Spot Reduction Revisited.

• By vishwa on Training

• May 3, 2011

A gym client of mine who is new to my facility asked me whether he should be performing abdomen workout each and every day?  Since spot reduction is a myth, and as I have discussed it in my earlier blog entry, I will just state briefly that even if you perform thousands of crunches you will not obtain a six pack.  Also, performing numerous side bends will not slim the love handles.

Contrarily, the worrying factor in performing abdomen workout, especially numerous repetitions of crunches and the likes, day in and day out is the amount of stress it places on your spine.  Many of the abdominal routines which involve spine flexion have to be done with care.  Or for the better some of them should be avoided for a lot of people. Repeated and loaded spinal flexion is one of the leading causes for disc herniation.

In fact, research has proven that bracing actually trains the abdomen much more effectively than spinal flexion.  It is well known that you involuntarily brace your abs when you dead lift, squat, and clean and press for most of the compound movements provide optimal stimulus for the abdomen.

Nevertheless, executing abdomen workouts which have functional benefits would serve you better than focusing on some corny movements.

PS:  For more on spot reduction read my blog entry titled Spot Reduction:  A Bodybuilding Myth.