Last week I wrote a blog post on the 2 most effective exercises that you need to be following to have any chance of achieving weight loss success.
I hope you have already implemented the 1 Arm Snatch and Up Downs as part of your weight loss workouts.
You have? Great, you are well on the way to achieving the body that you deserve!
Today I’ll reveal part 1 of my 2 part series (part 2 tomorrow) of the worst exercises that will stop your results dead in their tracks.
The first exercise, and one that I have come to have a big dislike for of late are crunches.
I’ll be the first person to put my hand up and say that up until a couple of years ago I used to regularly use crunches (and going back even further, sit ups) as part of my training sessions.
But luckily for me and for my clients, I have evolved. Unfortunately, there is a lot of trainers out there who haven’t who are still preaching old information.
Maybe they have a good referral system with a physio, as that’s where their clients who suddenly come down with bad backs will be soon heading. Who knows?
Now, there are 2 reasons why I don’t rate the crunch any more.
1) When it comes to training for fat loss, crunches just don’t make the grade. They are ineffective as they isolate a small area. You’d get much better bang for your fat loss buck by performing multi-joint movements. I discuss this more in my FREE Aussie Fatblast Secrets Revealed audio mp3 and ebook which you can get your hands on without charge here.
2) Probably the most damaging reason why I don’t rate crunches is because they are bad for your back and neck. The people that I train, and most probably you, spend all day sitting at a desk with their shoulders slumped over a computer. I know I do when I’m not training people.
When you sit your spine gets compressed and a terrible load is placed on your back. When you perform a crunch the same thing is magnified. Do you really think your back needs that extra stress after a day at work?
The other bad thing about crunches is they place a lot of strain on your neck, especially when people lock their fingers behind their head. That just forces your neck forward into an awkward position. Not ideal when a lot of people already spend way too much time sitting in a posture where their head is strained forward.
I’ll leave you with that today.
If you want to train your abs with a bit of extra work after you perform all of your multi-joint movements that will recruit your ab muscles as well as the bigger muscles in your body, one of my favourites is the Hover (also known as the Plank) exercise.
Here’s how the Hover is done – both on the knees and on the toes.
The beauty of this exercise is it lends itself to so many variations like a Hover to Push Up, Side to Side Hover and even doing it on your hands instead of the forearms. And it’s harder than it looks!
What do you think is going to be the number 2 exercise that kills off your weight loss success? I want to hear what you would write and we’ll see if it’s the same as mine!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think # 2 exercise is, say good bye to long, slow and boring cardio.
Thanks for your tip James I couldn’t agree with you more. Not what I was going to write but you are spot on the money with long slow boring cardio being a fat loss killer. I should be making this into like a 10 part series!
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