller.

[OpaQue 15]

Hey, I was actually replying to this topic and giving out additional tips. But I got so involved in typing those things and the Reply had gone beyond this topic. So I created a new Topic for it.

Here it is, you might wanna read it.
Tips For Slim Health And Long Life

[musichere 0]

I think we should keep this thread, it's interesting to debate these myths

Myth: Buying those ab machines on TV media will give me a six-pack.Fact: Same as above, and you can only achieve lower bodyfat-levels through a good, clean diet, lifting heavy and doing enough cardio. The ab machines are useless. Use that money instead on a gym membership and good food.

I'm not sure I agree with you, the ab machines (not the tacky ones) do actually work your abdominals as if you were doing crunches, and you wouldn't be able to do 400 crunches in 10 minues on your own, and I used one of those for a month and I got some great results. I don't use one any more beucase they take ages to put on and aren't the most comfortable thing in the world, plus I got some minor burns in my stomach area , well I can disregard those becuase everything positive has to have it's negatives too.

[harriko 0]

wow really good tips. thought situps are the only way to get a sixpack. but it aint, as u say? so overall tip is eating healthyly and doing some exercise!

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I'm not sure I agree with you, the ab machines (not the tacky ones) do actually work your abdominals as if you were doing crunches, and you wouldn't be able to do 400 crunches in 10 minues on your own, and I used one of those for a month and I got some great results.

They work your abs but not the right way. Firstly, if you can do 400 crunches in 10 minutes, it probably means that there isn't enough resistance involved to give your abs a good-enough workout or there's a problem with form. Anyone can do 400 bicep curls in 10 minutes with a pencil if you get what I'm saying.

Secondly, abs are like any other muscle - triceps, quads, calves. They should also be worked like any other muscle, which means a reasonable rep range, adequate resistance and appropriate rest, especially for gains.

I used one of those for a month and I got some great results

Could you describe your results and whether you changed your lifestyle in any way while using the machine e.g. nutrition, workout etc?

plus I got some minor burns in my stomach area

Burns don't signify anything, including growth, except for the build up of lactic acid generally due to the high reps performed.

[dissipate 0]

wow really good tips. thought situps are the only way to get a sixpack. but it aint, as u say? so overall tip is eating healthyly and doing some exercise!

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thanks harriko! everyone has abs.. it's just a matter of whether you're lean enough for them to be visible, meaning yeah, nutrition and exercise play bigger roles than ab work at that point of time. with bodyfat levels around 10%, men should be able to see some definition in their stomach region. if you can't see much with bodyfat around that level, then it's time to do some weighted ab work.