The most common isolation exercises for the midsection or abdominals are sit-ups and crunches. They are mostly performed by people who believe they are working their abs or midsection. Interestingly, these isolation exercises are probably one of the most ineffective ways to get six-pack abdominals or burn fat from your midsection. It is very convenient and easy to do these exercises but they are ineffective and inefficient. You feel some burning sensation in your mid-section. Does this mean that sit-ups and crunches are inefficient and a complete waste of time? I would say for most people who want to be efficient in their workouts, these types of isolation movements should be replaced with full-body or compound exercises. These isolation movements will complement a full-body workout—not take the place of one. You’ll do more of your abdominal work by controlling your diet and interval training with full-body workouts such as dead lifts, squats, lunges and other quality exercise movements.
Sit-ups can be performed in different positions and versions. There are some bow editions, reject editions, and regular editions. They are an isolation type exercise. Compared to full-body exercises, isolation-type movements or exercises are not the best exercises for burning fat and gaining lean muscle mass. More importantly, these types of isolation movements and exercises work your hip-abductors more than your midsection. Now, the hip-abductors are one of your strongest muscles in your body. They are helpful in doing squats and dead lifts which are great exercises for the whole body. You don’t need to work your hip-abductors by doing sit-ups. The Janda sit-up is much better than the regular sit-up. This is a great movement to do. Crunches are a slightly better option than regular sit-ups.
Although crunches are a better option than sit-ups, they are still an isolation-type exercise. You’ll hit your midsection and you’ll feel more of a burn in your midsection than when doing those regular isolation movements. Now, sometimes, crunches go well with hyperextension (for the back). It’s all about adding some variety to your workout. But, you can develop your core or abs without doing a single one of these isolation exercises or movements. Instead, you can try several options. As a better workout method, do full body exercises that include lunges, squats and dead lifts. Then, do interval training to burn fat quickly. Then, as you progress through your exercise and diet program, you might want to do some cold sit-ups. Janda sit-ups are performed by lying on the floor on your back with your knees bent. To go up, you need to tighten your glutes and hamstrings. Take a deep breath and lift your chest and shoulders off the floor. It should take you about three to five seconds to go up. Then slowly lower back down. You are not using your hip abductors but your core, hamstrings and glutes.
Source by Pascasio JR Felisilda
