I'm wondering, I have a "locker" around my gut and handles that I'd prefer to be on my bike than on my body. In working my abs with situps, crunches, etc, does the fat go bye bye evenly or does it tend to tighten up in the lower ab area moreso than the tummy area? Wouldn't doing situps or crunches work the entire area?

I'm wondering, I have a "locker" around my gut and handles that I'd prefer to be on my bike than on my body. In working my abs with situps, crunches, etc, does the fat go bye bye evenly or does it tend to tighten up in the lower ab area moreso than the tummy area? Wouldn't doing situps or crunches work the entire area?

You cant target an specific area to loose fat from. If you have fat in your stomach and want to loose it, you need to cut. You can do 1000's of those excersises you mentioned and the fat just wont go away. Us males have to get to around 10% body fat or lower for our abs to start showing and the only way to do that is cutting.


I would prepare a nice cutting diet, and workout the abs like twice a week so the muscle is there when you loose enough weight for them to show.

I'm wondering, I have a "locker" around my gut and handles that I'd prefer to be on my bike than on my body. In working my abs with situps, crunches, etc, does the fat go bye bye evenly or does it tend to tighten up in the lower ab area moreso than the tummy area? Wouldn't doing situps or crunches work the entire area?

I firmly believe crunches are the best ab excercise known to man, however they will not in themselves shed fat. That my friend, can only be accomplished through proper nutrition. It has been my PERSONAL experience that you lose fat evenly around the waistline but unfortunately fat is usually not distributed evenly. I tend to get "fatter" around my obliques and lower back,therefore,when cutting, these are the parts that lag because of the excess fat deposited there.

Abs need to be worked directly or indirectly (I find my abs get incredibly tight feeling after squats) like any other muscle. I think (for me anyway) they require intense training because they are so used to supporting your "core" day in / day out. Effectively they need rest like any other muscle when worked out.

Exercises like "bridges" and stability ball (get one, they're cheap and so worth it) crunches will target your abs very well as will ab roller exercise.

They only way you'll make the muscle show though is through diet and that's not necessarily a quick-fix. Like everything give it time, work hard and your abs will show.

Unfortunately, you can't spot reduce fat....it simply does not work that way (imho).

If you only have time to do one ab exercise....I highly recommend the reverse crunch as an all-around great ab exercise. Don't feel like you have to do 10's of 1000's multi-angle exercises.

Just get in 2 or so exercises of 2 - 3 sets per ab area. Keep it simple.

I start with the lower trunk, then the obliques, then, the 6 pack last always in that order but the exercises tend to vary week after week since there's literally hundred of variations to choose from. That works best for me

See, this is where science and I butt heads slightly. All of the research and hell all of my common sense tells me that 10 million crunches a day won't do jack if my diet and such are not in place.

BUT...if I am regularly training abs 5+ days per week I swear my stomach looks better.

I'm guessing they're just tight/pumped and it's all in my head.

See that's the goofy thing. I've changed my diet and have been much more active and working out for about two months now and...no weight loss! Like WTH! I keep trying to maintain patience and stick to it no matter what but when you see NO change, something's amiss.

I drink much more water throughout the day and I'm gonna turn into a fish! Let me elaborate on that so y'all don't think I'm only drinking water to lose weight...

I've cut out sweets with maybe a small indulgence once in a while. I'm eating more lean meats like turkey, tuna, etc. I'm drinking about 2 litres of water per day or more. I'm eating small meals more times through the day. I walk during my lunch breaks and workout via treadmill and Crossbow at least 3 times per week along with biking. I coach youth soccer as well.

Cripes, I used to be 155 lbs for years but as I encroached the 30 year old mark, up the weight creeped and them whammo! 235 pounds and 5'11! I'm taking weekly pictures of myself frontal and side form. I know it'll come around eventually...HOPEFULLY!!!

See, this is where science and I butt heads slightly. All of the research and hell all of my common sense tells me that 10 million crunches a day won't do jack if my diet and such are not in place.

BUT...if I am regularly training abs 5+ days per week I swear my stomach looks better.

I'm guessing they're just tight/pumped and it's all in my head.

I gotta agree with Fast here. I've stated several times in the past that I work my abs directly AT LEAST 5X per week.I'm real happy with the results.

I've changed my diet and have been much more active and working out for about two months now and...no weight loss!
Did you check out the "sticky's" at the top of the cutting section? If not, do so. Make sure you're calculating and taking in the correct daily calories required for your goals.

Some of us simply need longer to get off the starting blocks, mainly due a lagging metabolism and/or cardiovascular conditioning. Also, just a thought but you may be replacing fat with muscle and so scale weight is staying the same. Get yourself some calipers in order to track your progress more accurately. :gl:

generally in males the gut area fat.... back and front and side is the last to go. your body generally looses fat evenly... agreed with the other posters on here.

common knowledge says you cant spot reduce (already mentioned just thought id add to it).

im between 14% and 15% bf and my abs are tighting up.. back fat still need to go... love handles too... everywhere else is looking good to me. but i cant concentrate my effort on my problems area without loosing everywhere else first. ive got to keep on cutting until the last fat storage ares (lower back,gut, love handles) are gone. if doing crunches was all i needed... id be doing that... but thats not how it works with our bodies.

good luck man.

i think the only cat on here thats lucky (God blessed him in the genetics dept.) and may be able to spot reduce ... totally defying pysical body laws... is 1fastgtx. damn him!!!

:p

See, this is where science and I butt heads slightly. All of the research and hell all of my common sense tells me that 10 million crunches a day won't do jack if my diet and such are not in place.

BUT...if I am regularly training abs 5+ days per week I swear my stomach looks better.

I'm guessing they're just tight/pumped and it's all in my head.

Well-properly training abs can make a difference even at higher levels of bodyfat. Ron Coleman has such developed abs that they can be seen even through the GH gut and when his bodyfat levels are higher.

And I'm no Ron Coleman, but I can see my abs when at a higher bodyfat. They just don't look as good as when I'm nice and lean. I work them twice per week HARD directly. They also get a lot of indirect work though squats and the like.

i think the only cat on here thats lucky (God blessed him in the genetics dept.) and may be able to spot reduce ... totally defying pysical body laws... is 1fastgtx. damn him!!!

:p
Well not necessarily, like I said they could just be tight and flexed and pumped and giving me the impression that volume is better. Could all be in my head.

And I'm no Ron Coleman, but I can see my abs when at a higher bodyfat. They just don't look as good as when I'm nice and lean. I work them twice per week HARD directly. They also get a lot of indirect work though squats and the like.
I read a long time ago, somewhere, that Franco Columbo never directly trained abs! He just felt they got enough indirect work during other exercises. Also, during bench press, he said he would flex his abs as hard as he could on every rep. Weird.

I read a long time ago, somewhere, that Franco Columbo never directly trained abs! He just felt they got enough indirect work during other exercises. Also, during bench press, he said he would flex his abs as hard as he could on every rep. Weird.

I believe it! Abs really do get worked fairly well if you're training properly.